IRON CHAPMAN
Prowess & strength
the first three years along with a potential thirdyear opt out. He spent time on the disabled list in 2011 due to left shoulder inflammation, but that’s been it as far as arm trouble is concerned. “It’s a volatile situation, but that’s the price of poker,” Brian Cashman said recently.
Chapman had felt he was overused by Joe Maddon during the Cubs’ World Series run.
Girardi, on the other hand, is taking a deliberate approach with Chapman during the spring. “There’s no rush. There’s plenty of time for him to get plenty of appearances,” Girardi said. “You might even see him at some point throw a bullpen in-between them. He’ll be ready for the season. That’s not a concern.”
Chapman said velocity is not important right now. He’s just concerned with location and working on his secondary pitches, a changeup and slider. He figures he’ll need about eight innings during the spring to feel comfortable going into 2017. “He looked like Chappy,” Girardi said. Chapman also brings with him a tumultuous past. He was suspended for the first 30 games of last season for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy. The Yankees had their preseason meeting with the league about its domestic violence policy on Thursday. The hope is Chapman will make good on his second chance, with the understanding that his previous misdeeds will not be forgotten.
“You don’t see guys throwing 103 every day,” Girardi said when asked if he’d ever seen anyone like Chapman. “Mariano Rivera was a great athlete, though. He probably caught as many (batting practice) fly balls in center field as anyone we had. We tried to even get him to play out there at the end of his career, but he didn’t want to.”