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I don't blame MGon, I do blame Trembley


LookitsPuck

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First off, I don't want this to seem like a knee-jerk reaction to an extremely disappointing loss. I also don't want it to seem like a pile-on for Mike Gonzalez. I do want to hit on a few points, though.

$12 million. 2 years. Closer.

Let that sink in. Heir to the proverbial throne left by George Sherrill (forget the closer by committee after the trade).

This guy was brought on to do one thing: close. Close. Get 3 outs in a game where the team is winning.

Yes, he hasn't been bad. He's been downright terrible. He not only is getting hit hard, but he's also missing his spots. His outs are accidentally. There are balls that turn in to outs just by the nature of the game, not because he had the batter hit his pitch. His mechanics seem out of whack, his velocity is down (and only up when he's pitching worse). He is not a closer.

I booed him tonight at Camden Yards. I booed him on Tuesday. And I booed him last night. He is awful right now. And I don't think it's his fault.

I put the blame on Trembley. His "desire" to win and his "traditional" baseball mindset is putting him in a predicament. I liken the Gonzalez situation to that of Adam Eaton last year. Adam Eaton was a "hope-to-god he can be serviceable" sign that was given the starting pitching job in spring training regardless of his pathetic performance. Mike Gonzalez was injured this spring, threw terribly, had zippy command, and had no velocity on his fastball...yet Trembley gave him the ball and happily tells everyone..."Mke Gonzalez is our closer."

Closer. Close. To get 3 outs. Has he done this successfully? I'd argue he's failed at it every single chance he got this season. Tuesday...failed. Thursday, failed. But got incredibly lucky. Today? Failed.

Will he fail again? I don't know for sure. I know that a guy shouldn't come out of spring training at the start of the season and be this bad.

And this is why I blame Dave Trembley. Keep Gonzalez in the minors to get up to speed. Work on healing better, work on getting his mechanics back to normal, work on pitching. Effectively.

Right now Gonzalez is not pitching well, and it's not his fault. He's in a position to fail right now.

And while we're on the topic of Trembley. I think he really, really needs to tread lightly when he spouts off about the fans. We (and I will continue to boo) boo the players to show our distaste not necessarily for the player, but for the organization, the coach, the whatever.

Trembley, you're playing for wins here. You're playing for the team. Gonzalez is not helping this team at all. He's lost 2 games for us, and almost blew another one last night. Let him get his mechanics back in shape. Let him heal.

Get it worked out.

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First off, I don't want this to seem like a knee-jerk reaction to an extremely disappointing loss. I also don't want it to seem like a pile-on for Mike Gonzalez. I do want to hit on a few points, though.

$12 million. 2 years. Closer.

Let that sink in. Heir to the proverbial throne left by George Sherrill (forget the closer by committee after the trade).

This guy was brought on to do one thing: close. Close. Get 3 outs in a game where the team is winning.

Yes, he hasn't been bad. He's been downright terrible. He not only is getting hit hard, but he's also missing his spots. His outs are accidentally. There are balls that turn in to outs just by the nature of the game, not because he had the batter hit his pitch. His mechanics seem out of whack, his velocity is down (and only up when he's pitching worse). He is not a closer.

I booed him tonight at Camden Yards. I booed him on Tuesday. And I booed him last night. He is awful right now. And I don't think it's his fault.

I put the blame on Trembley. His "desire" to win and his "traditional" baseball mindset is putting him in a predicament. I liken the Gonzalez situation to that of Adam Eaton last year. Adam Eaton was a "hope-to-god he can be serviceable" sign that was given the starting pitching job in spring training regardless of his pathetic performance. Mike Gonzalez was injured this spring, threw terribly, had zippy command, and had no velocity on his fastball...yet Trembley gave him the ball and happily tells everyone..."Mke Gonzalez is our closer."

Closer. Close. To get 3 outs. Has he done this successfully? I'd argue he's failed at it every single chance he got this season. Tuesday...failed. Thursday, failed. But got incredibly lucky. Today? Failed.

Will he fail again? I don't know for sure. I know that a guy shouldn't come out of spring training at the start of the season and be this bad.

And this is why I blame Dave Trembley. Keep Gonzalez in the minors to get up to speed. Work on healing better, work on getting his mechanics back to normal, work on pitching. Effectively.

Right now Gonzalez is not pitching well, and it's not his fault. He's in a position to fail right now.

And while we're on the topic of Trembley. I think he really, really needs to tread lightly when he spouts off about the fans. We (and I will continue to boo) boo the players to show our distaste not necessarily for the player, but for the organization, the coach, the whatever.

Trembley, you're playing for wins here. You're playing for the team. Gonzalez is not helping this team at all. He's lost 2 games for us, and almost blew another one last night. Let him get his mechanics back in shape. Let him heal.

Get it worked out.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Trembley is afraid to piss off veteran players. He needs to grow a set and act like a real major league manager and do whatever it takes to WIN GAMES! If not, then he needs to be replaced PERIOD. No wonder we fans are irrate. This is B.S. in large piles!

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You guys are ridiculous. The guy was signed to be the closer. He's stinking up the joint, but you're blaming the manager for sticking the guy out to close who was signed to be the closer in the first 3 save opportunities of the year? GET OUTTA TOWN! What a RADICAL MOVE!

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And for the record, I think he should man up and go down to the minors to work out his obvious mechanic and accuracy problems. But I'm not going to run the manager through the ringer for using the guy that was signed to do his job. I'm going to run the guy who not doing his job.

"Who am I? I'm the guy that gets his job done. You must be the OTHER guy."

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First off, I don't want this to seem like a knee-jerk reaction to an extremely disappointing loss. I also don't want it to seem like a pile-on for Mike Gonzalez. I do want to hit on a few points, though.

$12 million. 2 years. Closer.

Let that sink in. Heir to the proverbial throne left by George Sherrill (forget the closer by committee after the trade).

This guy was brought on to do one thing: close. Close. Get 3 outs in a game where the team is winning.

...

I put the blame on Trembley. His "desire" to win and his "traditional" baseball mindset is putting him in a predicament. I liken the Gonzalez situation to that of Adam Eaton last year. Adam Eaton was a "hope-to-god he can be serviceable" sign that was given the starting pitching job in spring training regardless of his pathetic performance. Mike Gonzalez was injured this spring, threw terribly, had zippy command, and had no velocity on his fastball...yet Trembley gave him the ball and happily tells everyone..."Mke Gonzalez is our closer."

Closer. Close. To get 3 outs. Has he done this successfully? I'd argue he's failed at it every single chance he got this season. Tuesday...failed. Thursday, failed. But got incredibly lucky. Today? Failed.

Will he fail again? I don't know for sure. I know that a guy shouldn't come out of spring training at the start of the season and be this bad.

And this is why I blame Dave Trembley. Keep Gonzalez in the minors to get up to speed. Work on healing better, work on getting his mechanics back to normal, work on pitching. Effectively.

Right now Gonzalez is not pitching well, and it's not his fault. He's in a position to fail right now.

This thought process is all over the place. You state at the beginning that Gonzalez was specifically signed to a big contract to be the closer. And then you blame Trembley for...using him as the closer?

Gonzalez's struggles are on him, not Trembley. Trembley's using the guy in exactly the role he was signed to serve. As far as we know, Gonzalez is not injured, so you can't just send him to the minors to work on stuff. And you can't take him out of the closer role before the season even begins simply because he wasn't all that impressive in spring training. There are plenty of veterans around the majors who look shaky in spring but turn it on when the regular season begins.

Yes, it sucks that Gonzalez isn't getting the job done right now, and his grip on the closer's role may be in danger. But was Trembley supposed to have psychic powers and realize before the season even began that Gonzalez would blow the game on Opening Night? He was signed to be the closer. You have to at least give him a chance. Is it really unreasonable to give him (gasp!) three save opportunities?

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You guys are ridiculous. The guy was signed to be the closer. He's stinking up the joint, but you're blaming the manager for sticking the guy out to close who was signed to be the closer in the first 3 save opportunities of the year? GET OUTTA TOWN! What a RADICAL MOVE!

Thank you and amen.

I couldn't disagree more. First off- since you are loving to blame Trembley- WHO exactly should be closing if it's not the guy they just paid 12 million to do so?

If Jim Johnson hadn't struggled as the closer last year, maybe, just maybe your point has a little bit of credence. BUt this team has no one else to close- at least not without it being just as much a shot in the dark that whoever he puts there will succeed.

I guess if Millwood struggled on opening day- it would've been Trembley's fault right? How could he start Millwood with hos horrible he was this spring!!! And before you say that Millwood has a track record of slow starts- mind you Gonzalez track record is much better than what he is showing.

What about Jeremy Guthrie? I guess he shouldn't have made his start either. Brian Roberts- he should still be in Sarasota. Hell- anyone who wasn't dominating in spring training should be gone!

It is a joke and a travesty that you can sit there with a straight face and blame Gonzalez failure on Dave Trembley.

I get more aggravated reading this garbage than I do watching Gonzalez blow saves....

Well, maybe not that much....

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And for the record, I think he should man up and go down to the minors to work out his obvious mechanic and accuracy problems. But I'm not going to run the manager through the ringer for using the guy that was signed to do his job. I'm going to run the guy who not doing his job.

"Who am I? I'm the guy that gets his job done. You must be the OTHER guy."

Look Wedge. You are a very intelligent youg man yet you act like you would be dumb enough if you were a supervisor to continue to send a guy out there to fail to get a job done right. If you do that you are worse than the worker who is messing up. You should know better! Just because a guy has a title doesnt' mean he cannot be replaced when he is screwing everything up!:eek::rolleyes:

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I wouldn't have trotted Gonzalez out there after he threw 30 some pitches last night, but that's just me. I'm just a caveman.

Agreed.

Trembley has shown in the past that he has a penchant for overusing relievers. Gonzo 3 times in 4 days? When he's thrown how many pitches and struggled how much?

To the other people in this thread:

Are you guys not seeing what we're seeing? He's been struggling SINCE SPRING started. He was injured in the spring as well.

As a manager, you should know if someone's mechanics are out of whack. He's had an awful spring, he's had an awful 3 games. As a manager, you don't make the move and throw the guy into this role haphazardly like Trembley has done. You either let him get innings in mop up duty, or you don't even start him at the beginning of the season (i.e. let him get seasoned more).

Yes, it is an issue that we signed him for $12 million for 2 years. Yes, he's been anointed by Trembley to be "our closer", however, if someone isn't ready when the season starts, do you just say, "Ahhh, he's a vet, he's ready." Do you just throw him to the wolves?

Yes, Gonzo is responsible for the losses as he's been downright terrible, but if you set up a guy for failure...who's fault is it really?

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Agreed.

Trembley has shown in the past that he has a penchant for overusing relievers. Gonzo 3 times in 4 days? When he's thrown how many pitches and struggled how much?

To the other people in this thread:

Are you guys not seeing what we're seeing? He's been struggling SINCE SPRING started. He was injured in the spring as well.

As a manager, you should know if someone's mechanics are out of whack. He's had an awful spring, he's had an awful 3 games. As a manager, you don't make the move and throw the guy into this role haphazardly like Trembley has done. You either let him get innings in mop up duty, or you don't even start him at the beginning of the season (i.e. let him get seasoned more).

Yes, it is an issue that we signed him for $12 million for 2 years. Yes, he's been anointed by Trembley to be "our closer", however, if someone isn't ready when the season starts, do you just say, "Ahhh, he's a vet, he's ready." Do you just throw him to the wolves?

Yes, Gonzo is responsible for the losses as he's been downright terrible, but if you set up a guy for failure...who's fault is it really?

It has to be the manager. Nobody else is calling this guy in from the pen. Trembley is too much of a player's manager to the point he would rather lose the damn game than piss somebody off. In reality he would be doing the entire team a favor including Gonzales by replacing him at least temporarily.

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I agree that this is completely and unequivocally Trembley's loss.

I think Gonzalez will end up being a good signing for us, and 3 outings doesn't make me reconsider that. I think he's gonna make the people saying that he sucks after 12 batters or whatever it's been look as stupid as I think their reactionary opinions are.

But, he shouldn't have been in the game tonight. I said before the game even started that he should be off limits. He threw almost 30 pitches last night. You don't bring a guy who is clearly struggling with command back a night after throwing 30 pitches. Its just stupid managing. Even if JJ struggled in the 8th, I would have brought him back out. After he breezed through that inning like a college kid pitching against middle schoolers, it became a no-brainer.

I don't think poor decisions by Trembley played even the tiniest of roles in us losing the first two games, but I think his poor decision to go to Gonzalez for the 9th single-handedly cost us the game today. I don't put even one ounce of blame on Gonzalez, just as I wouldn't put any blame on a hitter with one arm striking out. He wasn't capable of playing today, and shouldn't have been asked to. Trembley screwed the pooch today, big time. And it wasn't even a remotely debatable decision, you simply can't have Gonzalez pitch today.

The Orioles are 1-2 this year. Dave Trembley is 0-1. And please, someone just try and say that I'm just a Trembley basher that is continuing my vendetta against him.

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Look Wedge. You are a very intelligent youg man yet you act like you would be dumb enough if you were a supervisor to continue to send a guy out there to fail to get a job done right. If you do that you are worse than the worker who is messing up. You should know better! Just because a guy has a title doesnt' mean he cannot be replaced when he is screwing everything up!:eek::rolleyes:

Guys don't lose their jobs after less than 3 bad IP. Perspective people, perspective.

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Look Wedge. You are a very intelligent youg man yet you act like you would be dumb enough if you were a supervisor to continue to send a guy out there to fail to get a job done right. If you do that you are worse than the worker who is messing up. You should know better! Just because a guy has a title doesnt' mean he cannot be replaced when he is screwing everything up!:eek::rolleyes:

So if you hire a new employee and they make one mistake you pull them from their job or fire them? That is someone working at Walmart. We are talking about a guy who makes $6M a year! They should just start a thread where you can complain. Do you really think Trembley is responsible for our three losses? I see some issues and DT is not at the root of those issues at this point.

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I agree that Gonzalez shouldn't even have been in the game today. I suspect that he was in for two reasons:

1.) because DT thought that bypassing him would affect his confidence,and instead wanted to give him a chance to get back on the horse right away after two bad outings in Tampa Bay (a debatable proposition, as I think you want to give a struggling player his best chance to succeed, but hey, that's just me);

2.) because DT likes his role system--probably too much.

As for those who criticize DT for going all-out to win right out of the gate: what exactly do you expect? The guy barely kept his job this winter, and he's been told that W/L matters this year. DT to me has always seemed like a guy scared to make a mistake. This season,with the pressure turned up, it's only going to be worse. I wish he hadn't been brought back, but I've always said that if they were going to bring him back, they should've given him a two-year deal so that he could relax a little bit, knowing that he had job insurance. Right now I bet both he and this team are screwed up about as tight as a team can get in the first week of April.

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