Closer.....Chapman no...Cordero si

Regardless of the trendy thoughts of armchair managers and sports columnist, Francisco Cordero WILL be the Reds closer.

As much drama as there is when the Dominican closer enters a game, Dusty Baker and Jay Bruce and the rest of the Reds trust him 100 percent.  The popular notion that Aroldis Chapman should replace Cordero will not fly with Baker and his reasoning is very hard to argue with once you separate from the fear that saves look too hard.

They are.  Major league hitters are not easy to pitch too, not for Chapman and not for Cordero or Heath Bell or Billy Wagner.

Check the stats Bill James breath...Cordero has 36 saves and blown 6

Cordero is right in line with:

Heath Bell 42 saves 6 blown
Billy Wagner 33 saves 7 blown

Mariano Rivera blew two saves in Texas last weekend.  Prior to blown saves on Friday and Sunday, Cordero had saved 11 in a row and 18 out of 19.

The notion that Chapman should take over that role in September is ridiculous on many levels.  First off he was just converted to a closer and September is the wrong time to experiment.  Also, while people are so enamored with a plus 100 mph fastball, the Cuban Missile is not unhitable to major leaguers with a bat in their hands.

He hasn't given up a run charged to him so his ERA is zero but he has inherited six baserunners and five have scored.  He has already pitched in three save situations and has two holds and a blown save.

The following is what Baker had to say when pressed by a columnist this morning.

"My thinking hasn't changed.  Chapman just learned how to relieve.  That eighth inning and seventh inning is a whole lot easier than that ninth inning.  Is this the place to experiment with guys that haven't been there?  And then in case he doesn't do it (save a game) do you go back to Coco (Cordero) and say, 'I was just kidding'.  Then you lose both of them.  So the key is to keep Chapman in the position where he is doing his thing.  And the eighth is Arthur Rhodes job.  He's been a little hobbled."

"I thought we had Coco fixed.  He had 18 out of 19.  People forget that because of the last couple times out there.  You look at the list of guys that have blown saves this year and he's not the biggest.  He was walking people before, now he's throwing too many fat strikes.  That's the start right there, throwing strikes.  He's getting two strikes on people.  Fix the situation where we are now and everybody will be doing what they're supposed to do.  As soon as he comes in the game and gives up one ball, the booing starts.  That makes it worse.  That doesn't help."

"Let's enjoy what we have instead of thinking about what we don't have.  How about that?

Columnist "Some people say you have a closer that's shaking at the moment and you have a guy throwing 103."

Baker  "Hey man, there have been some that didn't like the stuff I was doing from the start of the season.  They didn't like my lineup, they didn't like this, they didn't like that, the didn't like whatever the hell they didn't like.  I can't worry about that.  You know what I mean.  Those people don't manage this ballclub.  Those people don't understand the psychological dynamics of the ballclub.  There are people that wanted Dickerson to play. Then the didn't want Dickerson.  Then they wanted Nix to play.  Then they wanted Bruce to go to the minor leagues and wanted Heisey to play everyday.  Then the wanted Stubbs sent to the minor leagues, remember.  There were people that wanted Masset out of here.  They were booing the hell out of Masset.  I don't go with what people say.  People go by who's hot at the time.  I got to look at the overall big picture of the dynamics and the psychology of my ballclub.  Make sense?"