Aroldis Chapman was one of the most surprising players on the Boston Red Sox — and maybe in MLB, as a whole — in 2025. The closer posted possibly the best season of his career at age 37, with a 1.17 ERA, a 0.70 WHIP, 85 strikeouts, 15 walks and 32 saves on 34 opportunities over 61.1 innings.
Chapman has played for six other teams over his 16 years in MLB, and his sudden dominance could sting. It likely hurts his longest tenured club, the New York Yankees, the most. Red Sox fans despised Chapman during his years in New York, and the Sox fixed his longstanding struggles with command after just one season.
As much as Yankees fans dislike Chapman, he’s not the biggest fan of theirs, either. In an interview with Swing Completo, a Spanish baseball news site, the veteran let the Yankees organization have it.
“If I were told that I was being traded to New York, I’d pack my things and go home. I’ll retire right on the spot if that happens. I’m not crazy. Never again,” Chapman said in Spanish. He said he would never play for the Yankees organization again: “Not even dead.”
Aroldis Chapman roasts Yankees, calls out leadership in offseason interview after career resurgence with Red Sox
New York would probably never want Chapman back after his departure from the organization on a sour note. He missed a mandatory workout before the 2022 ALDS and the Yankees left him off the postseason roster. Chapman also cited disrespect by the Yankees front office as part of his motivation never to return to the organization — it seems the feelings are mutual.
If Chapman’s refusal to return to New York sounds strikingly familiar, it’s because Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also said he would never play for the Yankees in similar words. Guerrero was initially slated to reach free agency this offseason, and a reporter asked if he would ever sign with the Yankees in a 2023 interview. He also said: “No, not even dead.”
Even if the Red Sox didn’t sign Guerrero, as many fans dreamed before he signed his extension in Toronto, they can still revel in Chapman’s shade. Chapman is one of the latest examples of a skill of Boston’s, which is developing former Yankees players into better versions of themselves. The Red Sox turned Rob Refsnyder into one of the premier lefty killers in the big leagues, Carlos Narváez is a Gold Glove candidate, and Garrett Whitlock and Chapman became one of the deadliest reliever tandems in baseball in 2025.
Chapman’s first season with Boston went so well it extended him for another year, when he’ll have another season’s worth of opportunities to stick it to the Yankees. The Red Sox and Yankees’ playoff meeting in the Wild Card round, coupled with comments from Chapman, Brayan Bello and New York rookie Cam Schlittler could bring The Rivalry back in full force in a way we haven’t experienced it since the early 2000s.
