C Trent Rosecrans is reporting from RedsFest that the Reds are committed to using Raisel Iglesias AND Michael Lorenzen in the bullpen.
#Reds Bryan Price and Dick Williams committed to Raisel Iglesias and Michael Lorenzen in the bullpen in 2017.
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) December 2, 2016
Unless there is a medical reason that the public is not aware of, it’s incredibly dumb, dumb, dumb to not give Lorenzen (age 24) a shot at starting. He was a totally different pitcher (and portfolio) in 2016 than he was in 2015. He may well be the *best pitcher* in the organization. Right now.
Recap: Reds taking their best arm and consigning him to bullpen role without serious tryout as a starter. Sounds depressingly familiar.
Barring the health unknown, this is the Reds seeking to put players into roles, roles, roles, roles, roles as soon as they can. No matter how small.
Discouraging.
What’s the [edit: based on site profanity guidelines] rush?
Here are a couple articles we wrote at the end of the year on this topic:
Matt Wilkes, Health permitting, Iglesias and Lorenzen must get a chance to start
Nick Carrington, The Case for Michael Lorenzen, Starting Pitcher
Steve Mancuso, Learning the Wrong Lesson Backwards