I Whiffed on Bronson Arroyo

How wrong was the author on Bronson Arroyo? A lack of careful reasoning makes him feel like a fool. Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

I bet many of you were hoping the headline was a quote by Arizona Diamondbacks’ General Manager Kevin Towers. You wouldn’t mind if the GM publicly acknowledged a mistake and said he was going to rectify it by designating Bronson Arroyo for assignment. Sorry to disappoint you. You will have to settle for me, the little ol’ Editor of this blog who loved the idea of the D’backs signing Arroyo. Believe me, I wish I didn’t have to write this but the fact is, I must do it in order to regain some credibility and have this as sort of a therapeutic session without the couch and the $150 per hour person sitting across from me.

I like Bronson Arroyo and maybe his season can somehow be turned around along with the rest of the Snakes’ campaign. However, the early indications are that this was a bad deal made by KT and company. I fell for it, too.  I very publicly stated that I wanted the veteran right-hander on this team. I said he was a lock for 200 innings and 12-15 wins. I did so because I was a big fan and I truly believed he would be a solid addition. Never once did I consider that even at age 37, his career would take a sudden turn downward. There was some evidence that maybe he wasn’t the same pitcher but if you look at his 2013 second half numbers, I still felt there was something there.

The length of time he spent out on the free agent market should have been my first clue. But it wasn’t.  My thoughts were, “Wow, Bronson Arroyo is still out there? Snap him up! He won’t cost too much”. It should have been, “Yikes, Bronson Arroyo is still out there? There is no draft pick compensation attached to him and yet he can’t get anything with that track record? Something isn’t right”.  That’s the part that grates at me the most.

I am the Editor of a blog about one of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball. I have also been a baseball fan for over three decades. You would think that a little more careful analysis would have been done on my part other than simply stating “he is good for 200 innings and 13 wins”.  Everything else I have written about has been at least half-thought out and been backed with coherent reasoning. For instance, while I had written extensively why I thought dealing Tyler Skaggs was a rotten idea (and foretold his departure) , I felt I wrote a nice piece about why I thought Mark Trumbo could succeed with Arizona. Maybe that’s a bad example at the moment given Trumbo’s putrid .264 on base percentage but at least I gave some sound logic with my reasoning.

It doesn’t bother me that I was wrong about the Arroyo signing. Everyone makes an error in judgement. On the other hand, am I proud that before the 2013 season I correctly predicted the three darlings of the offseason (Blue Jays, Angels and Nationals) would all miss the playoffs? You bet. However it is the mistakes, the ones made so spectacularly like cheering a Bronson Arroyo, guaranteed two-year contract at age 37 with the mantra, “lock for 200 innings” that are the most embarrassing. I feel like Charlie Brown after he has the football pulled away by Lucy.

For his sake and mine, I want Bronson Arroyo to pitch lights-out the rest of the season. It will make the both of us look and feel much better. Thank you for reading. I feel much better already.

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