June 2012 - Cincinnati Reds Wiretap

With the Reds in Pittsburgh to play the Pirates, a robber ransacked left-hander Aroldis Chapman's hotel room late Tuesday night and tied up a woman inside. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that two guests heard the woman's screams. Police do not believe it was an actual hotel employee who robbed the room and the woman and terrorized her. Chapman was not present, as his team was at PNC Park playing in a game delayed by rain.

The Opsera is a statistic RealGM Executive Editor Chris Reina created in order to objectively rank teams by how well they hit (OPS) and pitch (ERA). In order to determine the Opsera rating for each, we take their OPS, multiply that number by 10 to move the decimal point over one place to the right and then subtract their ERA from that number. Below are the rankings through the Thursday, May 24th games: The rankings from last week are in parenthesizes. 1. (1) Texas Rangers - 4.80 Paul Konerko has edged Josh Hamilton in batting average, but the Texas center fielder still has a big lead in the other two Triple Crown categories (HRs and RBI). 2. (2) St. Louis Cardinals - 4.41 The Cardinals are 7-6 without Lance Berkman this season. 3. (3) Los Angeles Dodgers - 4.34 Matt Kemp has 12 home runs, but just two stolen bases. He will not reach his lofty goals, but still has the Dodgers in first place by more than six games. 4. (5) Washington Nationals - 4.15 The Nationals have the lowest ERA in the Majors (2.90) by a third of a run. 5. (4) Baltimore Orioles - 3.93 Buck Showalter has a potent offense. The Orioles have an OPS (.751) higher than the Rays, Rockies, Blue Jays, Tigers and Angels. 6. (6) Tampa Bay Rays - 3.86 7. (7) New York Yankees - 3.74 8. (12) Cincinnati Reds - 3.65 9. (9) San Francisco Giants - 3.55 10. (10) Philadelphia Phillies - 3.47 11. (8) Toronto Blue Jays - 3.43 12. (14) Houston Astros - 3.38 13. (17) Chicago White Sox - 3.34 14. (11) Atlanta Braves - 3.31 15. (16) Cleveland Indians - 3.30 16. (15) Boston Red Sox - 3.28 17. (18) Los Angeles Angels - 3.28 18. (13) Miami Marlins - 3.22 19. (23) Detroit Tigers - 3.07 20. (T21) Arizona Diamondbacks - 2.98 21. (19) San Diego Padres - 2.86 22. (26) Kansas City Royals - 2.84 23. (20) Pittsburgh Pirates - 2.79 24. (29) Seattle Mariners - 2.70 25. (T21) Oakland Athletics - 2.67 26. (27) Milwaukee Brewers - 2.67 27. (25) Chicago Cubs - 2.53 28. (24) New York Mets - 2.47 29. (28) Colorado Rockies - 2.24 30. (30) Minnesota Twins - 1.52

Aroldis Chapman is being sued for $18 million by a Cuban-American man imprisoned on the communist island. The lawsuit was filed recently in Miami federal court against the left-handed pitcher for the Reds, who was arrested for speeding earlier this week. It claims that Chapman falsely accused Danilo Curbelo Garcia of involvement in human trafficking, leading to his 2008 arrest and conviction in Cuba. Curbelo Garcia is serving a 10-year sentence.

A fan in Cincinnati caught two home runs balls in the same game, doing so on back-to-back at-bats in a matter of minutes. Caleb Lloyd was in left field when Reds pitcher Mike Leake hit his first career homer in the fourth inning. The ball went directly to Lloyd. "It hit my hand," he said. "I didn't expect to actually catch it. I never actually caught a home run ball. It hurt really bad." Three pitches later, Zack Cozart hit another one to the same area. The ball bounced right to Lloyd, who had one free hand. "The second one bounced behind me and bounced right into my lap," he said. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, that's just crazy!' I couldn't believe my eyes. Right now, I still can't believe it's happening."

Aroldis Chapman was arrested for speeding and driving with a suspended license early Monday. Cincinnati general manager Walt Jocketty and manager Dusty Baker met with the left-hander following their win over Atlanta on Monday night to get details of the arrest. The 24-year-old was stopped after radar clocked him going 93 mph on northbound Interstate 71 shortly before 1 a.m. "I don't know what happened," Baker said. "He got a speeding ticket. It can happen to anybody. His people are taking care of it, and we're helping."

Reds manager Dusty Baker was momentarily denied access to Yankee Stadium on Friday. A security guard denied access to Baker, who was wandering around the front gates while chewing on a toothpick. "It's hard to get in this bad boy," Baker said. "Some guy asked, 'Hey, can I help you?' "I was in the front trying to get in. I said I was here for the game. "He told me, 'The gates aren't open yet.' "I told him, 'I'm the manager.' "He was like, 'Of what?' "I said, 'Of the baseball team.' "He said, 'What's your name?' "I said, 'Dusty Baker.' He still didn't know me. Another guy came over and recognized me."

The Reds asked Aroldis Chapman to preserve their 5-2 win over the Yankees on Sunday afternoon. Cincinnati has tried for three seasons to find the right fit for their rocket-armed pitcher. They considered making him a starter, and have used him as a lefty specialist and a setup man. "Either inning for me is the same," Chapman said through a translator. "Maybe one day things will get complicated and I'll get some pressure, but I don't feel that." Chapman has a 0.00 ERA in 22 1-3 innings this season, striking out 39.

The Cubs have reacquired catcher Koyie Hill in a deal with the Reds for cash considerations. Hill, 33, returns to Chicago after spending all or part of the past five seasons in the organization from 2007-11. He batted .208 with seven home runs and 63 RBI in 252 games with the Cubs during his first stint. Cubs starting catcher Geovany Soto had left knee surgery Friday to repair a torn meniscus and was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

The Reds maintain that they will eventually make Aroldis Chapman a starting pitcher, but they currently need him as a reliever as two of their top setup men remain on the disabled list. Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo doesn't believe Chapman should make the jump to the rotation. "I honestly don't think he can be as effective as a starting pitcher," Arroyo said. "I definitely think (relieving) is his forte." As a reliever, Chapman has yet to allow a run this season. He has retired 22 of his last 24 hitters, and his totals in 19 1/3 innings are nothing short of astonishing - six hits, five walks and 34 strikeouts.

The bat Joey Votto used to hit three home runs, including a game-winning grand slam, on Sunday is headed to Cooperstown. Votto is not superstitious about bats, but the Reds first baseman won't send this one to the Hall of Fame until he feels he's done with it. "If a bat is good, I don't care if it produces homers, I don't care if I go 0-for-10, I'm going to keep using it," he said. "It's because of the quality of the bat and the way it feels. "That's what matters most to me."