Buck just told us what he thinks of Jim Johnson

[CA-ORIOLE]

I don't know, but anytime I see him now coming into a game I will turn off the tv. This guy is atrocious. How difficult is it to keep a pitch down? He needs to aim lower or something... just pathetic.

You really don't understand the difficulty and inconsistencies pitchers have locating a sinker (not to mention JJ's mechanics), and you've been "watching baseball for 40 years".

[SeaBird]

I'm missing something. Were Hunter and O'Day fried, and totally unavailable. When was the last time they pitched?

More than likely there will be another fire tonight that will need dousing so he was saving them.

[Hooded Viper]

You really don't understand the difficulty and inconsistencies pitchers have locating a sinker (not to mention JJ's mechanics), and you've been "watching baseball for 40 years".

Trust me, it isn't even worth getting into a dialogue with him.

[Tony-OH]

So if I understand things correctly, Jim Johnson "almost needed to pitch" but McFarland was left in to pitch the 9th in a one-run game despite the fact that batter have hit .310/.362/.500/.862 the second time they face him in a game?

Color me a little confused by Buck's thinking again last night.

[Tony-OH]

Nobody thinks he's the sole reason, that's true, but BRob was interviewed before the game the other day, and said something to the effect of "We need to drive runners in when they are on base, and we need to hold leads when we have them in the 9th." VERY telling statement. Its obvious, yes, but its also telling us that the players are well aware of the 9 blown saves by JJ this season.

Players are never going to publicly say it, but clearly Johnson's blown saves this year have had a huge negative effect on the team. He's not the "sole" reason the Orioles are languishing this season since baseball require nine guys to be on the field at any time, but he certainly is a big reason why the Orioles are in their current predicament. Saying that, I can guarantee no one feels worse about this than Jim Johnson.

[ScottieBaseball]

All I can say is it must be nice having a halfway decent closer. Does anyone here think JJ closes out a one run game in Tampa then come into the same situation Rodney came into tonight and not make it very very interesting?

He ruined this teams season and should be ashamed of himself. Nobody on this team deserves any blame other than himself. We should be 20 games over .500 if it weren't for him. Everybody else has done their jobs enough times to go into the 9th with a lead, enough times to be in 1st or 2nd, but one person has not done his job. Least valuable player of 2013, yours truly, Jim Johnson.

So JJ is to blame for the whole team

That was a pathetic post. It is almost like he has it in for JJ.

One night your blaming JJ and his blown saves as the sole reason this team is where it is in the standing. The next night you jump on the not hitting w/ RISP band wagon and claim that as the reason the o's don't have a better record. Then it's JJ and the hitting, and now your back to bashing JJ. You're too funny.

I'm pretty sure Jonesy10 is making a concerted effort to establish himself as a troll. We should probably just stop feeding him, folks.

It's no secret that Jim Johnson's performance this season has cost this team a few games. Stranding the population of a small city on the bases hasn't helped. Buck's questionable management of the bullpen at times has resulted in a few losses as well. Losing sucks, but no individual player should be "ashamed" of themselves. Let's save the shame for guys like Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, Miguel Tejada, and the other PED abusers where it belongs.

[Dipper9]

Players are never going to publicly say it, but clearly Johnson's blown saves this year have had a huge negative effect on the team. He's not the "sole" reason the Orioles are languishing this season since baseball require nine guys to be on the field at any time, but he certainly is a big reason why the Orioles are in their current predicament. Saying that, I can guarantee no one feels worse about this than Jim Johnson.

No doubt. And as I said in Roy's thread the other day, I feel bad for JJ. I think he's a good guy and I'm sure that he feels terrible about the way he's pitching. But that said, he's a professional and he gets paid to save games. If he is unable to perform right now, then he should be replaced.

[Frobby]

Nobody thinks he's the sole reason, that's true, but BRob was interviewed before the game the other day, and said something to the effect of "We need to drive runners in when they are on base, and we need to hold leads when we have them in the 9th." VERY telling statement. Its obvious, yes, but its also telling us that the players are well aware of the 9 blown saves by JJ this season.

Of course they are. But I want to repeat something I've said quite a few times this season: closers aren't perfect. We shouldn't hold JJ to the standard that he should have blown zero saves this season. Even Mariano Rivera has only an 89.2% career save rate. Give vintage Rivera the 48 save opportunities JJ has had this year and you'd expect him to blow about 5. Give Jonathan Papelbon (87.6% career save rate) 48 opportunities and you'd expect him to blow about 6. So nine blown saves is clearly too many, but it's about 3-4 more than you'd expect a very good closer to have.

[Dipper9]

Of course they are. But I want to repeat something I've said quite a few times this season: closers aren't perfect. We shouldn't hold JJ to the standard that he should have blown zero saves this season. Even Mariano Rivera has only an 89.2% career save rate. Give vintage Rivera the 48 save opportunities JJ has had this year and you'd expect him to blow about 5. Give Jonathan Papelbon (87.6% career save rate) 48 opportunities and you'd expect him to blow about 6. So nine blown saves is clearly too many, but it's about 3-4 more than you'd expect a very good closer to have.

Absolutely. But those 3-4 blown saves put us IN the Wild Card spot right now.

[Dannyboy]

JJ isn't solely responsible for this season turning bad, but he is mostly responsible for this team's lack of competitiveness after the ASB. Before the ASB it was mostly poor performances by Hammel, Chen's injury, and the 5th starters that sunk this team.

But since the ASB this team should have been better than they were before it especially with the SP solidifying. Yes Feldman struggled but he's still better than Hammel was, and Gonzo and Chen have been scuffling a bit but still not as bad as Hammel and the 5th starters were in the 1st half. The bullpen and especially JJ and McFarland have been abysmal though which has killed us.

Not quite. The O's are 14-15 since the ASB. In games in which Jim Johnson has entered with a save opportunity the O's are 7-2 since the ASB.

[Tony-OH]

Absolutely. But those 3-4 blown saves put us IN the Wild Card spot right now.

Point to Dipper.

[Old#5fan]

You really don't understand the difficulty and inconsistencies pitchers have locating a sinker (not to mention JJ's mechanics), and you've been "watching baseball for 40 years".

I know I see a vast majority of his pitches much higher on the strike zone and middle of the plate. That is going to get any major league pitcher hammered and probably quite a few in AAA. It shouldn't be that difficult for a professional major league pitcher with his years of service and high level of success just last season to not be doing this. He went from being Dennis Eckersly to Chris Ray from last year to this....

[TiredofLosing20]

If I am blaming one person it would be DD. The inability to improve a team that squeaked into the wildcard on the backs of unprecedented performances by players without real track records and a bullpen and closer that over performed at historic levels is more of a culprit than JJ blowing a 3-4 more saves than he should have. The offseason simply appears to have been a failure. This years team is more representative of the talent they have. Hopefully DD can go about adding some additional impactful pieces this offseason.

[NewMarketSean]

If I am blaming one person it would be DD. The inability to improve a team that squeaked into the wildcard on the backs of unprecedented performances by players without real track records and a bullpen and closer that over performed at historic levels is more of a culprit than JJ blowing a 3-4 more saves than he should have. The offseason simply appears to have been a failure. This years team is more representative of the talent they have. Hopefully DD can go about adding some additional impactful pieces this offseason.

I don't know how you can say that when the biggest reason we are where we are is BECAUSE of Johnson.

Maybe they could have done more -- signed Swisher, brought in another SP -- but this team was in the position to have 5-7 wins more than it does now. But JJ choked.

[FanSince88]

I don't know how you can say that when the biggest reason we are where we are is BECAUSE of Johnson.

Maybe they could have done more -- signed Swisher, brought in another SP -- but this team was in the position to have 5-7 wins more than it does now. But JJ choked.

40 years ago -- before the DH, before closers existed, and before managers obsessively counted pitches -- this team would have been a shoo-in WC if they'd had WC back then and had a good shot at winning the pennant. The modern twists in the game -- DH, huge reliance on relief pitchers almost more than starters in some cases, pitch count obssession -- are killing this team.