Why Not Start Aroldis?
by drj112379 on Mar 9, 2010 10:11 PM EST
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PrintAlright, it’s easy to be a giddy fan. Especially if you sign a 22-year-old Cuban phenom who pitches over 100 mph. This is Aroldis Chapman, who pitched two innings of shut-out baseball for his Spring debut. One of the scouts clocked his fastball at 102 mph. This is just amazing. There aren’t that many starting pitchers out there who can top 100 miles an hour. Really, there aren’t. And one of the main knocks on Chapman before the Reds signed him is that he doesn’t have great command.
So far in camp, all he has shown is command. Okay, he did hit Todd Frazier in the knee, but this kid has thrown roughly two thirds of his pitches for strikes. Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated compared Chapman’s effort in throwing to someone who’s "skipping a rock" across a lake. But Chapman isn’t just throwing heat. Posnanski said that Chapman struck out Rick Ankiel with a slider that he missed by so much that "he had to be rebooked on a later flight" (kind of a cheesy comparison, but I’ve written much worse).
Marty Brennaman, who has been following baseball for 37 years, says Chapman is the best pitching prospect he has ever seen.
And it seems like everyone who’s not in the Reds club house wants Chapman to start in the minors.
I understand being cautious with a guy who’s so young, but… WHY?!
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Really?
Okay, I’m just trying to add my own take about the Reds. God forgive me If I would like people to read my blog on another website that is a blog. I guess there are too many blogs out there. Maybe I shouldn’t be writing anything. Sorry.
write all you like
just dont use our blog as free ad-space.
we’d love it if you’d stick around and join the conversation. but pimping your own site is just uncouth.
by Charlie Scrabbles on Mar 11, 2010 1:47 PM EST up reply actions
Actually, it's not the pimping that bothers me
it’s the signing up strictly to pimp your blog. I’m all for supporting other blogs. I love the Reds online community. But if you are only here to link to your site, then you aren’t really part of the community and all you are trying to do is piggyback on what RR has built.
If all you want is for people on this site to read your site, email me a link and I’ll put it in our blogroll. Or, better yet, put a link in your signature (on your profile) and then start joining in the conversation.
Red Reporter or follow on Twitter: @redreporter
this is pr' much what i meant
good on ya for clarifying.
by Charlie Scrabbles on Mar 11, 2010 2:25 PM EST up reply actions
OH YEAH? WELL YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO RENT HERE ANYMORE!
"They're the ones that gave you the keys, they can’t get upset when you crash the car" -- 'tHan on my being a mod
Well, there are financial considerations
I also think it’s way too early to be getting so excited. We’re a few days into spring training. The level of competition is nowhere near big league level. If spring training performance meant anything, Bubba Crosby would be an All-Star.
The scouting reports on Chapman don’t say he can’t throw strikes. They say when he tries for the edge of the plate, it ends up down main street. And that his arm slot for breaking balls is much higher than for fastballs – which will be a problem against major leaguers.
The early reports were all that he was still a raw talent, and a couple of spring training games don’t prove otherwise.
All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?
by BubbaFan on Mar 9, 2010 11:17 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
that was great
Aroldis Chapman stars as...Dr. Chapstick!
by PeteyHendrix on Mar 10, 2010 1:34 AM EST up reply actions
Andriod
You should follow me on twitter @DavefrmLville....the Onion does!
by Dave from Louisville on Mar 9, 2010 11:20 PM EST reply actions
Andriod's new nickname
Con Calor!
You should follow me on twitter @DavefrmLville....the Onion does!
by Dave from Louisville on Mar 9, 2010 11:20 PM EST up reply actions
In 2007 Marty Compared Bailey to Wood
Said Wood had the best “stuff” he had ever seen. Marty isn’t the best judge. Fuck Marty!
Volquez, Bailey, Cueto, Chapman, and Leake. The future is so bright I have to wear sunglasses.
for a second I thought you meant Travis
by ken on Mar 10, 2010 8:13 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Er
*Said Wood Bailey had the best "stuff" he had ever seen. Marty isn’t the best judge. Fuck Marty!
Volquez, Bailey, Cueto, Chapman, and Leake. The future is so bright I have to wear sunglasses.
by justin007000 on Mar 10, 2010 11:10 AM EST up reply actions
Doesn't Bailey have pretty good stuff?
Marty might’ve been exagerrating, but it’s not a ridiculous statement. And he was comparing Bailey to Kerry Wood, correct?
No, just a piece of wood
Bailey has much better stuff than a piece of wood.
by Brendanukkah on Mar 10, 2010 1:28 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
I'm still trying to figure out what Justin meant to say
All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?
new sig line alert
It doesn't matter what you think, or what I think. It's what Dusty thinks that matters, and he's a knucklehead.
by PeteyHendrix on Mar 11, 2010 5:57 PM EST up reply actions
"Stuff" was supposed to be "Stiff"
Bailey has the best stiffy Marty has ever seen.
by Brian B on Mar 10, 2010 2:58 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
I'm going off of a simple cost/benefit analysis
We’ve already got 4 good-to-great starters lined up. We don’t need him right NOW, we need him to be the best pitcher he can be. If he starts in the bigs before he’s ready and gets blown up, people will write him off immediately and he’ll have to go to the minors and likely end up with similar confidence issues Homer had early on.
Give the guy time to develop. It’s as if we know what our christmas present will be and it’s october. Yes, the waiting sucks, but think about how AWESOME it’s gonna be on christmas morning!
I believe Taveras was signed right around Christmas
by Brendanukkah on Mar 10, 2010 11:26 AM EST up reply actions
someone must have been very naughty
All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?
by BubbaFan on Mar 10, 2010 12:04 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Ol' Lump-of-coal Taveras
THAT’S what we should have called him.
Actually, now that I think about it, ‘T-Virus’ was both funnier and more accurate.
But he’s gone now, which is the best present of all!
why not champan to start the season...
I believe it is very simple. He cannot start the season in the rotation.
One, he’s young and as far as anyone knows, he’s thrown no more than 118 innings, which was spring 2009 in Cuba, and there is now way that he should or will, under Walt’s direction, throw more than 165 innings, absolute tops. That said, if he opens the year in rotation, he will only be able to deliver 4 or 5 innings or he can pitch 6 or 7 and he can be shut down in late August. With the latter, that means you’re throwing in the towel before the season starts, wasting Chapman early and losing him for the “playoff push” should we be so lucky.
Second, its simple economics. If he is on the 25 man roster before May 1, in the end he will be eligible for arbitration a year earlier and, if I understand his contract correctly, the first three years will cost 14.5 million, instead of 4.5 million. Basically, there are serious incentive clauses for him to make the club out of spring training. But doing so will cost 9 million so why not wait 2 months until we can’t stand Lehr, Micah, et al anymore and call up Chapman of for the last 2/3 of the season? I’d rather have that 9 million in payroll flexibility and I bet Walt does, too. Any thoughts?
by mox on Mar 10, 2010 11:52 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
I think you're right
The Reds have done it before. Homer Bailey and Jay Bruce were called up at the end of May/beginning of June, presumably because of clock considerations.
All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?
I think the innings considerations are a big deal
Obviously the money matters a great deal as well, but if they are determined to control his innings this season, he really can’t start in the rotation. Let him pitch in AA and AAA, skip a few starts, only have 100 IP or so on his arm in August, and bring him up of the playoff push!
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. -Aristotle
rec'd
It doesn't matter what you think, or what I think. It's what Dusty thinks that matters, and he's a knucklehead.
by PeteyHendrix on Mar 11, 2010 5:59 PM EST up reply actions
Chapman/Leake
I have to agree, starting the year in the bigs for either of these guys is not what any of us want. Take Leake for example, he threw so many innings last year at ASU he had to be shut down. Chapman is exactly the same. I think that if we can win some ball games before calling these guys up and let them get passed the arbitration deadline then we could be in business. These 2 guys should be our future and if they can produce after callups then it might lead to Harang/Arroyo getting traded to dump salary. I want this team to win now, but now so much as to lose out on our future pitchers.
I'd only consider him for a bullpen role this year.
right now he needs to build on his innings. go to AA or AAA and start, then later in the year groom him for the bullpen if they are in a pennant race.
I'm with you on where he should start the season.
But if the Reds are four or five games over .500 in August, I’ll think they should get him starts down the stretch.
Assuming that he’d be effective. …Assuming that he had torn up Louisviile.
"Let's get this movie. We already have the underwear."
by Fat Vegas Alan on Mar 12, 2010 8:24 AM EST up reply actions
Oh I agree with you
I’d rather see him starting the whole year too, but that would mean he would need to be shut down at some point to limit his innings. If they can find some other way to keep his innings down then I’m all for it, using him some in the bullpen is the easiest way I can see them doing it.
Well, I think whenever he comes up to Cincinnati (if he comes up in 2010)
..he’d “only” be the fifth starter. So he’d get skipped occasionally and he’d also likely be on a pitch count.
So it could be done. .. If the Reds are four or five games over .500
"Let's get this movie. We already have the underwear."
by Fat Vegas Alan on Mar 12, 2010 3:22 PM EST up reply actions
I could be ok with that
I’m just wary of how the Reds might use him late in the year, if he reaches/nears his inning limit how do use him in a playoff race or in the playoffs themselves?
It’s not that I disagree with you, but I just sort of like the idea of him getting his feet wet in the bullpen in the major leagues before starting him. And like you said, this is only if the Reds find themselves in the hunt late in the year.
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