After temporarily losing his job as the closer for the Yankees, it sounds as if Joe Girardi is considering handing over ninth inning duties to Chapman once again.
Last month, Chapman was removed from the role after a string of appearances that saw the left-hander surrender runs. Luckily for New York, they also have Dellin Betances and David Robertson in their bullpen, both of whom Girardi was able to call upon when save situations presented themselves.
At the time Chapman’s ERA was 4.29. Since then, he has lowered it to 4.02 and has shown Girardi enough improvement that Chapman may once again assume his familiar role.
“I think it’s something that you definitely think about,” Girardi told MLB.com. “I’ve said that I really believe Chapman is going to play an important role down this stretch. We need him, so it’s going to be important.”
“I’m sure a lot of people would love to have my problem, to have those three guys at the back end and figure out which one you’re going to try to close with,” Girardi continued. “It’s something we’ll continue to talk about, but the best thing from all of this is Chappy has thrown the ball really well the last two times. I would say Tuesday night has probably been as good as we’ve seen in a while and that’s a really good thing.”
Girardi is certainly in an enviable position. Robertson has two 50-save seasons to his credit. Betances has proven to be one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball over the past handful of seasons. Chapman boasts a fastball that routinely hits triple-digits and was given the largest contract in MLB history for a relief pitcher.
While Girardi has a decision to make, fans made their choice abundantly clear by their responses to the poll below.
POLL: If it came down to one-game playoff, who would you want as your #Yankees' closer? @northjersey @pcaldera @BobKlap
— Record Sports (@TheRecordSports) September 6, 2017
