The Bronx soap opera that nobody asked for is back. Aroldis Chapman, now closing games in Boston of all places, has reportedly told Mike Mutnansky that if the Yankees come calling at the deadline to bring him back, Brian Cashman better have an apology locked and loaded. Yes, the same Chapman who walked out on the Yankees during the 2022 playoffs. That guy. Wants a sorry.
StoolBaseball framed the demand exactly the way it sounds when you read it out loud.
For anyone who needs the refresher: Chapman skipped a mandatory workout before the 2022 ALDS, got left off the postseason roster, and basically ghosted the organization on his way out the door. He's since bounced through Kansas City, Texas, Pittsburgh, and now Boston, where he's been one of the better late-inning arms in the AL East. Fine. Good for him. But the idea that Cashman — Cashman — is the one who owes the apology in this scenario is the kind of take that makes Yankees fans put their heads through drywall.
Eric Hubbs cut straight to the obvious counter.
1) Cashman is never apologizing 2) I honestly don't understand what there is to apologize for. Chapman quit the team
Hubbs is right on both counts. Cashman has never apologized for anything in 27 years on the job and isn't about to start with a guy who bailed on a playoff run. And the bigger question — what exactly is the apology FOR? Leaving him off a roster he refused to prepare for? The premise doesn't survive 10 seconds of scrutiny, which is probably why it's now a feud instead of a footnote.
Whether the Yankees actually circle back on Chapman as a deadline rental is a different conversation — the bullpen has been shaky enough that nothing should be off the table. But if this is the public posture going in, the whole thing is dead on arrival. You don't trade prospects for a closer who's already setting the terms of his own welcome-back press conference.