Over the Monster, a Boston Red Sox community

"Clearly, they can't see it, they can't hit it, they can't even find it, because Chapman is heading for the most dominating season by any relief pitcher in the history of relief pitching..."It's almost become second nature now, I've heard it discussed so often," Reds GM Walt Jocketty told Rumblings. "But I like it. It creates interest in our club, and that's all good. Everybody has a theory on it. Everybody has an opinion." That "everybody" includes the general manager, of course, not to mention Chapman himself. And their unanimous opinion is that some day -- very likely as soon as next season -- Chapman is going to morph into a starter. "It won't be this year, obviously," Jocketty said. "But he would like to start. His preference has always been to start."

Volquez was like "$2 million" and the Reds were all "$1.3 million." So now they're working out a deal, with one-year and multiple years still on the table. The Reds clearly have an interest in cost-certainty, given the wealth or potential arb cases they've been facing over the next few years, but they also have no pressing need to reduce Volquez's 2011 salary. Is this a good buy-low scenario?

We still don't know how much he's getting in 2011, but John Fay reports he'll be paid until 2021, suggesting it could be well under $13M. It also suggests things are more austere than they seem. Jocketty sez: "If he hadn’t [deferred the money], we’d be way, way over budget." I can only guess that Jocketty is factoring in offers to Rhodes and Cairo here. I still see a couple million left over - even in the event of bringing both veterans back, but we won't have a clear picture until the arbitration-eligible guys settle up. Expect the Reds to wait out the market.