http://sports.yahoo.com/news/cincin...move-reds-aroldis-chapman-235600953--mlb.html
[h=1]Cincinnati Reds: The One Offseason Move Reds Have to Make Is Aroldis Chapman to Rotation[/h]
<cite class="byline vcard top-line">By
Robb Hoff<abbr>November 4, 2013 6:56 PM</abbr></cite>
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<!-- google_ad_section_start --><meta content="2013-11-04T23:56:00Z" itemprop="datePublished"><meta content="Cincinnati Reds: The One Offseason Move Reds Have to Make Is Aroldis Chapman to Rotation" itemprop="headline"><meta content="" itemprop="alternativeHeadline"><meta content="" itemprop="image"><meta content="COMMENTARY | The Cincinnati Reds have plenty of options ahead of them in the upcoming weeks regarding signing free agents and trading players, but there's really only one move that must be made during the offseason -- switch Aroldis Chapman from closer to the starting rotation. The Reds have penciled in the Cuban Missile as a starter for each of the past two seasons at the outset of spring training, but circumstances led Chapman to closing during the regular season instead. Now that former Reds pitching coach Bryan Price is manager, the third time will be the charm for Chapman's odyssey as a big-league starter to begin." itemprop="description">
COMMENTARY | The
Cincinnati Reds have plenty of options ahead of them in the upcoming weeks regarding signing free agents and trading players, but there's really only one move that must be made during the offseason -- switch
Aroldis Chapman from closer to the starting rotation.
The Reds have penciled in the Cuban Missile as a starter for each of the past two seasons at the outset of spring training, but circumstances led Chapman to closing during the regular season instead. Now that former Reds pitching coach Bryan Price is manager, the third time will be the charm for Chapman's odyssey as a big-league starter to begin.
The Big Cuban Unit
The biggest reason the Reds should want to have Chapman start is his potential. With two devastating pitches in his 100+ miles per hour fastball and wicked 92-mph slider, Chapman has the ability to become a dominant left-handed starter of the Randy Johnson ilk. The likeness is nothing new and was touted as the motivation for
the announcement before spring training last year that Chapman would be a starter for the 2013 season.
That potential will ring truer for Price than anyone else, who stated last year in the article linked above that the longer the Reds wait to convert Chapman to starter, the less chance there is of finding out if Chapman can be one of the best starting pitchers of his generation.
"But I also have a feeling in my heart that he's not going to be the best possible pitcher he can be until he throws enough innings to master his craft," he said. "I think this kid has untapped potential, but it won't come out until we give him an opportunity to mature as a pitcher. Does he have a chance to be one of the better starters of his generation? The longer we wait, the less chance we have of ever finding out."
T
he Loss of Bronson Arroyo
If the Reds opt not to pursue Bronson Arroyo for another gig as starting pitcher, Chapman's time will come. The strength of the Reds' five-man rotation in 2013 kicked Chapman back into the bullpen for the season. Now that Arroyo has left a vacancy in the rotation, it belongs to Chapman.
A rotation of
Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos, Homer Bailey, Aroldis Chapman and Mike Leake would be a World Series-contending one, much more so than if Arroyo or any other pitcher on the Reds' 40-man roster was in the rotation rather than Chapman.
