Is Raisel Iglesias the next Aroldis Chapman? That’s the question I’ve been pondering over the last 48 hours and I think that ultimately the answer to that question is yes.
No, I don’t foresee Iglesias being a 105 MPH throwing closer, and he certainly isn’t going to do it from the left side like Chapman does. But I believe that in five years we will be asking the same questions about Iglesias that we are currently asking about Chapman. What if the Cincinnati Reds had let him start?
The Reds have held strong in saying that they want him to start in the long run. Repeatedly they have said that. The team has also said that Tony Cingrani and Anthony DeSclafani are the frontrunners for the two open spots in the rotation. That leaves Iglesias either heading to the bullpen or to Triple-A. Are the Reds, absolutely in need of relief help, going to send an arm like Iglesias to Triple-A to work as a starter at age 25? Even if they do, what happens if Cingrani and DeSclafani perform?
At some point it’s more likely that a spot in the bullpen will open up before a spot in the rotation does. Iglesias would probably be the first call if he weren’t already in the big leagues. Unless a spot in the rotation opens up very quickly, would the team move Iglesias into the rotation after he spent a month plus in the bullpen? It would be a stretch, so to speak, to stretch him back out after that.
What about 2016 when the Reds will potentially lose Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake to free agency? Well, that certainly could be the time to make the move. Of course there will very likely be some competition at that point with Robert Stephenson, Michael Lorenzen, Jon Moscot and possibly some others if they take a step forward in 2015 for those two spots if they are open and if Iglesias has already established himself in the bullpen…. well, we’ve seen how the Reds have handled that one in the past.
For me, it appears that the only way that the Cincinnati Reds see Raisel Iglesias in the rotation is going to be if he wins the job out of spring training in 2015. There are simply too many obstacles in the way if he doesn’t break camp in the rotation. I’d like to see the team give him a real shot at starting, as they are paying him a lot of money right out of the gate to be a reliever, but the timing of everything seems to be very critical to his future role with the Reds and right now I’m just not seeing how the timing plays out in favor of seeing him as a starting pitcher.