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| Broxton is making closer money, but will he hold the closer's role all season? |
By: Scott Eddy
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Today we take a look at the Cincinnati bullpen entering the 2013 season. There's a lot of solid names here and only so many spots to go around. The 'pen is undoubtedly where the hardest decisions of the spring will come for the front office.
Key Losses: None of last year’s regular
contributors are gone, although you could certainly count Aroldis Chapman as a
loss if he indeed does begin to transition into a starting role. Gone is
longtime Red Bill Bray, who elected free agency and signed with Washington.
Though Bray had been an important member of the bullpen for several seasons,
the left-hander was limited to just 8.2 innings with the Reds last year due to
injury. Ryan Madson, last season’s never-was closer after undergoing Tommy John
surgery prior to the start of the year, signed with the Angels.
Key Additions: LHP Manny Parra, RHP Clay Hensley.
Nick Masset will hopefully be available at some point after missing all of last
year due to injury.
Other Additions: RHP Greg Reynolds, RHP Yohan Pino, RHP Kevin Whelan, LHP Loek Van Mil, LHP Wilkin De La Rosa, RHP Jeff Stevens.
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| Chapman's role impacts the entire 'pen. |
While the majority of the position players are
locked into roles before Spring Training ever begins, giving the Reds the type
of certainty heading into the season that most teams envy, there remain several
question marks in the pen. Perhaps the biggest question mark revolves around
the back of the bullpen and the will-he-start-or-won’t-he Chapman who blossomed
into perhaps the game’s best lock down closer a season ago. To give the team a
replacement option and allow himself to open the door for Chapman’s transition
to starting, general manager Walt Jocketty re-signed Jonathan Broxton to a
three-year, $21 million contract in November. With the type of money given to
Broxton, it certainly seems as though Jocketty sees him as the team’s new
closer, even though manager Dusty Baker may not necessarily see things quite
the same way. Though the back of the pen may be weakened with the move of
Chapman, the rest again seems as strong as any in baseball as the Reds will
inevitably, barring injury, be forced to send a very qualified reliever to AAA
to begin the season due to the numbers crunch.
Before we go much further let’s just underscore
the fact that there are a bunch of guys fighting for spots this spring and the
actual bullpen roster on Opening Day could go one of several different ways.
Jose Arredondo, Jonathan Broxton, J.J. Hoover,
Sam LeCure, Sean Marshall, Logan Ondrusek, Manny Parra, and Alfredo Simon all have
a claim to spots in the pen and recent signee Clay Hensley has much major
league experience, but unless the Reds pull something truly crazy, all nine
guys won’t be heading north at the end of Spring Training. To further cloud
things, you can toss the names of Chapman and Mike Leake into the fray as well
because no one knows for sure what the Chapman plan is at the moment, and his
situation greatly influences the approach the Reds will take with Leake. To
further complicate things, and why not, the Reds’ bench seems packed and could
cause the team to consider taking just 11 pitchers north, although that seems
an unlikely scenario.
If depth is strength, then the Reds are
undoubtedly strong in the pen to start the year. If Baker, Jocketty and Co.
were looking for an easy solution to setting the Opening Day roster, well, they
may be out of luck.
Nick Masset can likely be crossed off the Opening
Day roster as he’s certain to start the season on the DL as he continues his
way back from shoulder injuries. The news on Masset lately hasn’t been good.
While we should expect him at some point during the year, there’s absolutely no
certainty that he will pitch for the Reds this season after declaring himself
“a long ways away” following setbacks after arthroscopic shoulder surgery last
September.
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| Sam LeCure was good for more than his 'stache last year. |
Marshall, LeCure and Broxton are locks. Broxton
will almost certainly be handling the closer’s duties, and while he’s certainly
not at Chapman’s 2012 level, his numbers with Cincy last year were good – 3-3,
2.82 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 25 appearances, and built on his 2.27 ERA and 23
saves in 27 opportunities for Kansas City pre-trade. There are a couple ways to
look at Broxton as closer – glass half full points to his strength last year
after the trade deadline deal brought him to the Reds while the glass half
empty approach looks at how things crashed and burned for him in LA. While I
don’t expect that type of fall this season from him, closer may be the spot on
the team I am most nervous about entering the year.
Marshall (5-5, 2.51) will be the primary eighth
inning guy this season, basically taking over Broxton’s late season role from a
year ago. LeCure (3-3, 3.14) isn’t going anywhere after seemingly finding his
niche in the pen. Formerly just a long man, LeCure may slide into more
important situations this season based on his strong campaign last year.
That seventh inning role becomes a big question
mark. Marshall held it down last year after the closer experiment didn’t work,
but he’ll likely be the eighth inning man this time around. I’d presume Chapman
to take many seventh and eighth innings in the early season – chances are very
small that he begins the year in Louisville. The Reds are going to find use for
him somewhere. I believe, and hope, they take the “Kris Medlen approach” with
him this year. It seems that the most prudent approach to take with the
fireballer would be to stretch him out in the pen – perhaps using him for six
outs in many appearances – while limiting his innings the first part of the
season. Then, some time after the All-Star Break, jump him to the rotation with
few enough innings pitched to be able to go strong for the stretch run.
Parra nearly certainly will find a role as a
LOOGY and also allows fellow lefty Tony Cingrani to pitch as a starter in
Louisville. A former starter with Milwaukee, Parra pitched exclusively from the
‘pen last year (2-3, 5.06 in 62 appearances and 58.2 innings). Lefties batted
just .229 against him, and his ERA lowered to 1.88 vs. left-handed batters last
season, giving Cincy their much-needed second south paw in the pen.
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| Hoover was impressive last year, but it be enough to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster? |
I’d expect Simon to make the roster considering
his lack of options. The former starter was a whipping boy for fans early in
the year before settling nicely into the long man’s role with some impressive
numbers – 3-2, 2.66 with 52 strikeouts in 61 innings. Working against him is
the fact that LeCure could easily fill the role if the Reds aren’t eyeing a
later inning role for him. There’s also the bit about his 1.46 career WHIP,
although his stuff says that he might just be one of those guys who puts things
together later in his career. Still, unless a potential trade arises, it is
very unlikely the Reds would just let Simon go as Baltimore did last year
following spring training.
Hensley, 33, is a MLB veteran with 271 major
league appearances under his belt with San Diego, Florida and San Francisco.
With the Giants last year he went 4-5, 4.62 in 60 appearances. He had a great
2010 with Florida (3-4, 2.16 in 68 games) before dropping off the map in a
terrible 2011 (6-7, 5.19). His signing as a non-roster invitee to spring
training likely comes as a result of the bad news on Masset and he serves as added
depth in case of any other injuries. It will likely take an injury or two for
him to ever pitch in Cincinnati, but he’s there if needed.
Likely Opening Day Bullpen:
LHP Manny Parra
RHP Jose Arredondo
LHP Aroldis Chapman
RHP Sam LeCure
RHP Alfredo Simon / Logan Ondrusek
LHP Sean Marshall (SU)
RHP Jonathan Broxton (CL)
Overall Position Grade: B+
Personally I wouldn’t let the season begin
without Hoover on the roster, but I’m afraid that’s the way things are lining
up as he appears to fall victim to the roster crunch. The last spot could go
one of three or four directions and until we get some more games under our
belts it’s too early to call. Either way, the Reds should have the luxury of
two or three major league ready guys being available in Louisville. Removing
Chapman from the closer role takes a lot away from the pen, but if he’s used
like I described, the late innings are still as solid as any team’s pen in
baseball. Guys like Arredondo and Ondrusek have proven reliable arms in the
past, and they’ve also proven to be shaky at others. Still, every team has
middle relief questions at this time of the year. All told, the Reds – even
with the questions of their own – are better off in the pen than the majority
of teams.
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