No Chapman decision yet

Contrary to a report this morning, manager Dusty Baker and GM Walt Jocketty denied that a decision was reached on the future of pitcher Aroldis Chapman. No announcement is coming on Thursday.

“I don’t know where that came from. We didn’t say that,” Baker said. “There’s plenty of speculation every day. We’ll let you know soon. Then we can put it to rest and no more talking about. I’m sure everybody has an opinion one way or the other no matter which way we go. It’s a topic of discussion.”

Chapman is supposed to follow Mike Leake out of the bullpen on Friday. Baker would not say how many innings Chapman is scheduled to pitch.

Reds lineup vs. A’s

Robinson 8
Phillips 4
Votto 3
Ludwick 7
Heisey 9
Frazier 5
Cozart 6
Hanigan 2
Cueto 1

*Coming over from the Minor League camp, Mark Prior is one of the pitchers expected to follow Cueto.

*Shin-Soo Choo (back spasms) is not ready to return yet but was expected to do a full workout today.