Affeldt Better

By now I'm sure you all have heard about the Reds signing lefty started/reliever Jeremy Affeldt (this is a picture of Affeldt and his wife, I thought it would give this blog more cred to have an actual posed photo). The first thing I remember about Jeremy Affeldt is my first year of playing fantasy baseball, reading about him being a sleeper so I picked him off the waiver wire and dropped him three starts later. Five years later Affeldt has posted very forgettable seasons between the rotation and the pen. However, before you crazies start screaming 'Eric Milton', keep this in mind; Affeldt has pitched 486 innings in his career and has given up 45 home runs. That is a better clip than Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo. For that reason I think Affeldt should be given a fair shot at the rotation. It could be that at 28 he has turned a corner in his career. You may think I'm nuts but the best case scenario for the Reds would be Affeldt gets 10 or 11 wins by the All Star break and they deal him by the trade deadline. The Reds have too many young starters knocking on the door to keep Affeldt in the rotation for too long. All that being said, the most likely outcome will see the lefty in the pen by May and Matt Belisle, Homer Bailey, and Edinson Volquez rounding out the rotation. All in all this move helps the Reds bullpen more than anything. Affeldt will probably be a legit long relief guy, something that a team like the Reds (young starters and potentially explosive offense) really needs.

Final note. I am working on turning this blog into an actual website and start covering all of baseball, so I won't be posting as much. I will keep you updated. Thanks