Comments on: Aroldis Chapman blows away the Cardinals

By: txraiderfan

txraiderfan — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 20:14:23 +0000

Sure, Dusty will have no problem pitching him six or seven days in a row. After all, Dusty threw every day when he was an outfielder

By: sneschalmers

sneschalmers — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:40:08 +0000

The craziest thing about Billy Wagner is that he was born right handed. After he broke his right arm a couple of times when he was young, he taught himself to throw left handed and voila. Throws 100.

By: contraryguy

contraryguy — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:06:13 +0000

and while I’m thinking of it, do I really need to bring up Danny Graves, the Reds poster child for ‘closer to starter disaster’?

By: contraryguy

contraryguy — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:52:47 +0000

(3) The other options are using Alfredo Simon as closer, but that takes away the best long reliever/’situation X’ kinda guy that the Reds have; OR, wait for Nick Masset to return and make him the closer. The latter option scares the hell out of many Reds fans, including myself. He blew 6 saves last year, and that was when he was healthy.

By: cggarb

cggarb — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:42:06 +0000

“If there’s one thing to learn from one data point, it’s that it supports a sweeping generalization.”

It’s also specifically nonsense, in this instance:

Chapman is a closer for two and a half reasons: (1) The Reds have 5 starters (who have made every start this season.) Of them, I believe only Mike Leake had options. Of them, only Leake is even marginally capable of relieving (and his multi-pitch arsenal is probably a bad fit for the pen).

(2) Ryan Madson got hurt in spring training.

(2.5) Sean Marshall sortof struggled in the closer role early in the season.

By: ruehlmann

ruehlmann — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:06:34 +0000

This is a fantastic post, well done.

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:48:45 +0000

Fun with paces.

Granted, no way on earth would Chapman come close to maintaining that strikeout rate as a starter, but for fun, let’s pretend he could.

-That would be 373 stikeouts in 200 innings.

-If he pitched the 249.2 innings that Johnson did when he K’d 372, Chapman would have 466 K’s.

-If he were transported back to the 1970s and tossed 326 innings like Ryan in his record-setting strikeout season, Chapman would have 609 strikeouts.

-If a wacky comedy ensued that caused Chapman to change places with Old Hoss Radbourn on the 1884 Province Grays and assume his innings workload of 678.2…Chapman would amass 1,267 strikeouts while he and battery-mate Barney Gilligan learn a valuable lesson about how our differences make us special.

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:41:07 +0000

Gotta love a player who retires after posting a 1.43 ERA, 37 saves and 104 Ks in 68 innings.

Career compared to Rivera:
Wagner: 2.31 ERA, .998 Whip, 0.8 HR/9, 3.0 BB/9, 11.9 K/9
Rivera: 2.21 ERA, .998 Whip, 0.5 HR/9, 2.0 BB/9, 8.3 K/9

Granted, Rivera did it in 300 more innings. So I guess Wagner will have to settle with just being known as the best *left-handed* reliever of all time.

By: Alex K

Alex K — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:28:14 +0000

C.J. Wilson and Ryan Dempster disagree that closers should stay closers.

By: milltec

milltec — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:17:57 +0000

Yeah sucks that you make an assumption that he completely abandoned her and probably doesn’t pay any portion of his large salary into giving her a better living than she could have had when he was still there. You don’t know the details (and neither do I) so don’t blatantly assume anything.

By: whodeytn

whodeytn — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:23:07 +0000

Not to be a buzzkill here, but the guy abandoned his newborn daughter in Cuba. Fun to watch and everything, but I won’t root for him.
——-

Good lord.

By: bgeary8

bgeary8 — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:56:08 +0000

So Billy Wagner was pretty good.

By: danrizzle

danrizzle — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:40:47 +0000

Not to be a buzzkill here, but the guy abandoned his newborn daughter in Cuba. Fun to watch and everything, but I won’t root for him.

By: qacm

qacm — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 07:16:20 +0000

Craig Kimbrel’s 2012 season also should be on your llst, Matthew. He’s currently averaging 15.94 K/9.

By: randygnyc

randygnyc — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 05:20:47 +0000

I was sad the Yankees weren’t interested in signing chapman. A really special kid. Can’t help but rooting for him every chance I get. Seems like he operates under the influence of adrenalin. Not sure how that would translate over 100 pitches every 5 days. If he’s going to be limited to low to mid 90′s, he may not be as effective and surely not as dynamic. If he’s able to maintain upper 90′s he will be infinitely more valuable as a starter.

By: Matthew Pouliot

Matthew Pouliot — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 05:05:27 +0000

Ugh… not sure how I missed that on my scan. Thanks!

By: gostros19

gostros19 — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 04:28:12 +0000

For once Astros dominate something here!

By: rollinghighwayblues

rollinghighwayblues — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 04:08:31 +0000

Not to be an ass, Matthew, but Chapman also threw three days in a row in 2010, September 9,10 and 11.

By: yahmule

yahmule — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 03:55:32 +0000

He was pretty effective as a SP in spring training this year.

By: yahmule

yahmule — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 03:54:37 +0000

It’s really enjoyable to watch Chapman dominate hitters this way. He’s turning out to be as special as people thought he might be when he first arrived in MLB.

Unit holds seven of the top 11 K/9 seasons in MLB.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/strikeouts_per_nine_season.shtml

By: phillyphever

phillyphever — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 03:53:43 +0000

If there’s one thing to learn from the Bard experiment in Boston is that closers are closers for a reason: they don’t have the stamina to be effective for more than a few innings. Keep Chapman in the bullpen.

By: okwhitefalcon

okwhitefalcon — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 03:52:59 +0000

He seems to be pitching more effectively post somersault(s).

By: Tim's Neighbor

Tim's Neighbor — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 03:37:15 +0000

I’d love to see what this guy could do as a starter. Granted, we wouldn’t see this high of a K rate, but him coming close to Randy Johnson’s superb peak isn’t out of the question.

By: canoyoulie

canoyoulie — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 03:23:37 +0000

and the reds still want to move this guy to a starter? wow.