Reds Obtain Closer Broxton, Waiver Period Not Over
By Ryan Bramwell
What'd I tell ya? The Reds, despite all my efforts, research and articles, would go completely off the radar and acquire a player I barely covered or mentioned throughout the deadline period.
Jonathan Broxton. That was the Reds acquisition on Tuesday afternoon. A closing pitcher. Just a few years ago he was certainly one of the most dominant closers in baseball. Now in his 8th season, Broxton has seen a rise in his stock after a couple of subpar seasons in 2010 and 2011. Broxton has pitched quite well for the Royals this season after spending his first seven with the same Dodger club in Los Angeles. Jonathan is by no means a small man as he stands at 6'4" and weighs in at three bills. That kind of mass means he can really fire the baseball to the plate. Let's take a closer look at the Reds' new...gee, I don't know. New guy out of the pen? I mean Chapman is the closer, right?
Broxton's best season:
2009: 2.61 ERA, 36/42 Saves/Opps, 0.96 WHIP, 114 K's/76 IP
Broxton in 2012 w/ Royals:
2012: 2.27 ERA, 23/27 Saves/Opps, 1.40 WHIP, 25 K's/35.2 IP
His ERA is better. What concerns me however, is his WHIP and much reduced strikeout rate. Plus, where does Broxton fit in on this team. He's not going to be closing unless the organization has been hiding the fact that Aroldis Chapman is suddenly going to be starting games over Mike Leake. That cannot be possible for those of you with your hopes up. The brass has stated the Chapman will absolutely not being starting this season. They did not specifically say, "post-season" though. Still, I don't see the Reds suddenly throwing their future ace into the national spotlight and in the crucial situation that are the playoffs for his very first ever starts as a big league pitcher. So that means Broxton is an addition to an already elite bullpen.
The New Nasty Boys?
With Broxton aboard, the Reds now have a seemingly impenetratable bullpen with the likes of Chapman and Marshall already there. Broxton, Marshall, Chapman. It rings beautifully like Myers, Dibble and Charlton once did. Our bullpen is stacked, there is no doubt about that. LeCure, Simon, Ondrusek, Arredondo, Marshall, Broxton, and Chapman. No, I didn not say Bray. I know. But he's there too I guess. But won't somebody have to be sent down? Most likely, yes. I realize Bray is left-handed, but I say send him down. That's just my opinion.
What'd We Give Up?
The Reds traded away to minor league pitchers: Donnie Joseph and J.C. Sulbaran. Joseph is a reliever and will probably be in the Royals major league bullpen pretty soon if not right away. Sulbaran is starter and only 22 years old. He was probably the tougher of the two prospects to part with. But we are trying to win a World Series and you have to do what you have to do in order to make it there.
So Are We Done Acquiring Players?
Maybe. Maybe not. Juan Pierre will still be available through the remainder of the waiver period (Aug. 30th). It is very possible that the Reds are still planning on making a move for Pierre and want to get him for as little as possible. Players like Cliff Lee, Jed Lowrie, Josh Johnson, Jason Giambi, Josh Beckett, Stephen Drew, Alfonso Soriano, Jeff Francoeur and Placido Polanco are also still out there on the same list as Pierre. I would not be surprised to see the Reds' make one more move (maybe even more significant than the Broxton deal) before too long. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't either.
Discussing, Analyzing and Debating Sports Among Friends In The Heartland.
Despite what the plan for Chapman is this year, which in my opinion he'll stay in the pen, I think the message is pretty clear. We are going to try to win this thing with our bullpen.
ReplyDeleteI think this is good in a couple of ways. Our bullpen was great already, and we made it greater. The best thing this does for us is take even more pressure off of our starting staff. The guys in the rotation, most of them, saw action in the playoffs a couple of years ago, but are relatively inexperienced. This takes the pressure off of them in a playoff run so that they don't feel they need to go throw 8 strong every start in the playoffs. Give us 6 or 7 good innings and the pen will close it down for you.
The other thing this says to me is that we are going to nickel and dime to win every 1 run game we can. We have a laundry list of guys that we can count on every night to hold those crucial 7th and 8th innings for Chapman/Broxton in the ninth. We don't have to worry about wearing down the same arms in high tension spots if we hit stretches of close games, we can spread it out.
I think this is a great acquisition, surprising as it was. I had focused only on bats, bats, bats, but I think this move really helps us down the stretch and sets us up to make a solid run in the playoffs. After all, pitching wins ball games.....that and three run homers.
We may see another move, I wouldn't count it highly likely, but I like the way Jockety maneuvers under the radar. He keeps his cards close, and doesn't show his hand until he makes the move. So would I be surprised if we make another move? No way, but I think it is going to have to be the perfect deal for us and nothing less for Jockety to tinker with stuff much more.
Right. Jocketty usually won't say anything he's involved in, and when he does, it is not in much detail. I'm sure they are still gandering at Pierre, Francouer, and others. But I think the Reds will make a big splash in the winter meetings and may even go after a big name like Ellsbury at that point in time.
ReplyDeleteAcquiring Broxton was surely surprising as I only mentioned the Reds looking at him once. And I didn't say more than they were possibly interested. During deadline day, it was thought that maybe the Reds acquired Broxton in order to use him as bait to make the Denard Span deal happen. It's hard to say. Either way, like you said: The Reds only get stronger by making the already great bullpen greater. It certainly does open up plenty of useful scenarios late in ballgames. What I think is funny is that theoretically the Reds have three tremendous closers on their 2012 roster: Madson, Broxton, and Chapman.