Both guys have been at AAA for a while now and had a lot of success:
Roenicke: 47.1 IP, 2.66 ERA, 10.4 K/9, 2.6 BB/9
Maloney: 32 GS, 181.1 IP, 4.26 ERA, 8.6 K/9, 2.2 BB/9
There is really nothing to criticize about Roenicke's work. Strikes out a ton, good control. He gets a lot of ground balls too. Maloney's ERA is pretty pedestrian, but a K/BB rate of almost 4 is obviously great. He's been hurt by a lot of HRs and he does have slight fly ball tendencies, but not high enough to suggest his HR rate is going to stay sky high going forward.
Regardless of how you project their future success, I don't think either guy has a lot left to learn at AAA. Roenicke is 27, Maloney 25, so neither is all that young. So the question is, what happens to them? Will the Reds just let them sit in AAA? If I had to guess here's what I think will go down:
-Eventually someone in the pen (probably Lincoln) will get DFA'd and Roenicke will get the call. Or someone will go on the DL, Roenicke will come up, and pitch well enough that they don't want to send him back down. Either way, he'll finish 2009 as part of the Reds bullpen.
-Maloney gets traded before Opening Day 2010 (and goes on to have a solid career with his new team). I'm not sure how high the Reds are on him, and I think Bailey would be next in line anyways if Owings struggles or someone gets hurt. IMO the longer Maloney sits in AAA without making his major league debut, the lower his value goes. If the Reds are hanging around in July and decide they want to pretend they are contenders, I think they use Maloney as part of a package. If not, they deal him in the winter. Either way I don't think he's in the long-term plans.
Thoughts? Is Maloney a goner? Will the Reds wait til Roenicke is 30 to call him up?