Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman had struggled pretty mightily his last two outings and now we might have an inkling as to why. Sunday morning, the Yankees placed Chapman on the 10-day disabled list due to a left shoulder injury. Specifically, the reason give was a rotator cuff strain.
On the year, Chapman is seven for eight in save chances with a 3.55 ERA, but the ERA was 0.79 two outings ago. Last Sunday, he gave up three runs on three hits and two walks -- and a hit batsman -- to the Cubs, blowing the lead and forcing the game to extra innings. Then, on Friday, Chapman gave up a run on three hits in 2/3 of an inning to the Astros. He was seen shaking his arm during that outing.
Chapman, 29, signed a five-year, $86 million deal with the Yankees last offseason after being traded by the Yankees to the Cubs in July of 2016 and then winning a World Series ring. He has a career 2.12 ERA and 657 strikeouts in 389 2/3 innings (15.2 K/9).
General manager Brian Cashman told reporters (like Bryan Hoch) that Chapman will rest for at least two weeks and the club is expecting him to miss around a month.
With Chapman down, Dellin Betances likely moves into the closer role with Tyler Clippard as the primary setup man.
At 2.50, the Yankees have the fourth-best bullpen ERA in all of baseball. They are equipped to deal with an injury here, but obviously the depth is affected when the closer hits the DL.
