It seems like Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports never sleeps, especially during the MLB Winter Meetings, he has broken this just before Midnight Eastern Time.
The New York Yankees and Closer Aroldis Chapman have agreed to a reunion for five years and $86 million dollars.
BREAKING: Chapman to #Yankees, five years, $86M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 8, 2016
Source: Chapman deal includes three-year opt-out, full no-trade for first three years, limited no-trade for final two.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 8, 2016
The Yankees brought back the fireballing lefty after dealing him at the trade deadline to the Chicago Cubs for uber-prospect SS Gleyber Torres, RHP Adam Warren, and minor league Outfielders Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford.
So the Yankees just essentially loaned Chapman to the Cubs for four months in exchange for a mega prospect. They weren’t legitimate contenders for the World Series and they ended up getting him back. Guess who just won that deal and is laughing all the way to the bank.
Chapman got a World Series ring out of the deal and a fat contract.
We need to acknowledge that being traded and re-signing with the same team who dealt you the previous year is incredibly rare. I can’t think of another instance off the top of my head and it’s too late for me to bother trying to research another one.
Marly Rivera of ESPN also chipped in, adding this to the report:
https://twitter.com/MarlyRiveraESPN/status/806719874294657025
https://twitter.com/MarlyRiveraESPN/status/806726589924843520
Why doesn’t Chapman want to go to California? It’s probably not something sinister, but more likely to do with the criminally high state income tax rate that the state has, checking in at 13.3 percent on top of the 39.6 percent that the Federal government takes. Add on to that a local income tax, and more than half of Chapman’s earnings go to the government.
It is worth noting that there isn’t much of an increased tax bill compared to playing in New York City. New York State would tax Chapman’s income at 8.82 percent and the New York City adds on an additional 3.876 percent.
Maybe he’s just afraid of earthquakes, but it’s more than likely the tax rates.
The Yankees will have one of the better bullpens in baseball yet again. Now if they could just hit the ball again. (shocking, right?)
