Red Sox Taking Perfect Stance On Potential Aroldis Chapman Extension

Aroldis Chapman has been phenomenal for the Boston Red Sox this season.

At age 37, Chapman might be on the way to his best season ever. The eight-time All-Star is pitching to a 1.18 ERA, which would be a career-low, through 38 innings. He has 58 strikeouts, a 0.76 WHIP, and a career-best walk rate of 7.0 percent.

Not bad for a pitcher who wasn't even guaranteed to win the closer job entering spring training. And not bad value for the one-year, $10.75 million contract the Red Sox gave the 16th-year veteran.

There could certainly be temptation on the Red Sox's side to work out an extension with Chapman given how impressive he's been so far. But so far, that doesn't seem to be in the works.

On Tuesday, before Chapman pitched a scoreless ninth inning in the All-Star Game, Rob Bradford of WEEI reported that the closer said there have not yet been discussions about a potential extension to stay in Boston.

"Aroldis Chapman said he hasn’t talked to the Red Sox about any contract beyond this season," Bradford wrote.

It's only natural for a player's contract status to be a talking point when he's been as effective as Chapman has. He'd be the biggest name available on the relief pitching market if he was made available at the trade deadline, so it follows that a similar rush to sign him would occur in the offseason.

But the Red Sox are handling this correctly. Relief pitching is incredibly volatile these days, and if Chapman's walk rate suddenly balloons in the second half of the season, they don't want to be in a situation where they've already committed money to him in future years, especially at his age.

It makes perfect sense for the Red Sox to try and bring Chapman back as a free agent if all goes according to plan in the second half. Maybe he'll even show a strong preference for staying, given how dominant he's been in a Boston uniform.

But there are other, more important extensions to try and work out first, and one dominant season doesn't guarantee Chapman will do it again in 2026.