Texas Rangers Reliever Agrees To Deal With Pittsburgh Pirates

The Texas Rangers will not have set-up man Aroldis Chapman from the 2023 World Series champions back for next season.
Texas Rangers Reliever Agrees To Deal With Pittsburgh Pirates
Texas Rangers Reliever Agrees To Deal With Pittsburgh Pirates /
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Aroldis Chapman is now a former Texas Rangers reliever after agreeing with as the Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to a reported one-year deal, per multiple reports.

Pending a physical, Chapman will get a $10.5 million contract for the 2024 season.

He’s the latest reliever from last year’s bullpen to sign with another team. Will Smith and Chris Stratton have already signed with the Kansas City Royals.

The Rangers acquired Chapman via trade last June for pitcher Cole Ragans and a prospect.

Chapman started out like a rocket for the Rangers, briefly assuming a co-closer role with Smith and working as a strong set-up man. But as the season wore on, his fastball command wandered a bit and he was used less and less.

With the Rangers he went 2-3 with a 3.72 ERA in 20 appearances with four saves in 29 innings. He struck out 50 and walked 16.

In the postseason he made nine appearances, throwing eight innings while striking out six and walking five.

He won his second career World Series ring with the Rangers after Texas beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games. He won a ring with the Chicago Cubs in 2016 as their closer.

Chapman his entering his age-36 season with seven All-Star Game appearances and a Rivera Reliever of the Year award winner. He has a career 50-40 record with 321 saves and a 2.53 ERA. He strikes out 14.8 batters per nine innings and has 1,148 career strikeouts.

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Matthew Postins
MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers for Fan Nation/SI and also writes about the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. He also covers the Big 12 for HeartlandCollegeSports.com.