Arredondo: The Forgotten Man in the Bullpen

[Tom Servo]

Nobody ever talks about poor Jose. Well, until he doesn't throw strikes anyway. I think he's looked pretty good in his first full season back in the majors. Not great, but solid. If he could just cut down his BB/9 rate...

[traderumor]

Volquez left, Arredondo steps in. Dude drives me crazy on the mound.

I do not trust relief pitchers who rely on hitters swinging at pitches out of the zone (diving splitters) to be successful. When they don't chase, he walks them or is forced to throw strikes with a pedestrian fastball that he consistently throws high in the zone.

My hope with Arredondo is that some other teams likes relievers that do not throw quality strikes and we can package him in a deal for an upgrade at some position or on the pitching staff. Help some bad team stay bad

[Kc61]

Arredondo. Very hard to hit, but too many walks and long balls.

Not bad for a sixth-seventh inning guy.

My hope is he stays with the Reds and improves.

[Superdude]

Originally Posted by traderumor

Volquez left, Arredondo steps in. Dude drives me crazy on the mound.

I do not trust relief pitchers who rely on hitters swinging at pitches out of the zone (diving splitters) to be successful. When they don't chase, he walks them or is forced to throw strikes with a pedestrian fastball that he consistently throws high in the zone.

He drives me nuts too. I had high hopes coming into this season thinking his fastball would be a little better, but it almost seems to have regressed. That split's a great pitch, but that's about his only real weapon and probably the reason he's walking close to 5 per nine. A decent middle inning guy at least, but probably not the return on investment we expected after rehabbing him a few years ago.

[Wonderful Monds]

He had a killer fastball when he was with Anaheim and supposedly was going to be the next best closer in baseball, didn't he?

[mbgrayson]

Rather than give my own subjective impressions, here are the 2012 stats to date:

Jose Arredondo: 6 wins, 2 losses, 56.1 innings pitched, 2.88 ERA, 44 hits, 30 BBs, 57 Ks, 1.314 WHIP, 1.1 HR/9, 4.8 BB/9, 9.1 K/9, and a 148 ERA+. His salary this year is $1.2 million.

He missed 2010 after arm surgery. All of his numbers are much improved in 2012 over last year, as is typical after surgery.

[Superdude]

Originally Posted by Wonderful Monds

He had a killer fastball when he was with Anaheim and supposedly was going to be the next best closer in baseball, didn't he?

I don't know if he was that highly touted, but he averaged around 94 with his fastball and threw it 60 some percent of the time his rookie year. He's pitching backwards this year, just throwing his fastball to get hitters off his split finger.

[The Operator]

Originally Posted by Superdude

I don't know if he was that highly touted, but he averaged around 94 with his fastball and threw it 60 some percent of the time his rookie year. He's pitching backwards this year, just throwing his fastball to get hitters off his split finger.

That's about where I'm at. His control is frustrating at times but the real head-scratcher is why fastball tops out at 92. He definitely can't go to it as an out pitch, that's for sure.