According to Tim Kirkahoweveryouspellhisname of ESPN, Mike Gonzalez will be out as Orioles closer soon. I shouldn't have drafted him because I saw enough of this bum in Pittsburgh.
As a Braves fan, I watched Gonzalez pitch in most of his appearances last year. I don't really know how in the hell he ended up with an ERA under 3.00 (I guess most of his runs allowed were unearned?), but he did blow almost 50% of his save opportunities. On several occasions, I wanted to strangle him. So I know how Orioles fans feel right now.
That being said, the O's aren't gonna give up on him yet. They paid way too much for him.
Still, he's currently a FA in my league and I won't touch him with a 40 ft. pole. In the long run, I think he's way too inconsistent and a live wire. Even by relief pitcher standards. And he won't get too many save opportunities anyway with that, sadly, very weak team.
daydreamset wrote: Still, he's currently a FA in my league and I won't touch him with a 40 ft. pole. In the long run, I think he's way too inconsistent and a live wire. Even by relief pitcher standards. And he won't get too many save opportunities anyway with that, sadly, very weak team.
Not true. Even if the O's only win 60 games, that's 60 potential save opps. Many good closers throughout the years have been on bad teams. Heath Bell was 4th in the league in saves last year on a terrible team.
Of course, if he can't get anyone out, then that's a whole different story.
Just watched today's late inning meltdown against the Rays, and i'm now even further convinced that noone in the BP looks like they can potentially handle the job...so here's another dark horse to take over the job: Kam Mickolio. Won't be surprised if he's called up soon
jh2031 wrote:According to Tim Kirkahoweveryouspellhisname of ESPN, Mike Gonzalez will be out as Orioles closer soon. I shouldn't have drafted him because I saw enough of this bum in Pittsburgh.
His last full season in Pittsburgh: 24 saves, 0 blown saves, 2.17 ERA, 10.67 K/9. The year before he had 3 saves, 0 blown saves and 15 holds, 2.70 ERA, 10.44 K/9.
As a Gonzalez owner I'm disappointed by the slow start, but it wouldn't stop me from picking him up if he was available in any other league. There aren't usually many cheap save opportunities available that can also provide the kind of extra K totals that Gonzalez can bring.
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jh2031 wrote:According to Tim Kirkahoweveryouspellhisname of ESPN, Mike Gonzalez will be out as Orioles closer soon. I shouldn't have drafted him because I saw enough of this bum in Pittsburgh.
His last full season in Pittsburgh: 24 saves, 0 blown saves, 2.17 ERA, 10.67 K/9. The year before he had 3 saves, 0 blown saves and 15 holds, 2.70 ERA, 10.44 K/9.
As a Gonzalez owner I'm disappointed by the slow start, but it wouldn't stop me from picking him up if he was available in any other league. There aren't usually many cheap save opportunities available that can also provide the kind of extra K totals that Gonzalez can bring.
You can post all the stats you want but I watched every game he pitched with the pirates and he just scares me. He doesn't have great control. I don't think he has a closers mentality. I think he's best suited as a setup guy. It seems like he always gets into trouble whether it be walks, hits, whatever. I hope he does well but I'm not confident.
Ok now I'm not one for excuses, but did anyone notice that he was away from the team after Friday night's blowup? He went home for the birth of his first child, again not for excuses, but there has to be good odds that this was on his mind at some point. I really just don't see him losing this job, especially this early and after the amount of money they are paying him. My guess would be that if he does lose it that it will only be for a very short time.
I know I started this thread, but come on stats are stats, you don't get a 10+ K/9 by being a bag of junk, you also don't hold a sub 2.80ERA by being and throwing junk. Gonzalez has the talent to get this job done, but between moving to a new team, moving to a new league and the birth of a child all right at the begining of the same season, there is reason to believe that Gonzalez will get better, and it shouldn't be that long. I'm holding out a ray of hope right now, and with the stats this guy has produced in the past you don't just lose that.
bazzy_51 wrote:Ok now I'm not one for excuses, but did anyone notice that he was away from the team after Friday night's blowup? He went home for the birth of his first child, again not for excuses, but there has to be good odds that this was on his mind at some point. I really just don't see him losing this job, especially this early and after the amount of money they are paying him. My guess would be that if he does lose it that it will only be for a very short time.
I know I started this thread, but come on stats are stats, you don't get a 10+ K/9 by being a bag of junk, you also don't hold a sub 2.80ERA by being and throwing junk. Gonzalez has the talent to get this job done, but between moving to a new team, moving to a new league and the birth of a child all right at the begining of the same season, there is reason to believe that Gonzalez will get better, and it shouldn't be that long. I'm holding out a ray of hope right now, and with the stats this guy has produced in the past you don't just lose that.
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by jh2031 » Mon Apr 12, 2010 6:43 pm 
His last full season in Pittsburgh: 24 saves, 0 blown saves, 2.17 ERA, 10.67 K/9. The year before he had 3 saves, 0 blown saves and 15 holds, 2.70 ERA, 10.44 K/9.
