It took the Orioles until June 27th of last season to finally designate Garrett Atkins for assignment after he was hitting .214 with one home run, nine RBIs, and a .562 OPS in 152 plate appearances. The reason for waiting so long to remove him from the 40 man roster was his $4.5 million contract that was hanging over the heads of Orioles officials. If a young player during his arbitration years put up these Atkins-esque numbers, he would be easily pushed back to the minor leagues or released. The decision to cut Atkins was a simple one in the eyes of O’s fans, and probably became easier for the execs after they saw him consistently perform at a poor level for such an extended period of time.
Mike Gonzalez, one of the other high end contracts given out prior to the 2010 season, has definitely had his ups and downs in the Orioles system. After saving ten games (in seventeen chances, none the less) with a 2.42 ERA in 2009, Gonzalez came into Baltimore last year to be the team’s primary closer for two years. At least that’s what the organization had planned on.
Flash back to April 6, 2010. On Opening Day in Tampa Bay, the Orioles took a 3-2 lead into the 9th inning after Kevin Millwood pitched five solid innings followed by three stellar relief innings from the O’s. Adam Jones, Luke Scott, and Matt Wieters each had solo home runs in the game, and Dave Trembley was prepared to give a positive post game interview about the team’s first win coming on that day.
In comes Mike Gonzalez. After striking out Pat Burrell to start the inning, the excitement grew on O’s fans that the season was about to begin with a W. Then came a Sean Rodriguez single, a Kelly Shoppach double, an intentional walk of Jason Bartlett, and ending with a Carl Crawford two-RBI line drive single to right field.
Rays win, 4-3.
48 hours later, Gonzalez was on the mound again with the O’s clenching on to a 5-4 lead. Pat Burrell strikes out. Here we go again. Sean Rodriguez strikes out. And next? Walk, single, walk. In order. A Ben Zobrist pop out ended the game. Luckily.
The next day? Gonzalez in with a 6-5 lead, and after a walk, double, and two sacrifices, the O’s found themselves losing again. Four days into the season, and the club found themselves with a 1-3 mark. Even worse were the stats behind the new $12 million closer, who was now sporting an 18.00 ERA and 4.50 WHIP in three brutal appearances.
Finally admitting to shoulder pains, Gonzalez rehabbed shoulder injuries through mid-July, time that Orioles fans wished had gone on longer. Even once he got back into games during rehab appearances, he was letting up home runs and multiple hits per inning in the minor leagues. But rest assured, he was “healthy.”
Finishing the season off with a 4.01 ERA in 24.2 IP, Mike Gonzalez certainly was not who anybody had hoped he’d be for the Orioles. It seemed that all he really fixed during his three mixed months was that he didn’t have a 45-step windup.
Fast forward to April of 2011.
Here we are today, as Mike Gonzalez now has an ERA of 13.50 and WHIP of 2.44 in seven appearances. With only one scoreless outing this year so far (yes, he has allowed at least one run in six of seven appearances), Gonzalez is becoming a liability in the Orioles bullpen. Check out his game by game results for yourself. It’s just not pretty.
Last Sunday, against the Yankees, after the rain delay and into extra innings, the Yankees had Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher coming up to bat in the top of the 11th. Instead of using the left handed Gonzalez who had two days of rest since his last time on the mound, manager Buck Showalter brought in righty Jason Berken, who had let up three runs just the night before.
It is obvious that Mike Gonzalez is not a quality asset to the Orioles organization at this point. Brought in to pitch the 8th inning just last night, Gonzalez managed to only record one out while allowing two runs on two hits and a walk.
In his post game interview, Gonzalez said the following:
“The results, seriously, I don’t feel bad or frustrated whatsoever. What I wanted was to go out there and have my mindset. It really didn’t even have to do with the velocity. It just had to do with my mindset. I felt really good today. I felt really comfortable and it just didn’t go my way. But I will fight like this all day. I’ll go every day to work like that feeling the way I felt today. No frustration whatsoever.”
No frustration? You don’t feel bad for the results? Atkins may have gotten a lot of money as well, but when he struggled consistently, it was time to release him.
Is it time to let go of Michael Gonzalez and look at other options? I believe so.
Time to cut your losses…
Could not disagree more, this is a knee-jerk type of response. Atkins was a 3 year decline when he was signed by the Orioles. The feeling was (and I will admit, I was not against it at the time) that if they could get production more similar to his 07-08 seasons they would have a decent first baseman. His decline, while baffling considering his age, was confirmed in the first half of the season.
Gonzalas is a different story. While his contract will always have been too much, and no one is suggesting that he should be the closer, there is no reason to think that he won’t return to being a decent reliver. He had a very good track record prior to the ’10 season and – in a point you failed to mention – he had a 2.81 in the games he played in after he returned from his injury. So you say they cut a guy with a track record based on a bad start to his season? In that case Carl Crawford should be relesed any day now. What else are you basing this on? last year when he was injured in three games? I know he started out on a bad foot for Orioles fans last year but that should be irrelavant now.
He is a train wreck. Bad mechanics, can’t hit the strike zone, I don’t think he’s ever thrown a first pitch strike, and he falls off the mound into an impossible position to field. Just last night 2 balls went by him that he could have fielded if he wasn’t about to fall on his face after serving a meatball down the middle. It might be different if he was throwing 100 mph and was this out of control on the mound, but it’s 92 with no movement right down the pipe. 7 outings and he hasn’t even come close to looking like a ‘decent reliever’
Dump the chump. The O’s have been too kind in the past and thats why they are where they are, 13 season losing streak. Time to get guys in here that want to play and play hard.
What did you expect? Gonzo is a liar and cheater in his personal life (Google -Mike Gonzalez girlfriend) so what makes you think he’d be any different in his professional life? The O’s are just another baby mama getting played (for 6mil a year) by this bozo!
He’s a branch that bears no fruit so it needs to be cut off with haste!
Maybe if the Baltimore fans showed some respect and encouragement as we did in Atlanta, you would get the same results we got here. Try cheering him on the mound instead of booing. As for his personal life, it is just that…his personal life. Send him back to Atl. where he will once again be appreciated….we miss the “cobra”.
If you would like him back in Atlanta, I think many an Oriole fan would be willing to help him pack his bags! You can’t tell me that his team mates aren’t thinking “Please don’t put him in there!” And as far as Oriole fans booing him, I don’t like it at all myself. It looks bad for the true fan but at this point after so many loosing seasons and being promised from the owner that things will be different, the boos come from frustration and are more directed at the front office. Every time he comes in, there is a problem and if we aren’t up by at least 4 runs, I don’t think he can close the game out. Orioles cut your losses and send him packing.
@deb56742 – Really? “Try cheering him on the mound instead of booing”???? WTF?
I’m guessing your the type that would tell “Little” Betty she did a great job spelling “Cat” with a “K” like “Cak”…
Get off your “We love the World” crap because thats whats wrong with this world, everyone’s afraid to “Jackbone” someone for being “stupid” or a “Piece-o-shit”. That praise the person for doing something bad or wrong shit has got to go.
Now “Praise” me for just now lighting you up “Debbie”…