NEW YORK — Six weeks before YankeesRelief Aroldis ChapmanYankee Stadium was not available for the mandatory pre-postseason team training. Yankees pitchers were playing catch at Oakland. After an off day, the team regrouped and Chapman had a limp. Chapman, a longtime fireballing closer, lifted his leg and nobody else could have predicted the cause of his discomfort.
A new tattoo, unfortunately portraying his sister’s face, was surrounded by a veritable moat of pus about an inch wide, according to multiple people who saw it. Yankees had no idea of the tattoo and its resulting wound. Chapman was experiencing severe pain from the issue and had to be treated.
Chapman’s timing couldn’t have been worse. It was the beginning of a 10-game roadtrip that the Yankees wanted to use to get Chapman back to his best for the final sprint. Leading up to that day in Oakland, he’d already missed six weeks on the injured list with Achilles tendonitis and had pitched to a 4.70 ERA. It was a deliberate decision to use him on the roads. He had a 19.3 % home walk rate and a 13.3 % road walk rate. (These numbers would be more disparate towards the end of the season. They ballooned to a 22.7 per cent walk rate at home and a 12.9 per cent walk rate on road.
Chapman was already out of his position as designated closer and had been fired. But the Yankees knew that Chapman was a better player than any other.
