Archive for Mike Gonzalez

The Rangers carry a 3-2 series lead back to Texas over the weekend, needing just one win to advance to its second consecutive World Series. The team successfully staved off the Angels in the regular season and convincingly took care of the Rays in the ALDS in large part due to its retooled bullpen. The acquisitions of Mike Adams, Koji Uehara and Mike Gonzalez were each singularly effective, but the compounded factor of utilizing this trio has made even more of an impact.

Add to that the relief usage of starter Alexi Ogando and the emergence of Scott Feldman as a late innings threat and it’s clear that this Rangers playoff squad differs substantially from the team that fought for the AL West crown all season long. The new-look playoff bullpen also sheds light on a potentially revolutionary way to effectively use pitching staffs in the postseason.

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At the beginning of the season I posted here bashing a decision made by Bobby Cox in the Braves’ opening series with the Phillies. The decision involved using both Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano in the first two games when the late inning leads were large enough that the two relief aces did not need to appear. In the very next game, the Phillies overcame a 10-3 deficit in the seventh inning to win 12-11.

Neither Soriano nor Gonzalez were available due to their appearances in the prior two games. Of course, the Braves bullpen imploded in that third game and could not find the strike zone, an unforeseen circumstance, but the fact remains that aces like Gonzalez or Soriano could have stopped the bleeding if available.

Well, Cox has effectively redeemed himself in my eyes with his handling of the bullpen in the Braves recent weekend series with the very same Phillies. Most notably, the redemption stems from how he attacked the Phillies hitters in the late innings in Sunday’s 4-2 win.

The Phillies trailed, 3-2, but had a shot to come back in the bottom of the eighth with Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and the legen… wait for it… dary Matt Stairs due up. Normally at this juncture in a game, the setup man enters to hold the lead for the closer. Not in this particular game. No, instead of Rafael Soriano taking the hill for that eighth inning, Cox sent closer Mike Gonzalez to the mound.

Gonzalez is a power lefty and all three of the power hitters due up that inning were also lefthanded. Gonzalez turned the Phillies away save for a walk to Stairs, preserving the lead. Soriano completed the role reversal the next inning, closing out the win. Granted, Gonzalez is one of few southpaw closers throughout the league but this decision was a breath of fresh air.

It would not have been smart to bring in a righty to face three lefthanded power hitters in order to do nothing other than ensure that Gonzalez entered into a “save opportunity.” For all intents and purposes, Gonzo did record a save in this game because the game had more of a chance of being won or lost in that eighth frame rather than the following inning when Carlos Ruiz was due to leadoff. Yes, Miguel Cairo pinch-hit for Ruiz (what was the point?) and Werth hit for the pitcher, but the more crucial plate appearances took place the inning prior, when Gonzalez did everything he would normally be called on to do, only in an earlier inning.

This is efficient usage of the bullpen, bringing in the right guys at the appropriate times instead of following a dumb, predetermined set of rules. Perhaps Cox feels that both Gonzalez and Soriano are on equal footing and can be flip-flopped as the closer/setup man depending on matchups. If so, bravo, because that is a very sound strategy. This isn’t a closer by committee nor is it sticking to one guy strictly because he makes a lot of money. Instead, using both of these guys in each role plays to their strengths and the weaknesses of the opposition simultaneously rather than one or the other.

Cox arguably mismanaged his bullpen early in the season, but here is to hoping that he continues to use Gonzo and Soriano this way, spitting in the face of a “rule” that states only one pitcher can close out games and these games can only be closed out in the final frame.

The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies this past Sunday, on national television, to start the entire major league season. For all intents and purposes, Derek Lowe dominated the Phillies en route to a 4-1 win. On Tuesday, sophomore Jair Jurrjens toed the rubber and held the defending champs scoreless throughout his 5.2 innings of work. Yesterday, Javier Vazquez made his Braves debut and pitched very well outside of a 2-run homer surrendered to Raul Ibanez. The bullpen that looked sharp in the first two games of the season fell off a cliff in the game, however, which helped turn a 10-3 deficit in the seventh inning into a 12-11 win for the Phils.

The poor decision belongs to Bobby Cox, for using his ace relievers in the first two games when they were not needed at all and then not being able to use them in a game that merited their services.

In the first game of the season, Lowe was cruising and the Phillies looked beaten at the plate. In fact, the Braves led 4-0 at the time of Lowe’s exit, and the Phillies only scored when Gonzalez came in and gave up an RBI single to Jayson Werth. Other than simply wanting to get his designated closer into a game, there was no reason to go with Gonzalez in the ninth inning. Not to say that Lowe needed to complete the game, which he seemed perfectly capable of doing, but a 4-0 lead is usually pretty safe in the last frame of a game, as shown by The Book.

In the Jurrjens game, the Phillies threatened on several occasions but ultimately failed to score a run. After Jurrjens left in the sixth, Jeff Bennett and Eric O’Flaherty held down fort in the sixth and seventh innings, sustaining the shutout. Then, with a 4-0 lead, Cox used Rafael Soriano in the eighth, and Mike Gonzalez once again in the ninth.

I can understand the usage of Soriano especially given the offday between these games and the fact that he had not pitched in a bit, but did Gonzalez really need to pitch again? A closer does not need to follow these age old usage patterns with leads greater than three runs and he probably should not even appear in a lead of exactly three runs. Are you telling me that Blaine Boyer or Peter Moylan could not have handled that ninth inning?

Yesterday, Cox wanted to get the remaining members of his bullpen yet to appear into the game, which ultimately led to an absolutely horrible loss. Boyer, Moylan, and O’Flaherty combined for 0.1 IP, 3 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 0 K. Jorge Campillo completed the inning but did not get an out in the eighth, meaning this foursome combined for 1+ IP, 5 H, 9 ER, 6 BB, 0 K over the seventh and eighth innings. Bennett came in and relieved Campillo in the eighth, but you might have noticed that neither Soriano nor Gonzalez got into this game.

I can understand the need to get pitchers work over the course of a season and why that would merit relief aces appearing in 4-0 games, but hopefully this situation teaches the Braves a lesson. Relief aces are used for situations that really require top-of-the-line pitchers to get the job done. Moylan or O’Flaherty likely could have handled end of the game work in the first two meetings, and if they got into trouble then you turn to Raffy or Gonzo. Yesterday, when all of these pitchers did get in trouble, both Raffy and Gonzo were nowhere to be seen. Bobby Cox is a tremendous manager but he dropped the ball here by steadfastly sticking to the idea of a specialized bullpen.

You know, the Pittsburgh Pirates can actually make a good trade or two.

Seriously. No, really. Stop laughing.

At the end of 2006 the organization traded a reliever to the Atlanta Braves by the name of Mike Gonzalez. Now Gonzalez had had some success (24 saves in 2006) and he still has good stuff. But he was still a reliever with limited experience acting as a closer. Regardless, the Atlanta Braves gave up a starting first baseman – Adam LaRoche – and two prospects including a low-level prospect by the name of Jamie Romak for Gonzalez.

Gonzalez went on to pitch in 18 games for Atlanta in 2007 before blowing out his arm and he is still rehabbing in 2008. LaRoche has had an up-and-down tenure in Pittsburgh but he did hit 42 doubles and 21 homers while driving in 88 runs in 2007.

Romak is a bit of a forget man, but he is starting to be taken seriously. The London, Ontario native (my hometown) was taken in the fourth round of the 2003 draft out of high school due to his raw power.

The right-handed hitter was slowed by injuries in his debut season and he spent parts of three years in short-season ball. His 2006 and 2007 seasons in A-ball could be described as good, but not great as he showed glimpses of his power but still struck out a lot as consistency eluded him.

Repeating High-A ball in 2008, Romak has found some consistency. His line currently stands at .286/.365/.565 as a 22-year-old in Lynchburg. Romak has 25 doubles and 18 homers in 283 at-bats. Now the downside: He is still striking out more than 30 percent of the time. In fairness, Russell Branyan has had an OK career with a career K% of 40 percent… but he also showed a little more power in the minors than Romak, including 40 homers in 482 low-A ball at-bats in 1996. Let’s compare the two players’ minor league careers to this point:

Branyan .262/.361/.560 in 2,715 at-bats
Romak   .252/.362/.480 in 1,314 at-bats

With those minor league numbers, Branyan has gone on to post a line of .230/.327/.485 at the Major League level. Romak is still young – and a ways from reaching his potential – but I would have to guess that the Canadian youngster would be pretty happy to achieve an 11-year Major League career with about 2,000 at-bats and 132 career homers. The Pirates would probably happily take it too.

And fans in Cleveland sure enjoyed watching Branyan launch those towering homers when he burst onto the scene.