Once the "Cuban missile," Chapman drones on

At 37, the lefthander is the reason the contending Red Sox didn't need to trade for a closer.

Aroldis Chapman

Three weeks ago, baseball closed the Reliever Portal, and some of the flashiest bullpen arms in the game had to fill out change-of-address forms. Here’s how they’re doing:

Kyle Finnegan, Washington to Detroit: He has a 0.39 WHIP and has cashed all four save opportunities. He has not allowed an earned run.

Jhoan Duran, Minnesota to Philadelphia: He has six appearances and is four-for-four in saves, without an run.

Mason Miller, Athletics to San Diego: The hardest thrower in the big leagues has 14 strikeouts in six and one-third innings, for an 0.95 WHIP and three saves in four chances.

David Bednar, Pittsburgh to Yankees: He has a 2.16 ERA and an 0.96 WHIP in the Bronx, and has 14 strikeouts in eight and one-third innings. But he’s blown two saves in five opportunities, so nobody’s playing Enter Sandman yet.

Camilo Doval, San Francisco to Yankees: Seven innings, seven hits, six walks, eight hits, a 6.43 ERA, a 1.86 WHIP.

Ryan Helsley, St. Louis to Mets: Six and one-third innings, nine hits, 7.11 ERA, 2.05 WHIP.

These deals weren’t meant to change the world in August. They were designed for October. Philadelphians have already fallen hard for their new closer and his Duran-tula persona, plus, if he’s working the ninth inning it means that Jordan Romano isn’t. The last time the Phillies won the World Series, Brad Lidge was literally perfect in save opportunities for the season.

Closers are the coin of the realm at trade time because we all remember Mariano Rivera and Sparky Lyle and Rich Gossage and Cincinnati’s Nasty Boys and Troy Percival and Tug McGraw. The main reason the Braves won only one championship in their 14-division-pennant run was that they got out-bullpened. You have to take care of the fragile ninth. The air is thinner, the esophagus and other body parts are tighter, and someone has removed the net that used to be 100 feet below you. Closers are performative divas. You shouldn’t use them for more than three outs, because their adrenalin tank is empty by then, and you shouldn’t use them in tie games, because now they’re under the gun. But if you put them in the right laboratory conditions, they shrink games and they trigger parades.

Except,t not lately.

The last time a true closer was the caretaker of a World Series? Maybe it was Ryan Pressly for Houston in 2022. He closed out Games 5 and 6 over Philly. But starters Julio Urias and Walker Buehler did the honors in the Dodgers’ last two championships, and Chris Sale finished off L.A. for the Red Sox in 2018. Koji Uehara was a revelation for Boston in 2013. In the Giants’ three championships, Bruce Bochy featured three different Series closers: Brian Wilson in 2010, Sergio Romo with three saves in 2012, and Madison Bumgarner with the only save in 2014. Bumgarner, of course, was the top starter, and worked the last five innings of Game 7 and was ready to work five more.

They’ve been giving World Series MVPs since 1955 and only four relievers have won: Rivera in 1999, John Wetteland (Yankees) in 1995, Rollie Fingers (Athletics) in 1974 and Larry Sherry (Dodgers) in 1959.

Better to note the teams that didn’t bid for relief help, or at least didn’t get any. The Dodgers did pick up Alexis Diaz from the Reds but were content to wait for bad arms to heal, and their bullpen wobbled but survived in a 3-game weekend sweep of San Diego, which was climaxed by Mookie Betts’ home run on Sunday off major league save leader Robert Suarez.

The Brewers are happy with Trevor Megill (and everything else), the Blue Jays seem OK with ex-Phillie Jeff Hoffman, and the Mariners will throw Andres Munoz against anybody.

Then there’s the Red Sox, who picked up a 37-year-old who had been with three different teams in the past three years and was hardly a leading light in Texas’ World Series win two years ago. Most people thought the Sox would squeeze all they could out of Aroldis Chapman and then swap him for some future stars at the deadline. Instead, Boston is tied for the first A.L. wild-card spot (with Seattle) and Chapman has been as responsible as anyone.

In 47 innings Chapman has given up 21 hits and 13 walks, he has 22 saves in 24 chances with a 1.15 ERA and opponents are hitting .130 off him. But then opponents are hitting .166 off him over a 16-year period. He has 357 saves, and his conversion rate is 87.8 percent, and his 0.723 WHIP this season is the best among A.L. pitchers with at least 40 innings.

Thirteen years after he made his first All-Star team, Chapman made his eighth. And his average heater still cooks along at 98.5 mph, 14th highest in baseball. In the first 15 years of his career, Chapman was the source of 48.8 percent of the 100-plus mph pitches throughout MLB.

There have been bumps, inevitably. He took a 30-game suspension for domestic violence. In 2016 Chapman nearly drove Chicago off the top of the Sears Tower, giving up a 2-run homer to Cleveland’s Rajai Davis that tied Game 7 in the eighth inning. The Cubs had traded Gleyber Torres, perhaps their top prospect at the time, to the Yankees for Chapman, who had a 1.01 ERA for Chicago, and at season’s end Chapman went back to The Bronx. Last year, playing incognito in Pittsburgh, Chapman was able to crank six consecutive 100 mph pitches against San Diego’s Manny Machado, who finally began laughing at the absurdity of it.

Once upon a time, the 100 mph pitcher brought a gold rush of scouts, frantically checking the batteries in the radar gun, breathlessly calling the home office over what they witnessed.

Now a pitcher almost needs to hit 100 to coax them back from the popcorn stand.

In the spring, Chase Shores threw 47 pitches that hit triple digits. He was a reliever at LSU. Duran averaged 101.8 mph on his four-seamer in 2023.

This year, nine major league pitchers average 99, with Miller leading the launch at 101.1.

The average is 94.4, an increase of 5.4 mph over the past 23 seasons. Four rookie starters have hit 100 at least once. And three high school pitchers got to 100 this spring, including Jack Bauer, not to be confused with Kiefer Sutherland. Bauer is from Frankfort, Ill. and became the first prep lefty to be timed at 103 mph. He’ll pitch at Mississippi State next year, with surgeons at the ready.

So it’s difficult to remember the ruckus that greeted Chapman when he brought an ICBM to Cincinnati in 2010, which was also Kenley Jansen’s rookie year in L.A. He made his debut on Sept. 1 and got through Milwaukee’s Jonathan LeCroy, Craig Counsell and Carlos Gomez in eight pitches. Four of those pitches surpassed 100. Naturally he was nicknamed The Cuban Missile, without the crisis.

Dusty Baker was his first manager and Joey Votto was the Reds’ best player. Hall of Famer Scott Rolen was at third base. Big Arthur Rhodes, at 40, was the prime lefty in the pen. All of them put down their sunflower seeds when Chapman ambled in.

“He’s the Usain Bolt of baseball,” proclaimed fellow pitcher Bronson Arroyo, who was more correct than he knew. Bolt turned out to be a long-playing hit, nine seconds at a time, with eight Olympic gold medals spread over three Games and 12 years. Now Chapman is proving that lightning doesn’t age, particularly when unbottled.