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http://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/fe...spx?ID=1885174
I don't know what to make of this, or even to believe a lot of this. Before reading this, I was thinking his upside was Verlander, while his downside was Daniel Bard. Now? The upside still may be Verlander, but the downside, sadly, may be Dwight Gooden... Again, not being a doomsayer here as I have a hard time believing some of this. But still, it worries me a bit...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vander
Cripes, I'd take those first 3, 5, or 7 years of Doc Gooden and party like its 1999 (or in Doc's case, 84-87).
I wish Aroldis the person all the best, but if he ends up a trainwreck I prefer it is after a Gooden like performance before he does so...
Five great years and one "is this man a cyborg?" kind of year in exchange for a lifetime of wondering "what could have been?"Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackPete Ibold
...
Hmm...
This was a great, although sometimes scary, read. Really makes you appreciate all the efforts the Reds are going to to keep him on the right path.
Kudos to Craig Fehrman- I've never read an article that detailed on Chapman
Great article. Very informative and detailed. Can't wait for the season to start.
I think the Reds are doing the right thing by putting Chapman in the rotation but opinions don't get outs and win games. We'll see.....
Mark Sheldon posted this in his blog today about Chapman after watching him throw to live batters:
"Needing to have more than a fastball to make a successful transition to the rotation, it appears Chapman has expanded his bag of tricks. Besides the fastball and changeup, he had a slider, a two-seam fastball and also showed a split-fingered fastball. If he gets that pitch honed, he could be very tough as a starter."
http://marksheldon.mlblogs.com/
I think Chapman is going to have his ups and downs, but I think he is going to prove to a lot of doubters that being moved into the rotation was the right decision.
mark sheldon has to have something to do and comment on as it is his job. i always take spring training performances with a grain of salt no matter how convincing they are.
Article is alarming and I don't blame the reds if they are trying to handle him to protect their large investment
Dunno if anybody else saw the MLB Network Reds preview today... Lets just say they (Al Leiter, Larry Bowa) were not in favor of moving Chapman to the rotation.
If you missed it, that was really about it. Pre-K level of in depth analysis there...
I saw that too and was blown away by how little information they seemed to have about Chapman. Leiter even admitted that he had never seen him start a game. *sigh*Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackPete Ibold
I know I have an inherent bias against Leiter for 1999 (Yes, I'm still angry... Call me petty if you'd like.), but he really didn't seem to care to have all the information. It's almost as if he thought Chapman was all fastball and nothing else... :confused:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vander
I guess I just had more expectations for the MLB preview... It was basically worthless.
If you know the Reds like most of us, it was, as I stated, a pre-K level of info.
If you did not know much or anything about the Reds and watched the show to learn something, you are essentially just as ignorant as before.
The only item I enjoyed was the interview with Jay Bruce where he spoke of his leverage with his swing and how he tries to get good backspin from the contact point...
Actually, I think it was worse than what you're saying. They actually gave out misinformation about Chapman. I thought doing research was kind of important in their line of work...Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackPete Ibold
It makes me glad that I've skipped most of their 30 clubs in 30 days segments. I've come to expect a lot more from MLB Network...