Quote:
Originally Posted by david aka the TYZ
I disagree that anybody can be a closer. Closing is the mentally toughest thing to do in baseball, that's why so many guys choke at it. I'm a numbers guy, so I can agree that on paper he could be a good starter. I think under different circumstances I wouldn't mind given him the option to start. But this team was very good last year and there's no reason to tweak that for no reason. Leake can be an effective fifth starter and with Chapman closing you can keep Marshall and Broxton as set up guys for a killer 7,8,9. It worked, so why mess with it. There's a chance Chapman's arm wears out as a starter and I still think that once batters get his timing down, he will be much less effective. I keep hearing he has more pitches and if that's the case he needs to use them now. He has a nasty fastball with no movement on it and a nasty slider that he can't throw for strikes. By all means use the other pitches if they are in his arsenal. The problem is he isn't comfortable throwing them. We need to win now, why put a project out there in the five slot or use him in AAA while he learns and make this team less talented. We have a championship caliber team and messing with it just doesn't make sense to me on the chance he could be a good starter.
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Agree with everything you said. I was in the boat that wanted to give it a try, but I think a lot of that was thinking how great our rotation could be and I think this will be our last year of Bronson. As time has gone on though, I am just fine with him closing because, as you said, we are in a win now situation and it is not worth messing with. Also, I think it is very important that Chapman WANTS to close. There is a big difference between coming in for one inning with the crowd screaming for you and sustaining adrenaline for 6 innings. I expect another dynamite season out of him in the 9th.