Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Why won't the Reds use Aroldis Chapman as their closer?

I remember when I saw the movie Amistad, I was frustrated that Steven Spielberg didn't use his cast effectively.

He gave several of the movies biggest and most emotional moments to Matthew McConaughey... and as I wrote before, McConaughey is good at SOME things, but he was out of his element delivering the big moments.

Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman was in the cast and given virtually nothing to do. Now I am going to go out on a limb and say that an actor of Morgan Freeman's talents were better suited for dramatic speeches than Wooderson from Dazed and Confused.

Well there is a similar waste of talent going on in Cincinnati.

Francisco Cordero is awful. AWFUL and they have a fire baller in Aroldis Chapman just sitting in the bullpen.

The guy hasn't let up a run yet and chances are any NL opponent won't have much of a scouting report on him come playoff time.

Think K-Rod in 2002... think Adam Wainwright in 2006... think David Price shutting down the Red Sox inevitable comeback in 2008.

Each of those teams had a steady veteran who had more experience... and each of those managers went with the young kid and bang... each played in the World Series.

And two of them are Cy Young contenders this year. (OK, the other beat up an elderly man, but that's not important.)

Use the talents properly.

Don't make the mistake Spielberg made.
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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:38 PM

    I agree, you are right, many of us think the same way!

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  2. Cordero is closing because he makes 12 million. It's the same reason Cabrera is starting instead of Janish. Just think how much better they would be if Dusty wasn't the manager.

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  3. Who is us?

    And did any of you make the Amistad comparison?

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  4. You can't blame Dusty... he's delivered your first winning season in a decade.

    But at this point you can't play based on the payroll... you play based on WINNING

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  5. I do blame Dusty because a) Cordero is still the closer b) Janish is not a starter c) he has preferred to use people like Tavares and Patterson over more deserving players d) etc. e) etc. f) Cordero. With the way this has been playing and the luck they've had I think anyone could have won with this team. The real stat heading into the playlets is their record against winning teams and the other division leaders. Ouch. I'm just glad they're (hopefully) going to be there. It's been a fun season to follow.

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  6. Stupid iPhone changing my words....

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  7. Can't believe the Yankees didn't sign this guy. It's funny you brought up Wooderson when blogging about the Reds. If you remember, red is his color.

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