Aroldis in the Ninth Again

 

This is weird. Not just Aroldis in royal blue again. Aroldis with facial stubble. Insanely weird. 

I'll admit it, I thought Aroldis Chapman was gonna spend the rest of his career as the Yankee closer, but the stark difference between Chapman and Mariano Rivera is that, say what you will about Mo's politics, but he doesn't have a dark cloud following him around. Chapman barely evaded domestic violence charges, struggled with injuries the last few years, and then pissed off the club by missing a workout [while Clay Holmes already grabbed the goodwill of the fans anyhow], and was done in New York.

I honestly just figured that was the end of Aroldis Chapman being relevant. I mean, heck of a run, 315 saves, a ring with the Cubs, clearly one of the most dominant closers of his era. Nowadays, there are more, younger flamethrowers, and Chapman doing his 102 or whatever is nothing compared to the gas Hunter Greene has at his disposal. There are also better closers, more kinds of relievers, and both Chapman and his closest contemporaries [Jansen and Kimbrel] were all falling out of favor.

But, the Royals needed bullpen depth, and after Scott Barlow had a rough start to the season, they needed a new closer, so now here we are. Aroldis Chapman in the ninth once again. And so far, honestly, it's gone well.

On paper, it shouldn't work. This is such a weird, close-knit, homegrown bullpen of people like Barlow, Jose Cuas, Josh Staumont and Carlos Hernandez, and then random veterans like Ryan Yarbrough, Taylor Clarke and Amir Garrett, and then...Chapman. Just hanging out, there he is. He was on the Yankees last year, now he's lounging by the fountains in Kauffman. 

Look, Chapman's showed up in 5 games, hasn't given up any runs, has given up 1 hit. This isn't bad at all, especially considering how much trouble Brady Singer, who Royals fans thought would be a Cy Young candidate, is having. This team is extremely uneven, a lot of its power guys are sagging, and maybe 2 or 3 guys are hitting in general. Brad Keller was supposed to be a bullpen arm this year, but he's back up in the rotation bailing the youngsters out, and that just kinda seems to be the theme here. You brought up these guys to save the team, none of them are playing well and so the other guys have to pick up the work. Vinnie Pasquantino's doing well, but you built this team expecting Witt and Melendez and Massey to do well and they're really not there yet.

It's not a great thing when you're seriously relying on 39-year-old Zack Greinke to ensure quality innings. As well as post-tattoo Chapman for your ninth inning. I really hope things improve for the Royals, because this is...not a great start.

Coming Tonight: I have this friend from Ireland, and he occasionally flies over here and does stuff in the states, and the other night he just...caught a game in Chicago and watched this guy pitch.