Yesterday we linked the story about Aroldis Champan’s offseason in the wilderness. He’s having adjustment problems. He sleeps late. He seems aimless in the offseason. It was kind of sad, actually, and you do wonder about where his head is at.
Paul Daugherty certainly wonders. He’s quite upset at the story -- he even questions its veracity it is so surprising to him -- and he gives Chapman a talking-to via his column. A serious one. If you doubt that, note that he cites Joey Votto as a positive example. This after Daugherty has spent the past year ripping Votto until Hell wouldn’t have it. Any weapon at hand, I guess.
The weird thing, though, is that Daugherty doesn’t even mention the single biggest reason to rip Chapman: that he is apparently a chain smoker. On what planet that’s acceptable for a professional athlete these days is beyond me, but Daugherty doesn’t mention it. If he had I’d be nodding in chorus.
What he does rip him for is (a) not considering starting pitching, preferring only to be a closer; and (b) working on his hitting and saying that the game gets repetitive.
Daugherty asserts that Chapman and Chapman alone has insisted that he be a closer, but that doesn’t exactly jibe with stuff we’ve heard from the Reds in the past. Dusty Baker and others in the organization used to give a lot of quotes about preferring that Chapman close. Maybe that has changed -- perhaps the Reds approached Chapman recently and asked him to start only to have him refuse -- but if that’s the case it’s both news and it’s, in all likelihood, a partial function of how the club has treated Chapman in the past few years: as a closer.
As for the other stuff? Eh, a lot of players get bored and try different things in the offseason. Some players spend all winter in duck blinds or something. Chapman goes to the batting cage and sleeps in. So what? It seems to me that the biggest takeaway from the Chapman profile is some concern about how he’s been adjusting (or not) not dissatisfaction at his attitude. But that’s just me I suppose.
But seriously, Aroldis: quit smoking. That crap will kill you.
