Getty Images Aroldis Chapman has been preparing all spring as if he’ll be in the starting rotation, but Paul Daughtery of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Reds have decided to shift him back to the closer role.
Chapman always wanted to remain in the bullpen and manager Dusty Baker wanted to leave him at closer too, so in the end their preferences won out over the front office wanting to see if Chapman could thrive in a 200-inning role instead of a 70-inning role.
Cincinnati spent $21 million on Jonathan Broxton this offseason so he could step into ninth-inning duties and make moving Chapman into the rotation less of an issue for the bullpen, but now they’re paying $12 million per season for a setup duo of Broxton and Sean Marshall.
There have certainly been several instances of a dominant young reliever struggling with a move into the rotation, due to poor performances and/or injuries, but Chris Sale is a recent prominent example of that shift working out brilliantly. Obviously having Chapman around to shut down opponents for 60-70 high-leverage innings as a reliever is hardly some disastrous scenario, but it would have been fun to see if he could follow Sale’s footsteps into No. 1 starter territory instead of becoming a career-long reliever at age 25.
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Davey Johnson refuses to shave until the National offense wakes up
May 24, 2013, 7:10 PM EDT
AP
Nationals manager Davey Johnson isn’t happy with his team’s offense, which enters tonight’s series opener against the Phillies having averaged 3.38 runs per game, the second-worst rate in the league. Looking for a quirky way to motivate his team, Johnson says he will not shave until the offense makes an appearance: The Nationals manager apologized…
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AP
This is a quick look at the very best and worst each major league lineup spot has to offer this year. Posted along with each line is the player most responsible. We’ll start out with the good before moving on to the bad. 1. Reds: .292/.442/.517, 9 HR, 37 R, 20 RBI, 5 SB (Shin-Soo…
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The K-Crew at Royals games are people who roam the stands, dance on the dugout and fire up the fans. One of them also happens to be a nurse, and she helped save a 14 year-old fan’s life last Friday: Sam Sapenaro, 26, was working her second job as a member of Kauffman Stadium’s K-Crew…
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AP
Mark Teixeira laid out his rehab schedule for Wallace Matthews of ESPN New York, saying the current plan calls for him to play four games in the minors next week and then come off the disabled list to rejoin the Yankees by the end of the week. It’s worth noting that Teixeira has repeatedly laid…
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Danny Espinosa has been playing with a broken wrist since April
May 24, 2013, 5:02 PM EDT
Since that series against the Braves, specifically. The one in which he said he wasn’t impressed by them. Guess he meant it, because one of the Braves pitchers broke his friggin’ wrist and he apparently didn’t take notice of it: Source: #Nats 2b Danny Espinosa‘s right wrist was broken when Paul Maholm hit him with…
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Barry Bloom of MLB.com has a fun, wide-ranging interview with Don Sutton. Lots of good stuff in there as Sutton is never short of opinions. But this is easily my favorite part: MLB.com: Did you cheat? Sutton: No, I never got caught cheating. Bloom did not, sadly, follow up on that. Maybe his mind was…
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Red Sox place Victorino and Middlebrooks on DL, call up Aceves and Iglesias
May 24, 2013, 4:16 PM EDT
AP
David Ross is returning from a concussion tonight but the Red Sox are far from healthy, placing Shane Victorino and Will Middlebrooks on the disabled list. Victorino has a strained hamstring and Middlebrooks has lower back spasms, and Boston has added infielder Jose Iglesias and right-hander Alfredo Aceves from Triple-A to replace them. Iglesias, who’s…
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AP
I get the sense that if Alfonso Soriano is on the trading block this summer he’s not gonna have a big problem waiving his no-trade rights. From Carrie Muskat at MLB.com, here’s Soriano venting about losing: “You think we’re going to win that game 3-0, and in five minutes, [we're down] 5-3 … I’m tired…
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David Ross, who’s missed the past two weeks with post-concussion symptoms, has been cleared to return to the Red Sox and will be active for tonight’s game. That means Ryan Lavarnway is headed back to Triple-A after filling in for Ross as Jarrod Saltalamacchia‘s backup. Ross played in one minor-league rehab game at Double-A yesterday,…
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For the second time this season Reds left-hander Sean Marshall is headed to the disabled list with shoulder problems. Last month it was tendinitis and now it’s being called a sprained shoulder, so it seems likely that Marshall will be out of action for more than the minimum 15 days. In between the injuries he…
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Not long ago the Mariners benched Brendan Ryan for Robert Andino. Not realizing, it seemed, that while neither of then could hit their way out of a wet paper bag, at least Ryan could flash some serious leather. Someone finally figured that out, however:Â Andino has been designated for assignment. Andino was hitting .184/.253/.237 in 85…
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As of last year Alex Rodriguez had his house in Miami on the market for an asking price of $38 million and Darren Rovell of ESPN.com reports that he finally sold the place for $30 million. According to Rovell he paid $7.4 million for the place in 2010 and then dropped another $7.4 million or…
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He’s still employed by the Dodgers. And Davey Johnson is still employed by the Nats. But the latter situation is only going to last for this year and the former could end at any time. In light of that Danny Knobler of CBS Sports.com hears some chatter that the former could replace the latter: People…
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AP
How long is a pitcher sidelined after he punches a locker with his pitching hand and breaks it (the hand, not the locker)? Well, in Ryan Mattheus‘ case 4-6 weeks. That’s the official word from the Nationals and as Amanda Comak of the Washington Times notes the good news is that the reliever won’t need…
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I was a big fan of Drew Sheppard’s Gif of Yu Darvish throwing five different pitches. As were some folks in Japan, who inexplicably made that post the most-read thing in the history of HardballTalk. By a wide margin. But I think I’m more impressed by Drew putting six Miguel Cabrera home runs into one…
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Hey, Kay asked me buy or sell, I gave my answer.
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Blue Jays left-hander Darren Oliver has been his usual effective self this season at age 42, posting a sub-3.25 ERA for the sixth straight season, but now he’s headed to the disabled list with a strained shoulder. To replace Oliver on the roster Toronto called up Double-A left-hander Sean Nolin, a 23-year-old who was their…
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Richie Ashburn’s gravesite is being threatened by development
May 24, 2013, 11:37 AM EDT
Phillies great Richie Ashburn died in 1997. Until now he has been resting in peace. Some, as Victor Fiorillo of the Philly Post repots, are worried that won’t be the case for long: His family buried him in the cemetery outside of Gladwyne Methodist Church, where all was quiet until some developers announced plans to…
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AP
After two injury wrecked seasons the Twins have been remarkably healthy so far, but their lone significant injury has provided a glimpse into the same question health marks that got the head trainer fired this offseason. Backup outfielder Darin Mastroianni injured his ankle late in spring training, but instead of simply placing him on the…
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Today is Bob Dylan’s 72nd birthday. Bob Dylan likes baseball a lot. He devoted a whole episode of his radio show to baseball songs a few years back and it was fantastic. He also wrote and recorded a song about Catfish Hunter for the “Desire” album in 1976 but he left it off. No reason…
