On Monday, the Reds put Aroldis Chapman on the 15-day disabled list (well, there’s a big duh) with inflammation in his left shoulder, and replaced him by recalling Jordan Smith. A day later, they optioned third baseman Juan Francisco to AAA Louisville.

Chapman and Francisco, it turns out, were not the problem, as the Reds extended their losing streak to five tonight, getting swept by both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Indians. At least not the whole problem. They also sat Jonny Gomes today to try to get his mohawked head together, but that didn’t do it either.

So what *is* the problem? It appears to be a little of everything. One night the office can’t muster a lousy two runs, the next time the starting pitching can’t muster a lousy two innings. Here’s some bullets for ya:

• Joey “treadmill” Votto – No one beats our reigning MVP when it comes to OBP; dude’s on pace for 128 walks this season (making him a bit of a walk machine, hence the “treadmill” comment). Unfortunately, many people, including one Jonny Gomes, beat his six homers so far this year. While that’s more of a problem for his All-Star chances than an indictment of his contribution, I had to find a way to talk about Votto in this post somehow, and now didn’t seem to be the time to go into detail about his smoldering eyes.
• Bronson “Voice of Experience?” Arroyo – Say what you will about all the other stupid peripheral stuff about Arroyo (cornrows, leg kick, grunge music, supplements, Guitar Hero) the guy eats innings. He’s put away 57 of them in his nine games so far this season, which is good since the bullpen invariably needs a rest by the time his turn comes around. He’s also given up 10 home runs so far this year, which is pretty impressive in the bad way. Though not as noteworthy as the 38 bases on balls surrendered by Edinson Volquez in 51 innings pitched: now that is something special.
• The Future’s So Bright – The good news is that, after leaving the home of the team with the best record in the entirety of the majors, the Reds move on to the home of the team with the second best record in the entirety of the majors (best in the NL, but who’s counting?), so that ought to be a little easier at least.

There’ve been a few moves that the Cincinnati Reds have made in the last two days that it feels like I haven’t had enough time to comment on.

First, before yesterday’s amazing baseball game, the Reds decided Scott Rolen was ready and activated him from the disabled list. Backup infielder Chris Valaika was optioned to AAA to the Louisville Bats to make room. Clearly, they were right. Rolen went 3-5 and drove in a run, injecting further life into the offense. I hope he can stay healthy this time. His absence is painful to the team’s winning.

Before today’s game, the Reds made another move. This time, they activated reliever Jose Arredondo. Arredondo has never pitched for the Reds before and hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2009. The Reds signed him just before he had Tommy John surgery last year, and he’s been rehabbing ever since. His rehabilitation stats have been very promising. And if he’s back to the form he was before the injury, the Reds’ bullpen just got a lot stronger.

“He was one of top pitchers in the American League before he got hurt,” Baker said. “He can make (Nick) Masset and (Logan) Ondrusek better. He can throw a lot. He can go two innings. Hopefully, he’ll make us better.”

To make room for Arredondo, struggling pitcher Mike Leake was optioned to Louisville. This will be Leake’s first time spent in the minors, but it is needed. As I ranted about recently, Leake has no experience as a reliever. He’s been a starter, and having him learn to be a reliever at the major league level was failing miserably. Him relieving isn’t the plan, though.

Leake will be used as a starter at Triple-A.

“He’ll continue to do that for a while for a couple of reasons,” Jocketty said. “In case, we have a need for a starter. There are still some things he has to work on to get back to what he did last year.”

That makes sense. Leake’s been solid as a starter, and injuries do–and have–happened. I have a feeling that pitching on a regular basis again will do wonders for his control.

John Fay and Lance McAlister both touched on the Cuban missile crisis that is Aroldis Chapman right now in posts today.

First up, McAlister posted these stats attesting to Chapman’s recent innefectiveness.

April 30: K, BB, WP, BB, BB, 2B, K, K
May 5: BB, BB, 1B
May 10: BB, HBP, BB, BB
He’s faced 14 batters with 11 getting on base.
He has not retired any of the 7 batters faced in his last two appearances.
He’s thrown 69 pitches with only 28 for strikes.
Total: 1.0 inning, 2 H, 8 BB, 3 K, 6 ER, WP, HBP

Clearly, that’s not getting it done. I mean, Chapman came in with a 7-0 lead against the Astros and had to be removed because there was a chance he’d blow the game. What’s going on? He was so dominant early in the year.

Fay reports that manager Dusty Baker’s not worried.

“Chapman struggling some to find the plate,” Dusty Baker said. “We’ve got to find a way to get his mechanics back in the sync. He’s throwing the ball great. It’s a matter of throwing strikes.”

Baker said Chapman will not be sent to minors to get straightened out.

Well, that’s an odd response. How can someone who has bad mechanics and isn’t throwing strikes be “throwing the ball great”? And what’s wrong with sending him to the minors to sort things out. The Reds aren’t AAA. It’s not a place to teach people.

The bullpen is a bit of a mess right now, with pitchers in roles they don’t belong in. Chapman, in particular.

Chapman needs to be pitching every 5th day in the Louisville rotation. He’s very uneven still and needs a lot of work at repeating his delivery. Plus, he’d make a much better starter than a reliever.

And speaking of starters, what exactly was Mike Leake doing pitching the 9th inning today? He’s a starter with one year of professional baseball on his resume. He’s never relieved at this level like that. It would make far more sense for Leake to also be in the minors pitching in the Louisville rotation. Jose Arredondo needs to be activated from the disabled list.

Have him replace Leake and let Leake get back to working on being a more consistent starter. And do the same for Chapman. I don’t want the big league club losing games they would have won because of people learning on the job.

The Cincinnati Reds had played several games without third basemen Scott Rolen, and today they decided they couldn’t play with a short roster any longer. Rolen has been placed on the 15-day disabled list.

The move is retroactive to Thursday, and leaves the Reds very short on the hot corner. Rolen’s backup, Juan Francisco, was sent to the disabled list last week with a strained calf. And there are no real backups left on the major league roster because Edwin Renteria stubbornly refuses to play any position besides second and short.

The Reds’ roster move to replace Rolen was to call up Chris Valaika, but I don’t think he’s well-suited for third. And his bat is definitely a big drop from Rolen’s.

Despite the season being less than a month old, the Reds have had a parade of players to the disabled list. Rolen is the 7th such player, which is “good” for 4th in the majors. Despite all the injuries, the team has spent all but one day with a share of first place.

During the last week, I was away for several days on a business trip and lost touch with the Cincinnati Reds a bit. Well, I didn’t lose touch with how they fared–smart phones make sure you can always know the score–but I did lose track of all the injured players. So here’s my rundown with all of them, including an update on their recovery status.

First, the guys who are still with the team.

• Aroldis Chapman – Chapman was taken out of a game early after his fastball was topping out in the low-to-mid 90s. That’s definitely cause for concern, but the team thinks it’s just a combination of being used in 4 out of 5 games and a little bit of shoulder inflammation. Chapman hasn’t appeared in the last 4 games, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see him reappear to face just a batter or two soon.
• Juan Francisco – Francisco left Saturday’s game early after pulling up with a leg cramp after a basehit in the 8th. Well, that’s what it appeared at first. When he still was limping today, the club realized it was more than a cramp. That’s the extent of the information on his injury.
• Brandon Phillips – Phillips missed his third consecutive start on Sunday due to a groin injury. Despite stating he’s unavailable, the Reds and manager Dusty Baker have stated that Phillips won’t be placed on the disabled list. “He’s getting better. We don’t have to rush him back,” Baker said. “We don’t think we have to DL him, either. This (cold) weather isn’t helping.” Baker has always shown a preference for being safer than sorry with day-to-day injuries, and it’s hard to fault him for doing that with Phillips here in April.

So currently there are 3 people on the Reds’ Major League active roster that aren’t able to be used. Nothing like being short-handed. No wonder they’ve struggled so much with the Pittsburgh Pirates. When will reinforcements arrive?

• Jose Arredondo – The reliever was placed on the 15-day disabled list at the end of Spring Training. He’s currently rehabbing in AA and allowed 1 earned run in 1 2/3 innings pitched Sunday.
• Homer Bailey – Bailey started for the Louisville Bats Sunday and was very sharp. It took him 62 pitches to go 5 shutout innings. He struck out 2 and walked one. He’s ahead of fellow injured starter Cueto in his rehab, so Bailey’s likely to return to the Reds’ rotation first, but it probably won’t be until late April.
• Jared Burton – Burton had his first throwing session since being shutdown with shoulder inflammation. The oft-injured reliever will be needing a rehab assignment once he’s healthy enough to throw.
• Johnny Cueto – Cueto started for the Bats Saturday night. He last 3 1/3 innings, allowing 2 hist, 2 runs (1 earned), 2 walks, and 4 strike-outs. But the most important bit from that outing is this quote from Cueto himself, “I feel good, no pain.” Cueto will start at least twice more for the Bats to get his pitch count up before being ready to be activated. Late April is the target time.
• Fred Lewis – Lewis is currently on rehab assignment with the AA team, too. He went 1-4 with a double on Sunday. He’s on track for a late April activation, too.

So there you go. The Reds are fairly banged up, with 3 guys on the 25-man not available the last few games, and 5 guys on the disabled list that could certainly help the team–Bailey and Cueto especially. Late April seems to be the vague projected magic date that these guys will start being activated. I’m confident the Reds will still be in contention by then; I just hope no other injuries will have happened.