A friend of OMGReds.com confirmed to an OMGReds.com contributor that he saw Francisco Cordero, Juan Francisco and Aroldis Chapman walking around together at Kenwood Towne Centre (which you may also see spelled “Kenwood Towne Center” from time to time) Thursday afternoon. What’s odd is the Louisville Bats – believed to be Francisco and Chapman’s current team – played a home game Thursday evening against Columbus. Chapman did not appear in the game and WAS listed among available players on the bench. Francisco did play, so he obviously managed to be in suburban Cincinnati during the afternoon and in Louisville that same evening, which is not unheard of. (The two locations are approximately 110 miles apart.)

Redreporter.com pointed out just this morning that Chapman didn’t appear in Louisville’s loss to Indianapolis on Wednesday either, which would make him “fresh for a weekend series.” And IF it were the case that the Reds were going to promote Chapman in advance of the upcoming series against the Cubs, did he even bother to go back to Louisville tonight when he was already here today? Can anyone confirm that he was in the dugout at the Bats’ game tonight? Just wondering.

Also, if he were promoted already, it would allow Chapman to avoid the madness that would be the pregame team autograph session the Bats have scheduled for Sunday.

Then again, wouldn’t the Reds have announced/promoted it right away (that Friday would be Chapman’s debut as a Red) if they had promoted him already? Probably, yes. So really, what can we deduce? That Chapman has, in fact, reportedly visited a shopping mall in greater Cincinnati. According to a fairly reliable source.

Also, in case you missed it, here’s a topical and strong feature about Chapman from the Enquirer’s John Erardi.