What happens with Johnson?

[NJBuckO's]

If he leads the league in saves/BS..will Buck push to keep him and in turn put us all through another 2 years of stress?

 

[Youngfan9886]

Johnson could easily bounce back next year and have a good season but the golden rule of relief pitching is you never overpay for a closer unless they are Mariano Rivera. Johnson is becoming expensive and the O's would be better off cutting ties and putting a failed starter in the role. You want somebody with control, usually a power pitcher in the role. The closest we have is Hunter right now but eventually we could throw a Mike Wright in there. As bad a season as Johnson has had, he'll probably get a sizable raise because he led the league in saves.

 

[NJBuckO's]

Johnson could easily bounce back next year and have a good season but the golden rule of relief pitching is you never overpay for a closer unless they are Mariano Rivera. Johnson is becoming expensive and the O's would be better off cutting ties and putting a failed starter in the role. You want somebody with control, usually a power pitcher in the role. The closest we have is Hunter right now but eventually we could throw a Mike Wright in there. As bad a season as Johnson has had, he'll probably get a sizable raise because he led the league in saves.

I agree YF, I'm interested to see what Wright eventually could do. Maybe Hunter next year. I wouldn't put it past them to bring back JJ though.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

Hate to say this... but the fact is that we don't have a "real" closer. (Jim Johnson's stats would otherwise be acceptable had he been used in a lower-leverage role.) Unless the front office can manage to acquire one, this team needs go with a closer by committee arrangement to spread out the risk. If that's not going to happen, then Buck Showalter needs to go (and really, refusing to try out different closer options is only the tip of the iceberg anyway).

 

[tedman2012]

I agree YF, I'm interested to see what Wright eventually could do. Maybe Hunter next year. I wouldn't put it past them to bring back JJ though.

meanwhile the strop is on to close for the cubs . wright is a starter and no way will the o's trust closer to one so young . they will bring back jj !

 

[tedman2012]

strop k's the side for the save and will be the cubs closer next year and gregg got 32 saves this year . wonder if our pitching coaches suck or what ???

 

[Elginbaylor]

The Orioles need to use Jim Johnson's money to fill the holes in their roster(corner outfielder, 5th starter, DH). They cannot afford a bullpen arm that's gonna make $7~$10 mil next year. The Rays had no problem dumping B.J. Upton and James Shields.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

Johnson could easily bounce back next year and have a good season but the golden rule of relief pitching is you never overpay for a closer unless they are Mariano Rivera.

I'll actually go one step further by extending that rule to "you should never overpay for any player." In other words, if someone gets too expensive, consider trading him even if he's a superstar as long as you can get equitable value in return. (This is particularly true for leagues with a salary cap, for which cost-effectiveness is essential... but it applies to the MLB as well.)

At the very least, I would advocate not overpaying for pitchers in general or at least relievers-- it seems that there is more variance in their performance across multiple seasons.

The Orioles need to use Jim Johnson's money to fill the holes in their roster(corner outfielder, 5th starter, DH). They cannot afford a bullpen arm that's gonna make $7~$10 mil next year. The Rays had no problem dumping B.J. Upton and James Shields.

Agreed. In fact, the same logic could be applied to Markakis or even Wieters. (I would be tempted to trade Jones as well if it weren't for his ability to contribute via hitting for power-- his lack of discipline can be frustrating at times.)

 

[Youngfan9886]

meanwhile the strop is on to close for the cubs . wright is a starter and no way will the o's trust closer to one so young . they will bring back jj !

Did you see Gregg's blowup after the cubs yanked him from the closer spot? Thank god we got rid of him. Even his interview after he calmed down reeks of arrogance. The fact that Gregg got 32 saves this year just shows how random a closer is and is more evidence that you should never pay too much for one. Mike Wright is a starter for now but not all of these pitchers are going to make it into our rotation. There just aren't enough spots. If Wright wants to make the team next year, it will have to be as a reliever. Maybe he could be our 8th inning guy with Hunter moving to closer?

 

[tedman2012]

Did you see Gregg's blowup after the cubs yanked him from the closer spot? Thank god we got rid of him. Even his interview after he calmed down reeks of arrogance. The fact that Gregg got 32 saves this year just shows how random a closer is and is more evidence that you should never pay too much for one. Mike Wright is a starter for now but not all of these pitchers are going to make it into our rotation. There just aren't enough spots. If Wright wants to make the team next year, it will have to be as a reliever. Maybe he could be our 8th inning guy with Hunter moving to closer?

if you think jj s bad at closing atleast he keeps the ball in the park !!!! wth didn't we sign koji ?????? because duke and buck was stupid . koji , o'day , jj would have been fine at the back of the games .

 

[skinz2winz]

if you think jj s bad at closing atleast he keeps the ball in the park !!!! wth didn't we sign koji ?????? because duke and buck was stupid . koji , o'day , jj would have been fine at the back of the games .

I'm still pissed we let Koji go. WTH was management thinking?

 

[Trevler]

I'm still pissed we let Koji go. WTH was management thinking?

Who would you rather have Koji or Davis? I guess the O's could have signed Koji in the offseason. The bullpen was already stocked at the time though.

 

[skinz2winz]

Who would you rather have Koji or Davis? I guess the O's could have signed Koji in the offseason. The bullpen was already stocked at the time though.

Yeah, the bullpen was stocked alright.

 

[Trevler]

Yeah, the bullpen was stocked alright.

Well, I did say at the time. Again, who would you rather have Koji or Davis.

 

[dandydOnS]

Yeah, the bullpen was stocked alright.

well it was, it was one of the best pens in the league last year. the disappointment of this year cant make your face palm there any more relevant than just hindsight.

 

[tedman2012]

in case some missed it jj will be offered arb

 

[hattersgonnahate]

in case some missed it jj will be offered arb

According to FanGraphs, Jim Johnson's performance this year is worth about $4.1M in free agency. I guess this makes some sense-- his stats would have been acceptable if it weren't for those blown saves. (The fact that Johnson is actually one of the better relievers in the bullpen this year from the standpoint of ERA / WHIP simply highlights how much the pitching staff has underperformed.)

 

[Mr. Oriole]

I'm still pissed we let Koji go. WTH was management thinking?

I think MacPhail was thinking that Tommy Hunter would help the pitching staff and that Chris Davis would help the offense, but I don't think MacPhail ever thought it would turn out as well as it did.

Who would not make that trade?

 

[Mr. Oriole]

Johnson does a good job as closer. He did slump some this year (9 blown saves), but is second in MLB with 49 saves (1 behind Kimbrel). Fernando Rodney had 8 blown saves. Mariano Rivera had 7 blown saves.

I would like to see Johnson move to the starting rotation, but there is nobody available to replace him as the closer. He will be back.