Madson reaction and other thoughts

I've kept silent most of Spring Training mostly because I wanted to see what transpired.  Obviously the biggest news --and most disappointing-- is Reds closer Ryan Madson will miss the season with an elbow injury.  I was devastated when I heard Madson would be lost for the year.  But what upset me more is how many in Reds land reacted on Twitter and the like.

Just as Reds beat writers John Fay and Mark Sheldon have done over the last couple of days, let me also try and set people straight.  Intimating the Reds did not do its due diligence before signing Madson or that he hid the injury from the team is the most absurd, preposterous scenario I've heard.  Most teams give a player a physical before they finalize a contract and players also are examined the day before Spring Training starts.  So everybody stop with these cockamamie assertions.  Listen fan base, I get that you're mad, you're upset, I am too.  But this injury is nobody's fault.  As Fay said in one of his Twitter posts, all it takes is "one pitch" to tear the elbow ligament.

With Madson down, how the bullpen shakes out is something to watch.  One would think the immediate plan B would be to have Sean Marshall pitch the ninth, although the team has yet to officially reveal its plans.  Should Marshall move to the closers role, added weight will fall on Nick Masset, Logan Ondrusek and Bill Bray.  The latter has yet to pitch in a game this spring because of a sore groin.

Additional speculation is the team could put left-handed flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman back in the bullpen.  However, he started Saturday and pitched five innings of shutout baseball, striking out five in the process and walk one.  Compare that with Homer Bailey's outing Saturday (3.2 IP, 6H, 4R. BB, 3K) and Chapman would appear to be leading in the race for the fifth and final spot in the rotation.  The problem is, Bailey is out of options and has never pitched out of the bullpen.  My guess is despite some pleas from the coaching staff, Chapman will head to Triple A and continue to start.  As noted before, offseason trades have left the team with little starting pitching depth and putting Chapman in the pen leaves the Reds to turn to Jeff Francis (who's pitched well) and Brett Tomko should a starting pitcher come up lame during the season.  If Chapman were moved to the bullpen, it's unrealistic he would have the stamina to go back to the rotation mid-season.  So, who makes the bullpen now with Madson out, my guess is Jordan Smith would get the nod.  However, don't discount a waiver wire pick-up near the end of the exhibition season.

The other decision that bears watching is who gets the final bench spot.  I'm assuming Wilson Valdez will edge out Paul Janish as the back-up to short stop Zack Cozart, which means the last spot on the roster is between Todd Frazier and Juan Francisco.  Frazier has had the better spring, but Francisco is out of options.  There has been speculation the team might designate Francisco and see if he sneaks through waivers.  If not, they would try to trade him.  That just seems illogical to me.  Despite irking the Reds brass by coming in overweight and still nursing a nagging calf injury from winter ball, Francisco is in his mid-20s with monster power.  He's also one of the few left-handed hitters off the bench the team would have.  Non-roster invitee Willie Harris is also in the mix, but I would stick Francisco on the disabled list to start the year and choose Frazier to break North with the team.  It would buy the team some time and allow Francisco to get fully healthy.  Plus, it would allow Frazier the chance to show whether he's capable of being a productive utility player.

As they say on TV... stay tuned.