NEW YORK — Aroldis Chapman says Chicago Cubs Manager Joe Maddon misused him during the postseason, putting the hard-throwing reliever on the mound too often in Chicago’s successful effort to win the World Series for the first time since 1908.
Traded from the New York Yankees to Chicago in late July, Chapman got the victory in Game 7 against Cleveland after blowing an eighth-inning lead. He became a free agent and agreed to an $86 million, five-year contract to return to the Yankees, a deal finalized Thursday.
“I think he was wrong in the way he used me. He abused a little bit on how much he made me pitch, and sometimes he made me pitch when I didn’t need to pitch,” Chapman said Friday. “But he’s the manager. He knows his stuff. He manages the way he knows, the way he wants and the way he wants to win. It was his decision, and my duty is to be prepared. I prepare myself to be strong, so that my arm is healthy. Thank God I was able to do the job, and I could pitch the way he wanted me to.”
The left-hander from Cuba threw 273 pitches in 13 postseason appearances, including 42 over 22/3 innings in Game 5, when he got his first eight-out save in the Cubs’ 3-2 win.
He threw 20 on one day’s rest to get four outs in Game 6, then 35 more in Game 7, when he entered with a 6-3 lead and allowed Brandon Guyer’s RBI double and Rajai Davis’ two-run homer.
Asked for an example of misuse, Chapman cited Game 6, when he entered with a 7-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh with two on and two outs. Francisco Lindor grounded out, and Chapman stayed in until the bottom of the ninth, when he was replaced by Pedro Strop after a leadoff walk with the Cubs ahead 9-2.
“I don’t think I needed to come into the game,” Chapman said. “Looking forward, the important game was going to be Game 7 because basically we had that game almost won. Then I had to pitch on Game 7 and I was a little tired. I felt a little different. It’s not the same. I could go out to pitch, do my job, but you’re not as efficient if you’re tired.”
LUXURY TAX: A record six teams are paying baseball’s luxury tax this season, led by the Los Angeles Dodgers at $31.8 million and the New York Yankees at $27.4 million.
Boston ($4.5 million), Detroit ($4 million), San Francisco ($3.4 million) and the World Series champion Cubs ($2.96 million) also were sent bills Friday by the commissioner’s office, according to information obtained by The Associated Press.
The Yankees are paying for the 14th straight year since the tax began, raising their total to $325 million. New York has said it hopes to get below the threshold by 2018.
Los Angeles owes for the fourth consecutive year and like New York pays at a 50 percent rate on the amount above the $189 million threshold. The Dodgers paid a record $43 million for 2015, and their four-year total is $113 million.
Boston and San Francisco pay at a 30 percent rate as offenders for the second straight year, and Detroit and the Cubs – a first-time payer – are at 17.5 percent.
RED SOX: Right-hander Brandon Workman and the Red Sox reached agreement on a one-year contract for $635,000, avoiding salary arbitration.
Workman, 28, spent last season on the disabled list after having Tommy John surgery in June 2015. He went 0-2 with a 7.65 ERA in 10 rehabilitation appearances at three minor league levels.
Workman is 7-13 with a 5.11 ERA in 39 games for the Red Sox, including 18 starts. He has not pitched in the majors since 2014.
HALL OF FAMER Rod Carew underwent heart and kidney transplant surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.
The Minnesota Twins said the procedure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles lasted 13 hours.
“We are overwhelmed with emotions right now – joy, relief, excitement and especially gratitude for all the doctors and nurses who have been with us at every step in this journey, and to the donor who made this possible,” Carew’s wife, Rhonda, told American Heart Association News. “Rod knows he’s been given another chance at life and we look forward to making the most of it.”
The 71-year-old former Twins and California Angels star had a heart attack in September 2015, and shortly thereafter had a left ventricular assist device implanted in his heart, which was a temporary fix to keep his heart going.
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