Circling the Bases: Chapman and Broxton

Sounds like Jonathan Broxton is close to a deal, a three year deal, with the Reds, and the belief is that the club would probably install Broxton as their closer while moving Aroldis Chapman back to the starting rotation. As amazing as Chapman was last year as a closer, just look at his numbers (1.51 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 15.32 K/9, 38 saves), I still believe that an arm like that is wasted throwing just 71.2 innings out of the bullpen. Chapman did have some arm issues at times last year, and there is no unanimity that he would be able to sustain his success over 180 innings as a starter, but I think it would make the Reds a better team to have him starting every five games. Be that as it may, I think the idea of trusting the 9th inning to Broxton could be a mistake. Broxton converted 27 of 33 save chances last year, and his 2.48 ERA is a strong number. However, that ERA is deceiving. Broxton was at one point pretty much like Chapman. In 2009 Broxton had a 2.61 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 13.50 K/9 and

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