The Boston Red Sox finally have a trade chip everyone in baseball wants, and his name is Aroldis Chapman.
The veteran closer has converted 28 consecutive saves dating back to last season. He is the top reliever available on every contender’s target list as the August 3 trade deadline approaches. The Red Sox, who are reportedly going to be sellers despite the front office’s public reluctance to commit to that label, are positioned to get a meaningful return for him.
This is what good front offices do. The Red Sox signed Chapman to a one-year deal in the offseason for relatively modest money. The bet was that he would be valuable in their bullpen if they contended, and he would be a valuable trade chip if they did not. Chapman has earned his salary either way, but the season trajectory points toward the second outcome.
The reliever market at the deadline is always frantic. Contenders pay over the top for any closer who has shown elite stuff in the previous month. The smart move for Boston is to sell high right now, before Chapman has a chance to give up a bad inning and let the market cool.
The list of potential buyers is long. The Phillies have been chasing bullpen help for years and have the prospect capital to make a real offer. The Dodgers are always in the mix. The Mariners need a closer to lock down close games. The Cubs could justify a move if they remain in contention. Even the Yankees, dealing with the Aaron Judge injury, could use Chapman to lock down ninth innings while the offense recovers.
The Phillies feel like the most aggressive potential bidder. Dave Dombrowski has shown over and over that he will pay a premium for elite relief help when his team is in win-now mode. The Phillies have been hovering around the top of the National League standings. Chapman could be the difference-maker in a tight Wild Card race or a deep playoff run.
The complicating factor is Chapman’s history with Boston. The Red Sox famously moved on from Chapman during his Cubs years after the off-field issues. The fact that they signed him this offseason shows the front office is now comfortable with him. Other teams will need to do their own due diligence, but the player has had a quiet, productive stretch over the last few seasons and his public profile is much better than it was during his Cubs era.
The Red Sox, of course, are still trying to convince themselves they are not really sellers. They are claiming they are looking at the standings and will decide closer to the deadline. The reality is that the math is not working. The team is not deep enough. The lineup has been inconsistent. The bullpen depth behind Chapman has been a problem.
Chapman is the obvious trade chip. He is on a one-year deal. He has elite recent performance. He is throwing 100-plus mph and getting strikeouts at his usual rate. There is no competitive reason to hold him through August unless Boston actively wakes up and becomes a Wild Card contender in the next six weeks.
The Red Sox front office has work to do, but they have a real trade asset. Chapman is going to bring back a couple of top-100 prospects. Boston will reload the system. The buyer will get the most reliable closer in baseball for a playoff run. Both sides should be motivated to get a deal done early, before the deadline crush drives the price one way or the other.
Aroldis Chapman is moving. The Red Sox just have to decide where.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
