Jim Johnson Today, 2013

[Jonesy10]

http://www.masnsports.com/steve_melewski/2013/07/the-orioles-now-have-to-consider-a-change-in-closer.html

So we are 40-7 leading after 8. The rest of the AL East is 154-6, and that's with the Sox and Rays having closer struggles too. Just shows how truly horrific JJ has been this year. He's been the worst closer in the league bar none. I appreciate what JJ did for us last year, but he did cost us the ALDS, and may very well cost us a playoff berth this year. I still think he can be effective, just not in the closer role. He had some real nice years working the 7th/8th, pitching ALOT, and I think that's where he should be right now. Even if he were to start pitching better, I could never have trust in him again and I'm sure his team will have doubts as well, after the epic fails endured by JJ since the playoffs last year.

[WalkingDead]

Tommy Hunter has a 1.4 WAR Jim Johnson 0.2 WAR

[jjnono]

Adam Jones is an Oriole, through and through.

In my anecdotal experience(s) of observing the players and their temperament(s), I haven't seen an Oriole that hated to lose to the Yankees this much since Melvin Mora played for us.

Was that at the end of the game, or after another futile at bat?

[WalkingDead]

Was that at the end of the game, or after another futile at bat?

After a at bat.

[jjnono]

What did Buck say when he went out there for the 9nth? "Hey JJ you made 800 saves in a row you can do it buddy!"

Probably more along the likes of "hey a**hole, try mixing in a strike!"

[OriolesMagic83]

I would like to see O'Day given a shot. The O's need to make a trade for a reliever, ASAP. Britton to the bullpen when Chen returns? It seems like he could be one of our better relievers for the rest of the year.

[fansince71]

I have to laugh, JJ isnt going anywhere. Last i checked he leads the league in saves.

Buck will get him thru this.

[sfosfan]

I have to laugh, JJ isnt going anywhere. Last i checked he leads the league in saves.

Buck will get him thru this.

He also leads mlb with 6 blown saves:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/sort/blownSaves

[Norfolk orioles]

The worst part is all the espn baseball geeks kept predicting Johnson would regress.

While not even the staunchest O's fan would predict him to repeat last years performance, what he's done in the first half so far is extremely disappointing. The games he's been blowing haven't been extremely tough......he's been blowing very winnable games.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, you play matchup baseball for 8 inning to great effect, why abandon it in the last inning with everything on the line? Closer by committee is the answer.......we don't have Kimbrel or chapman......play the matchups all the way through and win the games.

Losses like tonight and the white sox Dunn walk off are going to keep us out of the playoffs if we don't get smarter about how we finish games.

We could honestly have one of, if not THE, best record in baseball if not for blowing games in the last inning or two. While I know every team blows at least a few games late, I'd love to see where we'd be vs. other teams in 7 or 8 inning games.

Extremely disappointing and the worst part is, most of us who've been paying attention can see Johnson isn't remotely himself. Buck has to dl him and let him rest his arm. They did it for strop, we've got to do it for Jim. He's running on fumes and yet we keep resting the world on his shoulders in close games. Give him 2-3 weeks and bring him back healthy for the second half and I think well see the old Jim Johnson.

[MrOrange82]

I have to laugh, JJ isnt going anywhere. Last i checked he leads the league in saves.

Buck will get him thru this.

Useless stat.

That said, let's look at some other facts in a vacuum.

Johnson's appeared in 42 games this season. He's managed to put together 1-2-3 innings in 17 of those games. Conversely, he's allowed two or more base runners in 15 of those games. In other words, our "closer" has gotten himself into significant trouble in more than a third of the games in which he's pitched. And I'm not even going to bother looking up how many "one base runner" innings he had in which he allowed a hit or a walk after coming into a game with inherited runners already on.

Hell, in addition to the blown saves lead, he's also tied (long list) for 18th in baseball for losses among pitchers...not just relievers, mind you...pitchers.

There's virtually nothing JJ can do to redeem himself, IMO. Regardless of whether you think blowing a lead in the 9th is 99% the closer's fault, JJ is personally responsible to a significant extent for the O's losses in which he's pitched.

[SteveO]

Even if he is not closing JJ has value when he is going right. The focus should be on figuring out what is going on with him and fixing it.

Far as trading him, the O's could certainly listen but I doubt given his problems this season your going to get good value for him.

[gfrank]

What really stinks about this is that much of the bullpen is working rather well right now. The guys who would be logical fits for closer already have a reasonably well-established role in the bullpen. You sorta know the sorts of situations where O'Day and Hunter are going to come in, and moving either of them into Johnson's role would mean that you'd need to find someone else for those 7th, 8th inning duties in close games.

I guess this question becomes less about whether or not Jim Johnson should be our closer, and more about whether or not we think Troy Patton is the man to step up in more critical situations, close games in the seventh inning, even if there are three righties coming up. We're at the point right now where, if it's not the 9th, and the game is critically close, you'll be seeing Hunter or O'Day, sometimes both. Fundamentally these roles are as important as the closer role, as it's the expectation that the pitcher will shut down the opposition, regardless of who is batting. I want Johnson out of important situations, but I'm not totally ecstatic with the choices we have to replace our shut-down middle relief guys, and it feels like just swapping Johnson with either O'Day or Hunter doesn't really address the issue here.

For whatever it's worth, I'd feel good enough about bumping Patton up that bullpen priority chart to be our main middle relief guy, using O'Day/Hunter as the setup man/closer, at least until we can feel good about giving Johnson the ball when we need an out. Patton is not perfect and he's been streaky(his May was horrible), but I think he's been a rather solid relief pitcher for a while now. He's not as purely difficult to hit as Hunter or O'Day, but he does a lot with his pitching savvy. I'm pretty confident he'd be our best pitcher right now if it wasn't for that injury he had way back when.

[a20havoc]

Useless stat.

That said, let's look at some other facts in a vacuum.

Johnson's appeared in 42 games this season. He's managed to put together 1-2-3 innings in 17 of those games. Conversely, he's allowed two or more base runners in 15 of those games. In other words, our "closer" has gotten himself into significant trouble in more than a third of the games in which he's pitched. And I'm not even going to bother looking up how many "one base runner" innings he had in which he allowed a hit or a walk after coming into a game with inherited runners already on.

Great post. When he walked that first guy (Adams[?]) last night, I said to Mrs. havoc, "Here we go. It's not a Jim Johnson save unless there's a hit or somebody on base." Oh how wrong I was.

He's really a liability right now. I know his teammates are pros, used to long seasons and some disappointing losses--but you have to wonder if they're privately starting to lose confidence in him...

[Tx Oriole]

In no particular order....Gausman, Wada, Steve Johnson,Hunter, Britton,Feldman,

Hammel, Chen, Tillman, Gonzalez,

Patton, Matusz,Mcfarland. Go ahead, tell me there isnt enough inventory to get us to

the ninth inning without having to rely on the SAME alternative every time and lose

seven games in the standings when we were in a position to win.

Its NOT the depth of pitching thats cost us, its the lack of a lock down close to our

games.Im sorry, JJ has been great for us, BUT THE CHANGE IS NECESSARY. Even

a close by committee would be better than this situation.This was the final straw.

Roy if the hitters had shown up maybe the team wins. They need to start hitting.

Yes JJ blew it but you can't beat the Yankees by only putting up a two spot. It is a

shame and can be frustrating. Maybe some time off for the All Star Game will help

some. I don't know if it will. Just a thought.

[russ snyder]

Even if he is not closing JJ has value when he is going right. The focus should be on figuring out what is going on with him and fixing it.

Far as trading him, the O's could certainly listen but I doubt given his problems this season your going to get good value for him.

I agree that the focus should be on fixing what is wrong with JJ. When he's right, hitters have a difficult time squaring up on him. Unfortunately, I have seen little of that from him this season. While I think that he has to pitch his way through this, I think that he has to be on a real short leash. If Hunter or O'Day pitch a strong eighth

inning, I'd like to see them finish the game. Hopefully, Johnson can find his stuff again. If not, like Roy points out there is more than enough talent to pick up the slack.

I don't think that there is a strong market for Jim Johnson right now. I don't think that he's going anywhere. Like you said, he's the Orioles problem to fix.