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In very unexpected news after a lopsided loss to the Pirates on August 30, the Red Sox agreed on an extension with left-handed closer Aroldis Chapman. Per Chris Cotillo, the extension guarantees Chapman $13.3 million for 2026 with a vesting option for 2027 based on the number of innings he throws next season. He’s getting a raise on his one-year, $10 million contract he signed before the 2025 season, and he’s more than earned it. Through 52 innings pitched, he owns an incredible 1.04 ERA, 1.83 FIP, and 2.2 WAR, to go along with an astronomical 38.7% strikeout rate. He’s almost guaranteed to receive some Cy Young votes and should be the top name in contention for the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year award. He’s had a career resurgence in Boston, a team that he said he always wanted to play for.
The elephant in the room, though, is that Chapman is 37 and was just extended into his age-38 (and possibly 39) season. Craig Breslow and the front office are gambling a bit with this, but it’s a gamble worth taking if Chapman is even half of the pitcher he has been this season..
One of the biggest reasons the Red Sox are confident in this extension is, for the most part, Chapman has been consistently healthy. He’s missed blocks of time throughout his MLB career, but rarely has it been for anything involving his left elbow. He’s been sidelined with shoulder fatigue on occasion, but his elbow has remained steady, even with him still touching 100 mph on the radar gun at 37 years old. There is always concern with pitchers -- especially relievers who go in short, one-inning bursts -- that their elbow could cause them issues at any point, but *knocks on wood* that hasn’t happened so far with Chapman.
This season, he seems to be tunneling his pitches better than he has in years past, and instead of being the wild flamethrower he became known for, he’s mastered his overall command to make his pitch mix play off each other. Opposing hitters can no longer sit on his off-speed pitches and wait for him to throw four balls with his heater like they have in years past because his primary pitches are commanding the strike zone better than ever. Hitters are only making solid contact 10.7% of the time and barreling balls at a 6.8% rate. He’s generating more swing and miss than he has in recent memory. His first pitch strike percentage currently sits at 70.2%, the highest in his career by a fairly large margin. He’s proven that it’s possible to reinvent yourself, even if your overall approach remains the same, late in your career. Coming to Boston seems to have breathed new life into Chapman, so there’s little reason to expect his career to take a drastic nosedive in 2026.
Finally, Chapman originally signed with the Red Sox not knowing if he would be the team’s closer. When he showed up to spring training, there was instant competition for the ninth-inning role, even if looking back on the competitors leaves us with a bad taste in our mouth. Chapman was expected to compete alongside Justin Slaten and, yes, Liam Hendriks for the closer role, with Garrett Whitlock potentially mixing in as well. Even on the Talk Sox Podcast, we discussed how we’d go with anyone over Chapman due to his recent track record in the big leagues and hoped he could ‘find success’ as an eighth-inning set-up man.
You know the story from there. The wheels fell off for Hendriks before he ever could get going, Slaten looked great when splitting closing chances early on but then hit the injured list, and Whitlock stepped into his set-up man role with confidence and poise. As such, the only steady presence in that closer role since spring was Aroldis Chapman. He came into camp as a proven champion as a closer and knew he was going to have to compete with guys to win the role. He shined under the pressure and became the best closer in the American League. Keeping him around for 2026, and possibly for 2027, is a no-brainer simply because he offers a pedigree that was missing from the bullpen for the past few seasons. He’s a winner, a champion, and a leader. Now that he’s anchoring the back-end of the bullpen for another season, he can pass along that wisdom to the next crop of Red Sox relievers.
Even after extending Chapman, there’s still work to be done in the offseason to shore up the bullpen. Having an MVP-caliber closer already in place for next season goes a long way though. Even if Chapman can’t reproduce his incredible 2025 season ever again, he’s still one of the most valuable arms on the roster. When he jogs in from the bullpen, the atmosphere in the stadium changes. You know you’re about to see him reach back and throw gas, then stare down the opposing dugout after he gets a strikeout to end the game. Yes, he’s going to be 38 when this extension kicks in, but he’s proven this season that he could be a couple of steps ahead of Father Time. If he can keep up the pace, this extension could be added to the list of ‘incredibly smart deals by Craig Breslow’ that seems to just keep growing by the week.
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