Comments on: Reds won’t disclose how they’ll handle Aroldis Chapman’s workload as a starter

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:35:33 +0000

LOL! Thanks Cur. I have missed that. Missed it a lot.
Do me a favor and try to work it in more consistantly this year.

By: mazblast

mazblast — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:44:33 +0000

Keep Chapman’s contract situation in mind. He is signed through 2014, with a player option for 2015. This means that management may want to “get its money’s worth” in the next two years, with the expectation that they may not have him beyond then.

As for what the Reds will do with him, I don’t see where (a) there’s any expectation that the organization will be honest, even if they know, or (b) that it’s the organization’s responsibility to tell anyone, even if they know. As in any sport, keeping the opposition guessing can’t hurt.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 14:56:15 +0000

He had always been a starter until the Reds moved him to the closer role out of need/desperation. Yes, he is a great closer….but every great starter could be a great closer….the ability to add MPH to the FB in the short role makes their breaking pitches that much more devastating….plus they don’t ever have to turn over the lineup.

This is just more of the price the teams pay for moving young, raw starters to full time bull pen roles: it retards development of the secondary stuff, experience turning over lineups multiple times, and if they want to move them back to the rotation, it may take a couple of years to get them up to a full work load.

By: redlegs7

redlegs7 — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:48:50 +0000

It’s not Baker who’s making the call. He’s actually against the move. Jocketty is the one who is making this happen.

By: skeleteeth

skeleteeth — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 12:39:24 +0000

Hopefully he can revert to the form he was in in ST last year; not trying to overpower all the time and refocusing quicker on his next pitch. It was clear watching him start last spring that he was in complete command of both self and the strike zone when he found this balance and he knew it.

He was able to transform that into the closer role last year but it may be too much to ask for a second year in a row if Broxton doesn’t work out. Also, what does that say to the young pitcher of the organization’s confidence in him as a starter, however rational that may be?

By: cur68

cur68 — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 07:32:04 +0000

Ah, another season, another Dusty Baker tirade. Well. Nothing but for it, then.

Ahem

DANG you Dusty Baker! Dang you to HECK!

By: discountdblcheck

discountdblcheck — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 05:25:30 +0000

It’s Dusty Baker. I mean do you ever expect him to make a common sense decision?

With Dusty, you know Chapman will be the closer….Guaranteed, Because with Chap in the pen it is so much easier for Dusty to manage that pen, which is Dusty’s biggest weakness.

Chap will be the closer. No drama. Nothing to see here.

With Dusty logic, Randy Johnson would be a Closer.

By: js20011041

js20011041 — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 01:35:17 +0000

I have always advocated for the Reds to put Chapman in the rotation, but doing so at this point really puts them in a bit of a bind. I wouldn’t think that they can stretch him much past 130 or 140 innings without significantly increasing his risk of injury. That’s not much of a contribution to a rotation for a team contending for the World Series. The 2nd issue is that it puts Broxton in the closer’s spot. He’s at best a middle reliever at this point. He struck out fewer than 7 batters per nine last year. That’s probably passable for a starter with excellent control. For a reliever, with the caveat that with relievers, the sample size is small enough that anything is possible, it’s just not going to get the job done.

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 01:29:31 +0000

From the article I read on Deadspin yesterday they may also need to figure out how to teach him to keep his head when he faces some adversity on the mound. Maybe it was just because he was young but that article made it sound like he may not have the mental makeup to be a starter.