Cincinnati Reds need to help Bronson Arroyo transition out of baseball

The Cincinnati Reds have a unique opportunity to celebrate the career of a player, while he is still a player.

Bronson Arroyo is still a Cincinnati Reds, although it appears that his career is over.  He is on the 60 day DL and it doesn’t look like he will ever pitch again.  He compared his shoulder to a favorite tee shirt that has been washed too many times.

Now the Reds have the unique opportunity to do what the New York Yankees did for Derek Jeter and the Boston Red Sox did for David Ortiz.  They can celebrate Arroyo the rest of the season.  Sure, other teams may not jump up and give Arroyo gifts, but the Reds can do something regularly for the rest of the season.

Arroyo only played a little more than half of his MLB career in Cincinnati, but he is a Red through and through.  He was and is again the veteran presence on a young, talented staff that has boundless potential.  In his own pitching, every appearance that Arroyo has made for the Reds has been a start.

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When there is someone with so much history as Arroyo, they should celebrate him.  In July 2007, Arroyo only walked seven batters the entire month.  The Reds have their scoreboard stumper, but how about their Arroyo stumper?

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The Cincinnati Reds could spend the rest of the season having fun with Arroyo and maybe a little bit at his expense.

It could be tremendous fun for the fans and Arroyo.  Every time the opposition hits a home run at GABP, the Reds could show a home run surrendered by Arroyo and the way his face looked.  They could also the Arroyo-no meter at every game, showing how many home run he had given up through that date in 2011 when he allowed the most home runs in MLB.

The Reds could create a contest called Bronson or the band. The fans at GABP would guess whether the song played was Arroyo or the original band.  They could also play a cut of “Slide” every time the opposition threw out a Red on the bases.  Let the fun commence.

Next: Development or competition? The Red must decide!

The idea here is to help the fans say thank you and good bye to Bronson.  Every night they could ask him about his favorite ice cream, video game or television show on the big screen.  Anything the Reds could do to help the fans close the book on Arroyo would help. That would let him sail off into the sunset fulfilled.