In what I think is a good move, the Cincinnati Reds today announced that Aroldis Chapman will begin his transition to becoming a starter for next season.

The plan is for him to build up arm strength at the Reds’ facility in Goodyear, AZ before heading to Puerto Rico for winter ball.

“We’re finalizing plans right now,” Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. “He’ll gradually build up his innings. He’ll pitch two or three innings to start. Eventually, we’ll get him up to five innings.”

Chapman will spend about a month in Winter Ball.

“That will give him time to rest before spring training,” Jocketty said.

Sounds good to me. Chapman has never been given a chance as a starter. He spent half of 2010 in the minors as a starter, and this year was sadly wasted. He might not be suited for it–he has a history of being wild–but it behooves the Reds to find out. As this year showed, their starting pitching depth isn’t nearly as deep as they thought.

Over at Red Reporter today, they provide grades for the moves (or lack thereof) by Cincinnati Reds General Manager Walt Jocketty before and during the 2011 season.

I’ve been hard on Jocketty for what I saw as a lack of trying to do anything this year, and it appears I’m not alone. Many of the grades are in the C and D range.

Edgar Renteria: grading this signing is tough. First of all, the Reds definitely needed a SS, and the market by and large was barren. And the Reds would have been in a tough spot indeed if Renteria had not been on the roster. However, if Jocketty expected more than he’s gotten out of Renteria, he was misguided, and perhaps also did not do all of his homework or else failed to communicate clearly during the courtship process if he expected Renteria to play anywhere on the diamond but SS and operate as a somewhat versatile player. The process here was understandable but flawed, and the results were underwhelming but still valuable. It’s a strange situation to assess. C-

Fred Lewis, Jeremy Hermida, and Dontrelle Willis completed Jocketty’s foray into the free agent market before the season began. Not exactly competing with the Milwaukee Brewers and their acquisition of Zach Greinke.

The moves that Red Reporter receives the highest marks on are ones that didn’t really improve the team this year or even next year. The contracts for Jay Bruce and Johnny Cueto. Sure, if the players stay healthy and perform as well as or better than they have, the Reds will get a great deal, but those players were going to be on the team in 2011 regardless.

And when those are the only As on the whole list, you know you had a bad year.

In my mind, the year was a failure. The sweep in the 2010 playoffs exposed some glaring weaknesses that nothing was done to address, while the Brewers did address their weaknesses. Instead, Jocketty signed spare parts and hoped.

He’s obviously had success in the past, but it sure would be nice not to see him stay the course again this off-season.

Although, on the bright side, at least he didn’t pull of the Trade.

After a season that showed the Cincinnati Reds general manager had less cajones than Wayne Krivsky did when he pulled off the Trade–and yes, I’m referring somewhat positively to that travesty–Cincinnati Enquirer reporter John Erardi filed an excellent report about what the Reds should consider doing this off-season.

The question for the Reds this offseason is how to compete next year with an $85 million payroll.

Toward that end, they must 1.) Play the odds, and 2.) Make sure the entire organization is on board with the plan.

Item number two is particularly apt considering the obvious disconnect there has been between Jocketty and manager Dusty Baker. That clearly has to be addressed. In a season where Baker refused to test out the youngsters in the final month of a lost season, you have to wonder if the manager cared one whit about the general manager’s plan.

In addition, the team really has to consider whether it brings back Brandon Phillips and Francisco Cordero. Both have been very good, but as Erardi writes, there comes a time for a smaller-payroll time where a cost-benefit analysis must be performed. For them, there isn’t enough payroll flexibility to pay for what a player has done. Both Phillips and Cordero have been successful, but they are getting older. The team should consider finding cheaper alternatives.

I’m not totally sold on Erardi’s arguments against bringing the players back. But the team should be having these discussions. And they should trust their scouts and team to make the hard decisions. Doing that has made the Tampa Bay Devil Rays so successful.

It’s a tough spot for the Reds. Perhaps the best line in the article pertains to Cordero.

Keeping the manager from having to think is no reason to re-sign Cordero.

Amen. Every part of the organization has to be rock-solid, and has to be trusted. Just because Dusty Baker has a weakness for veterans is no reason to drop $10 million a year.

Last I checked, his contract is considerably less than that.

Boxscore

As has been well documented, Dontrelle Willis has been searching for a win for a long time.

And in his last start for the Cincinnati Reds in the 2011 season, he finally got it, with very little thanks to closer Francisco Cordero.

Willis turned in his customary 6 innings, 3 runs start, and this time it was enough.

The Reds scoring started in the 1st, when Jay Bruce drove in Brandon Phillips. In the 2nd, Devin Mesoraco drove in Juan Francisco. And then Paul Janish sacrificed a fly to plate Mesoraco.

Willis struggled in the bottom of the 2nd, allowing the Pittsburgh Pirates to tie it 3-3, but he soon took matters into his own hands. In the 6th, Mesoraco singled. Janish doubled. And Willis added his own double to bring both runners in, making it 5-3.

Cordero was brought in to close out the game in the 9th. Like so many previous times, the bullpen allowed some runs. Cordero allowed a run-scoring double to Neil Walker, and with a runner on second base, it looked like Willis’ win was in jeopardy. But Cordero was able to strike out the final two batters to end the game.

The win makes Willis’ record 1-6 on the season, over 13 starts.