Can we please release Mike Gonzalez?!?!?

[Nick The Stick]

Career OPS against: .647

2010 OPS against: .629

Career K/9: 10.56

2010 K/9: 11.31

Career IP: 318, Career Hits allowed:251

2010 IP: 24.2, 2010 Hits allowed: 18

Career BAA: .211

2010 BAA: .196

Career Line Drive %: 21.6

2010 Line Drive %: 22.4

Career Swinging Strike %: 11.4

2010 Swinging Strike %: 11.9

2010 was limited. His role was to close with the team and he could not get that done. Between that small sample size and how horrible he has been this season is a pretty clear sign that he's not working.

[HokieOs]

As you have no better options than him, to me you continue to use him. I think I agree with a previous post of at-least on a temporary bases using him as the LOOGY. Rapada gets DFA for Simon.

If you regularly use him through the AS Break and he continues to implode, you can make the move then.

I thought I read that Simon was going back to trial for his incident on New Years and would likely be unavailable the rest of the year.

[NewMarketSean]

As you have no better options than him, to me you continue to use him. I think I agree with a previous post of at-least on a temporary bases using him as the LOOGY. Rapada gets DFA for Simon.

If you regularly use him through the AS Break and he continues to implode, you can make the move then.

I can guarantee right now that Troy Patton will not have a 1.97 WHIP and a 8.53 ERA in the first 12.2 innings he pitches in Baltimore this year.

[NewMarketSean]

So his numbers last year are a small sample size which should be forgotten, but his small sample size this year should get released?

The purpose of building a good bullpen is getting guys who you feel confident with when they enter a game. We have very few of those guys right now. So do you feel confident when MG enters a game? Will you every feel confident when he enters a game this year? I won't.

[NewMarketSean]

Great Sean. I can guarantee that after the next tough O's loss you will have another reactionary thread stating the O's will never recover... only to be followed by you having optimistic thoughts the next time they play well for a week.

Step back and take a broader approach. Nobody is going to argue that Gonzalez has not been poor this year. The question is what is he more likely to do going forward. Pitch closer to what he has done his entire career, or continue to implode.

Sorry but even when the O's are winning I know MG sucks. You can call me reactionary but my opinions of MG are not reactionary.

And while you wait for MG to recover, I can rattle off about a dozen relievers in the last 12 years who had good careers before they came to Baltimore, sucked, and then were gone. So what makes you think MG will be any different?

IMO, he was doomed from the start. He was hurt in 2010, tried to pitch through it, got the season off on the wrong foot, was booed on OD, came back, threw well in garbage time, and now he sucks again. If ever there was a change of scenery guy, MG is it. Like someone else said, he's just not going to work in Baltimore. At least not when the games matter.

[Nick The Stick]

So his numbers last year are a small sample size which should be forgotten, but his small sample size this year should get released?

Again. I understand you want to believe the guy will come around. But he hasn't. He is not helping the team win and is doing a horrible job with giving us chances to win. We had that Boston game in the book the other night and he changed the game for the worse. He does that a lot. Do you really want, with the way he is pitching and falling off of the mound, to trust him to help us win within our division?

[Dipper9]

Great Sean. I can guarantee that after the next tough O's loss you will have another reactionary thread stating the O's will never recover... only to be followed by you having optimistic thoughts the next time they play well for a week.

Step back and take a broader approach. Nobody is going to argue that Gonzalez has not been poor this year. The question is what is he more likely to do going forward. Pitch closer to what he has done his entire career, or continue to implode?

Not sure why you continue to defend this man, but I am not willing to keep throwing him out there and HOPING he comes out of it while he continues to blow games. You think he is in a funk and will come out of it based on his career numbers. We got it. But there is NO evidence that will happen. Normally when aging guys decline, its fast and its severe. Gonzo has been in decline for two years.

[NewMarketSean]

Our chances are better with him, then without him. The cost is sunk. His mechanics can be pathetic, but have improved since he went back to the 'Cobra'.

I see his stuff, and it is better than most. I see the options that exist internally, and see little chance to improve. I see what he has done this year, in-conjunction with what he has done previously, and believe he can only improve.

I guess you have a different view of what this season is about. I want this team to challenge for a WC and in the process, have a winning record. You appear to still be in 2007 mode where we are going to stick with veterans who are giving us NOTHING when they enter a game. MG is costing us games, costing us chances to have a winning record.

That is why I want him gone. Because when he IS gone, he can no longer lose us games. It's simple logic.

[NewMarketSean]

Go ahead and rattle off those names. As you do, let's see who had career success comparable to Gonzalez. Find me guys that had his K/9, and hits per IP numbers. Find me the guys that had the success he had in the year before he came to Baltimore.

Norm Charlton

Terry Matthews

Doug Johns

Mike Fetters

Mike Timlin

Mike DeJean

Jason Grimsley

Steve Kline

Danys Baez

Mike Gonzalez

Kevin Gregg

[Nick The Stick]

Go ahead and rattle off those names. As you do, let's see who had career success comparable to Gonzalez. Find me guys that had his K/9, and hits per IP numbers. Find me the guys that had the success he had in the year before he came to Baltimore.

That is the ticket that everyone is referencing here. Career statistics. Fine. It's just not working for OUR team. We want the ORIOLES to win. He is not helping.

[Fan4Life]

Again.. pitch selection is killing this team. Trying to get the upper hand with a fastball and getting burned. Not sure if this is Wieters or Gonzo's issue but they never learn. YOU CANNOT BEAT THE REDSOX AND YANKEES WITH FASTBALLS unless you throw as hard as Verlander, have pinpoint control like Colon did tonight or have a lot of movement like Britton. Gonzo has none of those elements on his resume. He has to have at LEAST 2 pitches he can throw for strikes to keep these guys off balance.

[NewMarketSean]

Yes, you listed the long list of middling relievers the O's have added in recent years. With some of them having had some strong past success of their own. That didn't exactly answer the question I asked you though.

George Sherrill, Kerry Lightenburg, Doug Jones...all are named as comps for MG through age. Not exactly the beacon of solid relievers during their time in Baltimore.

[NewMarketSean]

You have the simple logic part down.

Chris, let's revisit this discussion in October. Preferably over a beer. I'm buying.

[Guest IRemember70]

Why would it make more sense to extrapolate the poor results shown to date, vs. expecting results closer to career averages?

It's a thing with a lot of relief pitchers. Maybe it's the money, a team change, an injury, a new league or sometimes it's just a year to year deal. I don't know. But I've seen it many, many times in the last 40 years. As an example, had Rivera been traded a few years back, it's no guarantee the same results would have been there. Sometimes career averages don't mean anything. His best option is take a minor league assignment and get back on track if he wants to stick around the majors.

[El Gordo]

His ejection was a joke. But I almost hope it leads to a suspension. At least there would be a couple games we have a chance of winning.

Oh wait....there's still Gregg.

If his ejection leads to a suspension it will be of the umpire.