TORONTO — One day after Boston’s Aroldis Chapman repeated his belief that he’s owed an apology from the Yankees for the way the team treated him at the end of the 2022 season, New York manager Aaron Boone said Friday that he doesn’t see a need.
Chapman, an eight-time All-Star and two-time World Series winner, was ruled out of New York’s divisional series against Cleveland in October 2022 after he skipped a mandatory workout. Earlier that season, Chapman was on the injured list from Aug. 24 to Sept. 16 because of an infection in his left leg caused by getting a tattoo.
Chapman said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman owes him an apology.
Asked Friday about Chapman’s comments, Boone said the facts speak for themselves.
“At the end of the day, he wasn’t at the workout,” Boone said Friday before the Yankees’ series-opening 8-5 loss in Toronto. “I made the decision, based on a lot of things and thought, to leave him off because I thought that was the right thing to do for our club at the time.
“Chappy apologized, and really, it’s water under the bridge for me. I love Chappy. I have a really good relationship with him to this day, but the ending of the ’22 season is what it was. He wasn’t there, and I made the decision that I didn’t think it was best for him to come back at that point. He maintained that he was throwing and would be ready as the playoffs unfolded that year, but ultimately, I made that decision.”
Boone left no room for doubt about whether Chapman deserved an apology.
“No,” he said.
The Yankees beat Cleveland in five games in 2022. Chapman, who saved 146 games for New York from 2016 to 2022, did not return as New York was swept by Houston in the ALCS. The Astros went on to beat Philadelphia in the World Series.
Chapman signed with Kansas City that offseason and was traded to Texas at the deadline in 2023, winning his second World Series title with the Rangers. He pitched for Pittsburgh in 2024 and joined Boston in 2025.
Chapman is 0-1 with a 0.46 ERA and 13 saves in 13 chances for the last-place Red Sox. He’s on a one-year, $13.3 million contract.
