The Red Sox announced the signing of to a one-year contract. The deal reportedly guarantees the Wa serman client $10.75MM. Boston becomes the left-handers fifth different team since 2022. Chapman is no longer the elite closer he was during his peak with the Reds and Yankees. Hes still an effective, if somewhat volatile, reliever despite scattershot command. He turned in a 3.79 ERA over 61 2/3 innings for the Pirates this year. Signed as a setup option in front of , Chapman recorded 22 holds before taking over as closer for the struggling Bednar late in the season. He picked up 14 saves, his highest total in three years, and only surrendered five leads. Even as he enters his age-37 season, Chapman is one of the leagues hardest-throwing relievers. He averaged 97.8 MPH on his four-seam fastball and 99.8 MPH on his sinker. While Chapman is no longer in a league of his own in terms of velocity, thats rare arm speed from the left side. Among southpaws with at least five innings pitched, only and threw their four-seamers George Kirby Jersey harder on average. Chapmans sinker velocity led all southpaws and ranked fourth in MLB overall, trailing , and . That high-octane stuff continues to lead to plenty of strikeouts. Chapman fanned 37% of batters faced with Pittsburgh. Among relievers with 20+ innings, Chapman ranked eighth in strikeout rate. His 14.7% walk percentage was the ninth-highest mark among that group. Fewer than half of his plate appearances ended with a ball in play. Therell be a lot of free pa ses, but Chapmans stuff is good enough that he still manages to work out of trouble more often than not. This is the second bullpen pickup of the offseason for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and the Boston front office. They also last month to work in the middle innings. There could be room for one more addition with four Sox relievers hitting free agency. Theyreexpected to let walk and could also lose , and . should be back from Tommy John surgery and is the favorite to replace Jansen as Alex Coras closer. Rule 5 pick should be their top setup option from the right side. and , who had been their top internal lefties, profile as middle relievers rather than high-leverage arms. Chapman did not place among MLBTRs Top 50 free agents. That said, he was one of the best available lefties for teams that didnt want to play at the top of the market for . He earns a very slight raise relative to last winter, when he signed with Pittsburgh for $10.5MM. The move brings the Red Soxs estimated payroll, including arbitration projections, to roughly $148MM (courtesy of ). Boston is up to approximately $181MM in luxury tax obligations. Theyre $60MM shy of the base tax threshold. CEO Sam Kennedy indicated the Sox could exceed the threshold, one of myriad comments from team bra s signaling a big offseason. Therell be a lot more to come from Breslow and company, who are one of five teams known to be involved on and have been tied to every top-end free agent starting pitcher. first reported the Red Sox and Chapman had made progre s on a deal. confirmed there was a deal in place. reported the contract terms. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports. John Olerud Jersey