On July 31st, the Reds were coming off what was an impressive 10 game winning streak, which promoted Reds Radio announcer Marty Brennaman to shave his head from a bet and would charity the money for shaving his head in front of thousands of fans. That was happening when the Reds were 62-41 without Joey Votto, but the more important part of July 31st was the acquisition of Kansas City Royals reliever Jonathan Broxton.

Broxton became a star and quite successful from his Los Angeles Dodger Days, going to the 2009 and 2010 All-Star games. In his 7 seasons with the Dodgers, he composed good numbers with an ERA+ 132 and 2.71 FIP. The most impressive part of Broxton is the K/9, it was 11.5. If an inning per appearance occurred, he had a 42.6% chance of striking out a batter, would strikeout at least 2 batters in an inning. His departure from LA was from regression and under performing in his last 2 seasons, even though he was an all-star in 2010. Broxton simply was a part of LA during the Pre-arbitration and arbitration days, Los Angeles didn’t want to invest a player in Broxton. Pack the bags, sign with another team.

In 2012, he found a team in Kansas City. He pitched well for the Royals that season, posting a 2.27 ERA at the time and had a 185 ERA+. That prompted Reds General Manager Walt Jocketty to pick up the phone and trade prospects for Broxton. Broxton was a brilliant pickup for the Reds at the time because it formed “Nasty Boys 2.0”, the crew of Sean Marshall, Broxton and Aroldis Chapman. His efforts for a postseason bound team made this move by Jocketty looked good, and it did. Reds went on to win the National League Central by 9 games and claim the 2nd seed in the National League. In the 25 appearances for the 2012 Reds, he posted a 2.82 ERA, 148 ERA+ and 2.42 FIP. It was impressive to land him the postseason spot.

Broxton appeared in 3 games of the NLDS. He pitched in Game 3, the game that saw the Reds lose confidence. A ball that went inside and past Ryan Hanigan allowed the Giants to score the winning run in a elimination game for the Giants. The only thing about that game was the start of Homer Bailey, who had a no-hitter two weeks earlier and nearly no-hit the Giants in that game. Broxton errant throw may have cost the Reds the series sweep and potential World Series. Can’t blame Broxton, because leading 2-0 in a series meant winning only one more game, the other two games would be considered insurance at the time.

Following that postseason, Jocketty signs Broxton to a 3 year-$21 million contract. Most fans did not like the contract because it was considered overpaid. Most fans actually hate Jocketty’s extension contracts for players that aren’t homegrown. Did Jocketty learn a lesson? Who knows, but it’s a gamble and performance from the 2012 year that motivated Jocketty and Broxton for a contract extension.

The start of 2013 did not bode well for Broxton. Broxton appeared in the first 6 games with allowing 1 run in 4 innings, the run was a blown save for Mat Latos. After not pitching for 5 games on April 7th, Broxton was rusty and blow another game for Mat Latos by allowing 6 runs in the 8th inning and earning the loss. It took Broxton 5 more games after that to allow no runs before the next two appearances allowing 2 runs in 2 days, but the Reds ended up winning those games. Broxton pitched 8 more games in 18 days to only allow 2 runs and win one game in the process. Overall, Broxton pitched well in 2013, but early season struggles hurt his 2013 campaign. Another factor for Broxton is that a blown elbow ended his 2013 season. A setback for Broxton after making $5 million in 2013.

2014, the comeback. Broxton had elbow surgery and was delayed in returning to work in Spring Training. After only being out for 9 games for the 2014 season, Broxton returned. In his first 8 games, Broxton did not allow a runner to score. The first 8 games saw 5 saves because of Chapman’s freak accident in Spring Training. Broxton had more scoreless appearances, one lasted 32 days. Broxton on June 20th had a 0.77 ERA in 23.1 innings. From up to August 29th (last appearance as a Red), Broxton had a 4-2 record, 21 holds and 7 saves. Broxton ended his 2014 campaign with an 1.86 ERA as well. Only 10 baserunners managed to score in 51 games, a 19.61% chance of actually scoring on Broxton.

Overall, a thank you is necessary for his efforts. Thank You Jonathan Broxton for your efforts and best of luck with the Milwaukee Brewers in your 2014 and 2015 campaigns.

Jonathan Broxton made $12,302,469.14 with the #Reds and pitched 101.1 innings in 110 games. $111,840.63/game and $41,145.38/team game — Quinn Dumáis (@TheMightyQD) August 31, 2014

CINCINNATI REDS

101.1 IP/79 H/34 R/31 ER/32 BB/82 SO/8 HR

BAA .206/ERA 2.75/WHIP 1.10

GRADE: 85.75% (B)

RATES: 19.32% H/8.31% R/7.82% BB/20.05% SO/1.96% HR

PER 9: 7.02 H/3.02 R/2.84 BB/7.28 SO/0.71 HR