Bronson Arroyo pitched five innings and gave up three runs in a 4-3 loss to the Phillies yesterday. I hosted 'Extra Innings' with Chick Ludwig on 700 WLW following the game.
Chick believed Arroyo was the reason the Reds lost. I defended the 40-year-old pitcher. Arroyo gave the Reds a chance to win. Was he perfect? Absolutely not. Arroyo was serviceable. I think the Reds would take five innings and three runs from Arroyo any day of the week.
He didn't lose the game for the Reds. Surely, that means something. Why in the world would fans expect a veteran like Arroyo be the reason the Reds win games? He kept them in it and gave them a chance to win. The Reds' offense didn't deliver. They stranded nine runners on base.
Dave Machlitt emailed me this morning and he clearly doesn't understand why I defended Arroyo. Here's the email he sent:
"Last night I hear you and Chick on extra innings, and YOU couldn't get enough of Bronson Arroyo in your mouth. The guy SUCKS, he has a 6.62 era. I hear a caller say, " yeah, but he's an innings eater? He's averaging 4.2/3 innings per start. Yet an ass clown like yourself says he doing a good job? Arroyo is in no way shape or form a part of this teams future. All this turd is doing is stealing starts from the young guys. I could care less who you roll out everyday, weather it be a guy from single A or Triple A, the sooner the Reds get to watch these young arms throw, the sooner this rebuild can really start. Yet Millennial's like yourself for some reason think having Bronson Arroyo pitch for this team is a good thing? His career is over, he's a human batting tee, just trying to hang on as long as he can and collect a check, period end of story, yet fools like yourself jack this clown off like he's a good thing for this team. If the Reds love this turd so much, and I hear Price say what a good guy he is in the club house. Pay this guy 50,000 a year to hang out with the team in the club house, and sing songs, but stop letting him steal starts form the future pitchers of this organization. Last night you gave ZERO reasons to keep this piece of garbage on this team, ALL you did was to try and talk over Chick last night, and say it wasn't Arroyo's fault for the loss last night, OK, so. This ass clown is giving this Reds team 4.2/3 innings per start, he's NOT helping this team, he's just retarding to growth of this franchise's pitching staff for the future, but it's clear you have some type of man crush on Bronson, guessing you want to be " TOGETHER AGAIN. " I have zero idea how you got a job in this business, but you sure as hell aren't very good at it, and believe me it shows, as Paul Brown liked to say, " YOU Might want to find your life's work son. " The world needs ditch diggers too James. Bronson Arroyo = LOSER. Can't wait until you start jacking off this bUnGals team as well this season, guessing you think they are a playoff team again, even with the WORST O-Line in the NFL, again the world needs ditch diggers, James."
First off, I want to thank Dave for the email. He's obviously angry and that's okay with me. I find it funny that "the millennial" is the one defending the 40-year-old. Dave mentions Arroyo's age and calls him a "loser."
Arroyo had a decent outing yesterday. Fans like Dave can rip him because he's an easy target, but the Reds don't have a better option right now. The bar for the Reds starting pitchers is relatively low.
Scott Feldman is considered the Reds' ace. Feldman has lasted past the fifth inning in only half of his starts. He's also pitched a complete game and shown flashes of being a solid starting pitcher. With that said, if Feldman is their best pitcher and he can only get through five innings 50 percent of the time, what does that say about Arroyo's start yesterday?
Tim Adleman has lasted more than five innings three times in his eight starts. But, he's 29-years-old so fans don't want to mention his struggles. The Reds' starting rotation is a weakness right now. It's not just an Arroyo problem. It's a starting pitching problem.
The Reds aren't going to bring pitchers up from the minors who aren't ready because Dave Machlitt wants them to. And they shouldn't. They know their farm system better than the fans. They shouldn't rush the development of the young players. Arroyo is probably the seventh or eighth best starting pitcher the Reds have. He should remain in the rotation until Homer Bailey, Anthony Desclafani and Brandon Finnegan can return from injury.
Dave implies Arroyo is pitching just to collect a check. Something tells me he has more than enough money and could walk away anytime he wanted to. It's time for fans like Dave to admit that they don't want Arroyo in the rotation because he's 40-years-old. Arroyo is being put under a microscope because of his previous success with the Reds and his age.
I'm not saying he should stay in the rotation for the rest of the season. I also didn't watch yesterday's game and think it was time to move on from Arroyo. Hopefully the Reds continue to do what their doing. No one expected them to be hovering around .500 at this point in the season.
Dave's email does prove one thing. It shows that fans care. They're invested. That's more than I could've said a year ago when the Reds were 18 games under .500.
I'll have more on the Reds in the upcoming days. I hope you guys have a wonderful Memorial Day. Maybe I'll spend mine applying for ditch digger jobs at the local cemetery.
Watch Joey Votto SHUT DOWN a heckler.
Email me: JamesRapien@espn1530.com
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