Arroyo; are you concerned?

[redsrbetter]

per Trent's blog:

Bronson said he felt as good as ever. David Ross said it was the best stuff he's seen Bronson have this season. Thing was, the Astros just hit him. That happens sometimes. It did Thursday.

Honestly, this should have made me upset. Usually I would call this a conspiracy and think he has to be hurt. I am starting to wonder if he is coming back down to earth.

3 straight starts where he can't get passed the 5th inning. I just don't know what to think of that. This team is in trouble if he can't find a way out of this. Thankfully Harang seems ok. I don't want to be overly concerned with the loss tonight. But I can't shake this feeling that Arroyo may be on a downslide.

Hopefully Fisher was right when we first got him. He told us that sometimes we will love him and other times we will hate him. Is this just a time that we hate him?

[AtomicDumpling]

His velocity was down tonight. I think he is hurt. Too many 115+ pitch outings. Narron has been playing with fire regarding Arroyo's health and he finally got burned.

[Fishercat]

You have to be concerned somewhat about the pitch counts. I had a cursory look at his gamelogs from 2004 (when he started being an SP consistantly, not including Pirates years) to now. By far, he was rode the most in 2006, and that could be catching up to him. There's no denying that he has been since he got to the Reds. He was 6th last year in BP's Pitcher Abuse Points and 3rd this year. By comparison, he was 52nd with the Red Sox in 2005 and I thought they depended on him for a lot of pitchers. He was 80th the year before that.

But based on the player quotes, it doesn't look like tiring or fatigue. Bronson says he feels great, Ross said his stuff looked great. That leads me to rule out (if they're being truthful) both injury and depleted stuff due to being tired.

Here's an "out there" theory...could he be tipping his pitches? I know when he was with the Red Sox, his success was largely dependant on if his curveball was good enough to fool the batter. If he's tipping a pitch or two, he could be in for a long night since his stuff is not overpowering. More specifically, maybe Jason Bay had something since it him and the two hitters surround him (Nady and Laroche) who did all the real damage.

Additionally, it's not that significant in terms of numbers (moreso in the Washington game), he has had worse control.

It could just be inconsistancy though. Admittedly he never had three consecutive starts this bad, but he is not the most consistant guy.

[Newman4]

I watched him in person and on TV for most of the starts this year and it seems like recently his location is terribly off. Curve is breaking hard and velocity is right at 88(normal for him), but he seems to walk batters he shouldn't and not be able to get the cruve over for strikes. I'd like to see them DL him for 15 days with some "fake" illness (shoulder fatigue, leg soreness, etc.) and let him work on his mechanics. If he doesn't have good control, an 88 mph fastball is raw meat.

[Jr's Boy]

He's throwing too many fastballs,and he's not a power pitcher.I don't know if Ross is calling for them,but he needs to rely on his off speed stuff.It seems he's gotten away from throwing his curve ball a lot.Arroyo is sick when he has that curve flowing,and un hittable for the most part.

[TheBigLebowski]

I don't think he's hurt. He's probably tired and could afford to skip a start.

I would like to see his pitch counts controlled better.

[thatcoolguy_22]

I think Fisher's "out there" theory is something worth investigating by the reds FO. I was discussing with a friend of mine at work yesterday how this scenario is playing out. His curve looks like it is as strong as ever if not more so. His fastball, while mundane compared to others, has been in the called for locations with his natural velocity routinely. The only thing I can think of would be that he is somehow tipping off his curveball. It seems when he is getting rocked that is what they are teeing off on. Someone in the FO needs to do a little video searching for some possible tip of the curve. IMO. he is throwing the ball well but he's just getting shelled

[redram38]

I have been concerned about him since after last years All-Star game. he has not been close to the same since then. He was the victim a few times by the Bull Pen, but he has also had many games of getting killed as well, esp this year. I hope he can get back to what he was before last years All-Star game, but who knows maybe he was pitching over his head then. Time will tell I guess. I don't have the stats to back this up, it's just from watching the games every time he pitches