Chapman and Beltran Could Both Be Back in New York?

There is plenty to love about the hot stove and offseason in Major League Baseball and at the same time there is plenty that just frustrates you and makes you want to either just scratch your head or throw your phone through the wall. It’s rumors like the ones I am reading about not only Aroldis Chapman but Carlos Beltran as well returning to the Yankees that make me want to do a little bit of both…. And it’s not even Thanksgiving yet.

The news that the New York Yankees could be interested in bringing back closer Aroldis Chapman excited me to no end for a few reasons. He’s dominant and he gives the Yankees the best chance to win each night he takes the ball but it also allows Dellin Betances to move back to a more familiar and comfortable role as set-up man and fire man. Chapman will command a lot in salary but the Yankees have around $56 million coming off the books this winter and a load of money coming off the books next offseason as well. What’s more important than money in the Chapman situation though is the lack of draft pick compensation and a qualifying offer since the Yankees traded Chapman to the Cubs just a few short months ago. If New York could pull Gleyber Torres from the Cubs in the trade only to get him back a few months later, well that’s just highway robbery right there.

Now to the news that makes me want to scratch my head and throw a phone through the wall, the news that the Yankees may be the favorites to land Carlos Beltran this winter. Why in the world would the Yankees want Beltran back in 2017? No offense to Carlos intended because what he did as a whole during his tenure with the Yankees was fantastic but the time is now to get younger, more flexible and less reliant on aging veterans well past their prime. All signing Beltran does, besides giving the Yankees their right fielder back in addition to RHP Dillon Tate, is block Mason Williams,  Aaron Hicks, Tyler Austin and most notably Aaron Judge from getting the necessary at bats they need to succeed in 2017 and going forward.

So could both players be headed back to New York? Well I guess it certainly is a possibility but it’s not a possibility that I necessarily agree with. Yes to Chapman. No to Beltran. Please?