The Red Report: Arthur Rhodes

Arthur Rhodes

#53 / Pitcher / Cincinnati Reds Height: 6-2

Weight: 210

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Oct 24, 1969

Fast Facts

• Arthur Lee Rhodes was born in Waco, Texas.  He's one of two Reds players born in the 1960's on this year's club, although David Weathers is a month older.
• He was drafted in 1988 out of La Vega HS by the Baltimore Orioles with their second round pick, the 34th overall.  It was a pretty interesting draft.  The only player the Reds drafted of note that year was Jeff Branson, but Reds fans would be interested to know that the Orioles that year also drafted future Reds Joey Hamilton and Pete Rose Jr.
• Another tidbit from that draft is that with their 14th round pick in 1988, the Reds drafted a pitcher out of San Antonio named Johnny Almaraz, presumably the same one that went on to become a scout for the Reds, the director of player development, and the guy responsible for the Reds signing players like Adam Dunn, Johnny Cueto, B.J. Ryan, and Jason LaRue.  Not such a bad draft after all, I guess.
• Rhodes spent his first 3 years in the Baltimore system as a starting pitcher, moving up from level to level pretty steadily.  In 1990, he pitched two games where he had 16 strikeouts, but didn't win either one.  After throwing 153 innings in 25 starts at A+ and AA, he was named the #6 prospect in baseball in 1991.
  
• He went straight from AA to the majors in 1991, but disappointed once he got there.  As a 21 year old, he went 0-3 in 8 major league starts, only pitching more than 4 innings in two of them, and managing to bring his ERA down to 8.00 by season's end.
• Despite his rough first go at the big leagues, he went into the 1992 season as the #5 prospect in baseball, and #1 in the Orioles system.  He pitched at AAA for the first 3 months, going 6-6 in 17 starts with a 3.72 ERA.  He got called up, and picked up right where he left off. 
  
• In his rookie season (which was only a half-season, because he got called up in July), he went 7-5 with a 3.63 ERA in 15 starts, with 77 strikeouts.  That K total was good for 3rd among AL rookies, and he threw the first shutout in Yankee Stadium in 11 years.  A sign of good things to come, I guess.

• For the next 3 years, he bounced between the minors and Baltimore, with some injury problems along the way.  Mostly tendinitis in his left knee, and a torn labrum in his shoulder in 1995.  After starting the '95 season running into some trouble in games he started, he was moved to the bullpen, after beginning his career starting 59 ML games.  After this switch, he'd go on to have 2 more spot starts in the majors, with 653 relief appearances through 2008.
• In 1996, had some problems with his shoulder again, but went 9-1 with an ERA of 4.08, including a couple of good outings in the playoffs.  Was great in 1997 and 1998, except for a left elbow injury that sidelined him for part of '98.  Wasn't as great in '99, but was granted free agency after the '99 season.
• Shortly after, signed a contract with the Mariners.  Had a mediocre 2000 season, but his 2001 campaign was something special.  In 68 innings, he went 8-0 with a 1.72 ERA, along with 83 K and 12 walks.
• Also in 2001, he was ejected from a game against the Indians.  Omar Vizquel complained that his diamond earring was distracting, and asked him to remove it.  Rhodes argued and ultimately got ejected.
• He made the playoffs in 2000 and 2001, and pitched well again.  In his 4 playoff appearances, he lost in the ALCS all 4 times.
• Kept solid through 2002 and 2003, establishing himself as one of the best left-handed relievers in the league.  After 2003, once again filed for free agency.
• Before the 2004 season, Rhodes was signed by the Oakland A's, who at the time needed a closer.  He was the closer there until the middle of June, when he lost the job to Octavio Dotel after 5 blown saves in the first 14 opportunities.  Also that year, he went on the DL with back problems.
• The A's had apparently seen enough, when after that season, they traded him to Pittsburgh along with Mark Redman for Jason Kendall.  The Pirates promptly flipped him to Cleveland for Matt Lawton.
• In 2005 for the Tribe, he was still reliable.  He went 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 43.1 innings.  Oh yeah, and another DL stint, this time with inflammation in his right knee.
• After that season, he was traded once again to the Philadelphia Phillies, this time for Jason Michaels.  The 2006 season wasn't as kind to Arthur, where he strained his elbow in September.  He missed the rest of the season.
• Starting the 2007 season, he signed a minor league deal with the Mariners.  Shortly after, he went on the DL with an injury to his left elbow, and ended up needing Tommy John surgery.  There goes 2007.
• He signed another minor league deal with the Mariners in 2008, but he didn't make the team out of spring training.  He was added to the roster on April 10, completing his comeback to the majors after surgery.  He pitched well, going 2-1 with a 2.86 ERA for the Mariners.  On the trade deadline, he was traded once again, this time to the Marlins for pitcher Gaby Hernandez.  In his 13.1 innings in Florida, he put up a 0.68 ERA.  Nice.
• On December 12, 2008, the free agent Rhodes signed a contract with the Cincinnati Reds.  RedReporter's reaction?  Slyde's initial reaction was that it was too much money for too many years.  It should also be noted that Thundering Turtle called this before it happened.  Kudos.
• We'll see what happens in a Reds uniform, but coming to the Reds he brings a career .614 OPS against lefties.  He'll probably be used as a LOOGY.

Organizational History

Drafted/Signed: Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2nd round (34th overall pick) of the 1988 amateur entry draft.
GM when acquired by Reds: Walt Jocketty

Contract Status

MLB Service Time (as of Opening Day 2009): 16.020
Current Contract Status: 2 years, $4 million.  Makes $2 million in 2009.

Career Stats

2009 Projections

RR Projected Wins Above Replacement:  0.6

Graphs

This hot zone graph is modified for pitchers.  The notes are at the bottom, but the easy way to read it is that darker areas are areas that the pitcher pitches too most often.  And the cooler the color is, the better the hit type (from the pitcher's perspective).  So, blue is best because those are areas of low contact.  Green is next best because those are batted ball types that tend to be good for the pitcher (ground balls, pop flies).  Red is the worst because those types of hits tend to hurt the pitcher the most.  Slugging percentage is still listed as well to give you a better idea of the overall results from that zone.

All Pitches | vs. RHB | vs. LHB
RHB: Fastball
LHB: Fastball