Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Romero Messed With The Bulls & Got The Horns

Romero Messed With The Bulls & Got The Horns

The affiliates split a pair of slugfest at the upper levels and came out on the wrong end of a one-run game Monday night.

Durham 11 Buffalo 7

Durham, NC — The Bisons offence is good, but ultimately not good enough to overcome a nine-run first inning. The Rays affiliate brought the hammer down on Ricky Romero (0-1) as he was charged with eight runs in just two-thirds of an inning. A two-run homer by Wil Myers was among the five hits against Romero and the Bulls also worked him for three walks. Romero had zero strikeouts and only 13 of his 32 pitches found the strike zone. His ERA is now 13.85. Chad Beck pitched the next 3 1/3 innings but gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. Dustin McGowan came on for two innings and half of his outs came via the strikeout. However, he gave up a run on a hit and a walk. John Stilson scattered a hit and a walk and, like McGowan, punched out three batters in two scoreless frames.

The Bisons cut a 10-0 deficit in half with a five-run fifth inning. Moises Sierra had a three-run double and Mauro Gomez followed with a two-run homer. Gomez went deep again with another two-run shot in the seventh. Gomez had the only two-hit game for the Herd. Eugenio Velez had a hit, two walks and two stolen bases. Mike McCoy, Ryan Goins and Mike Nickeas had a hit and a walk apiece.

New Hampshire 12 New Britain 3

Manchester, NH — The Fisher Cats erased a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the first on a wild pitch and a Kevin Nolan groundout. They took the lead for good with two runs in the third when Nolan deposited one over the right wall for a two-run shot. Brian Van Kirk doubled home another run in the seventh before the Fisher Cats put up a converted touchdown in the eighth. Kevin Ahrens had a run-scoring double, a wild pitch produced the second, Ryan Schimpf doubled in two more and Jon Talley delivered the kill shot with a grand slam. Nolan and Adam Loewen had the multi-hit games with Nolan drawing a walk and Loewen slugging two doubles. Brian Van Kirk was the on-base leader with a double and three walks. Kevin Pillar doubled, walked and stole a pair of bases. Clint Robinson drew a pair of base on balls.

Ryan Tepera (5-3) gave up a pair of first inning runs but settled down with four shutout innings after that. He limited the Twins farm club to three hits, two hit by pitches and a walk. He struck out seven and of his seven outs in play, six were on the ground. Tyson Brummett earned his first save by pitching the final four innings. He allowed just one run on two hits and posted a K-BB total of 3-0.

South Bend 2 Lansing 1

South Bend, IN — Taylor Cole (2-3) worked his way to three shutout innings but a Dwight Smith Jr. error in center field led to a couple of unearned runs in the fourth. Cole's line was far from impressive as he only got through 4 2/3 innings and allowed six hits, three walks and plunked a batter. He only managed two strikeouts. Lefty Efrain Nieves prevented Cole's line from being much worse by stranding the bases loaded. He finished up with 3 1/3 innings of one-hit ball. He plunked a batter but struck out three with zero walks.

The Lugnuts lone run came in the fifth on a groundball out by Smith Jr. They got the first two runners aboard in the ninth on a Chris Hawkins walk and a Jorge Flores hit by pitch. Emilio Guerrero pushed them up 90 feet with a sacrifice bunt but Smith Jr. and Kellen Sweeney went down swinging to end it. Sweeney had two of Lansing's five hits and also drew two walks. Hawkins also had two bases on balls. Guerrero, Gustavo Pierre and Aaron Munoz had the other base hits. Smith Jr. was 0-for-4 but managed a walk. Christian Lopes was hitless in his four trips to the plate.

*** 3 Stars!!! ***

3. Mauro Gomez, Buffalo — Has three homers in his last two games to bring his OPS up to .908.

2. Ryan Tepera, New Hampshire — The Eastern League is hitting just .222 against him and has struck out 41 batters in 49 2/3 innings. Four of his five wins have come at home.

1. Kevin Nolan, New Hampshire — A .971 OPS in his last 10 games and is hitting .309 at home.

Tuesday's Probable Starters...

New Hampshire — TBA @ Portland, 6:00 pm ET.
Dunedin — Austin Bibens-Dirkx (1-0, 2.25) @ Lakeland, 6:30pm ET.
Buffalo — Justin Germano (3-4, 7.16) @ Durham, 7:05 pm ET.
Lansing — Ben White (2-3, 4.28) @ Fort Wayne, 7:05 pm ET.

Posted by #2JBrumfield on Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 03:42 AM EDT.

Romero Messed With The Bulls & Got The Horns | 22 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

TamRa - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 05:20 AM EDT (#272817) #

it's looking more and more like Romero is toast...I can't see how he gets his head back together at this point.

John Northey - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 06:35 AM EDT (#272818) #

Good ol' B-R has Romero's game logs for minors & majors all together but doesn't have last nights up yet (should be there by mid-morning).
IP per start: 7-4-1/3-4-4-5-2/3... yes, twice now less than 1 IP
R per start: 1-3-3-6-3-4-8
BB: 0-3-2-5-6-6-3
SO: 4-4-0-0-1-2-0

So basically, his A+ start had his best for R/BB/SO, then his first ML start was his next best game with 3 R 3 BB 4 SO. Since he has done worse in BB and SO in every game (well, just 2 walks his next ML start but he only got 1 of 7 out).

This is the sign of a guy who has lost it all. They really should've sent him back to A+ once he blew up in the majors to rebuild confidence. Heck, he shouldn't have left A+ until he had 3 or 4 solid starts. Sadly the Jays saw what worked for Halladay all those years ago and started down the path but rushed it and now Romero's paying the price. Dumb thing is if they did 3 starts per level he'd have just now had his first AAA start and might be ready to rejoin in mid-June with a solid confidence level. Sigh. I fear Hayhurst is right, that the Jays screwed it up totally and Romero will need to follow Hill's route out of here to ever be a ML pitcher again.

China fan - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 07:58 AM EDT (#272819) #

The rush to judgement on the Jays handling of Romero is pure speculation and very unfair. Romero's psychology, like anyone else's psychology, is an unknowable mystery to people on the outside -- especially to people far away in the spectator stands -- and any attempt to apply our norms and judgements is doomed to failure. None of us can judge his personality or his apparent mechanical breakdown. Nobody of us knows why he has imploded. Human psychology is a deep and dark enigma. So how can we say that his problems are the fault of the Jays in any particular way?

Here is just one example of this mystery: when Romero was demoted at the end of spring training, he gave an interview to the media and -- clearly very hurt -- he insisted that he would be back with the Jays within "a week or two." He was clearly humiliated by his demotion, and it's very possible that his humiliation and sense of failure has increased every day in the minors. After his demotion, he spent several weeks in Florida, working on his adjustments, which was probably longer than he expected. The Jays may have believed that his psychology would be bolstered if he returned to the majors -- that it would give him some sense of pride and dignity, accelerating his recovery. So, under this thinking, a speedy return to the Jays roster would be good for his psychology.

In retrospect, that theory didn't work. And it's the same with any other theory about Romero -- it is speculation, guesswork, wishful thinking and imagining. The reality is that we don't know what makes Ricky Romero tick, and we don't know what kind of approach would have been best for him. Romero himself, obviously, doesn't know. So for a fan in the stands to decide that the decisions of the Jays were a reason for Romero's failure -- it's foolhardy guesswork. We just don't know.

For the same reason, there's still a possibility that Romero will wake up someday, pull it together, figure it out, and return to his former glory. Is this likely? Of course not, and it seems increasingly less likely with every passing day. But to completely rule it out would be foolhardy too. We don't understand enough about human psychology to predict his future or to analyze the reasons for his meltdown.

greenfrog - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 08:35 AM EDT (#272820) #

He was clearly humiliated by his demotion, and it's very possible that his humiliation and sense of failure has increased every day in the minors

Whether or not Romero was humiliated by his initial demotion (I agree that it looked that way), he apparently overcame his emotions to the point where he was able to make a very good start in A+ ball a month later. I would have thought the Jays would attempt to consolidate and build off that progress with baby steps (as they did with Halladay). Instead, they vaulted him into a starting role in the majors, and the rest is history.

Romero was never guaranteed to rebound, but the Jays arguably could have done more to put him in a position to succeed.

China fan - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 08:52 AM EDT (#272821) #

"....the rest is history...."

So you believe there's a direct causal link between Romero's promotion and his poor results? I assume you've participated in years of mental therapy with Romero and you're an expert on his psychology?

greenfrog - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 09:45 AM EDT (#272822) #

"And that is why I am always so adamant with pitchers about setting very specific, individualized behavioral goals. But they must be goals that are completely within their reach....If little or no progress has been made, the goal set was probably too lofty. There is no 'failure' implied by the adjustment of a goal. One of the purposes of setting goals is to help encourage the pitcher to be more confident, as a result of identifiable daily achievement. The purpose is not to frustrate effort and motivation and have the pitcher become neurotic."

-the late great Harvey Dorfman (sports psychologist / author of The Mental ABCs of Pitching, Halladay's bible)

Dave Till - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 10:34 AM EDT (#272823) #

Whether or not Romero was humiliated by his initial demotion (I agree that it looked that way), he apparently overcame his emotions to the point where he was able to make a very good start in A+ ball a month later. I would have thought the Jays would attempt to consolidate and build off that progress with baby steps (as they did with Halladay). Instead, they vaulted him into a starting role in the majors, and the rest is history.

You are assuming that Romero's problems are purely psychological. If they are, the approach of gradually gaining confidence through success might work. But my guess (and it's only a guess) is that Romero has lost something off of his stuff. What he used to do doesn't work any more. He's now trying other things, and they're not working either, and this occasionally leads to meltdowns on the mound.

There's a possibility that he might be able to find a new approach to pitching that works - after all, he was an elite pitcher at one time, and all of that knowledge and experience doesn't vanish overnight. But it's also possible that he just no longer has the ability to pitch at the major league level any more. Only a few of the huge number of prospects that try to become major league pitchers ever make it to the top, even if only for a day, and very few are successful even for as long as Romero has been.

Sending him down to experience success at A+ or AA ball might help, but how many of the Jays' prospects have been successful at the A+ and AA levels, only to bomb out against tougher opposition?

China fan - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 10:35 AM EDT (#272824) #

"....identifiable daily achievement...."

Romero was optioned to Dunedin on March 26. Over the following 5 weeks, every report suggested that he had recorded "identifiable daily achievement" in his pitching in Florida. He was reported to be making steady progress towards his "individualized goals." Yet when he was promoted to the majors on May 3, he imploded again. Which suggests that no psychological theory is guaranteed to succeed, and nothing is predictable in the human soul.

China fan - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 10:38 AM EDT (#272825) #

"....But my guess (and it's only a guess) is that Romero has lost something off of his stuff...."

Good point, this is quite possible. Psychology is just part of the equation here.

John Northey - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 10:38 AM EDT (#272826) #

One doesn't need to be a psychology expert to know that a guy who is having serious confidence issues (via every source we saw) is not going to suddenly have it be better after one start in A+ ball where he did well but didn't dominate. If he had 15 K's 0 BB and 0 H then one could argue he was clearly ready. Instead he allowed 1 run in 7 IP with just 4 K's against hitters he was far, far better than in theory. Solid, but not enough to go 'wow, he is ready'. Maybe he was chomping at the bit and going nuts being down there but the role of the Jays (much like that of a parent) is to hold him back until he truly was ready. This isn't just bloggers saying it, but also experienced players, coaches, broadcasters were all surprised at the Jays move. Dirk Hayhurst did a few blogs about it - he is a big fan of Ricky but felt he should've been demoted last year to work on it and that the Jays handling of it was horrid and a near lock for failure and he said so at the time.

Romero's handling has been about as poor as possible. During spring it was clear he still was having issues but it seems the Jays didn't prep him for being demoted to work on it. Once down he should've had a coach assigned purely to him to work with him (which it seemed like he did have) plus he should've been given a chance to slowly rebuild and be told it is spring training all over for him - a month of work at building innings up and results as he goes through the system with a clear plan of a certain number of starts per level until he is back in the majors. That way he doesn't feel the need to show too much as he knows he has another start in A ball, a couple in AA, a couple in AAA before he gets into the ML rotation again. For a guy with confidence issues that path makes a heck of a lot more sense than one start and up to the majors for 2 then back to AAA then who knows.

greenfrog - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 11:39 AM EDT (#272828) #

Dave, even if Romero has lost some of his stuff (quite possible), his control has completely deserted him: 5 BB in 4.1 IP (majors), 20 BB in 20 IP in the minors (including his solid start in Dunedin!). What's also striking is that his control appears to come and go so dramatically.

To me, this says that there is more going on than an attempt to adjust to a loss of stuff, although this may be an important factor. He's going through prolonged stretches where he has been utterly unable to find the zone, sometimes to the point where he has to be removed from the game.

It wouldn't surprise me if Romero's struggles were a combination of injury issues, loss of stuff, and loss of confidence / Steve Blass syndrome.

Lugnut Fan - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 03:44 PM EDT (#272846) #

Before I make my comment, I don't have the slightest clue if it's a mental, physical or mechanical issue with Ricky, but I would speculate that it is all of the above. The comments Romero made coming out of ST did not sit well with me and I was happy to see him struggle at the MLB level. I was hoping that he would see that he isn't quite as good as he thinks he is at this time. That being said, his struggles at AAA have me feeling semi-sorry for him and it is time for him to get to a level where confidence can be gained through results. I don't think it matter if it is Vancouver, Lansing, Dunedin, New Hampshire, etc....He needs to see some positive results.

He has just plain lost his aggressiveness and will to go after hitters from what I have seen and that started in the second half of last year. He may feel his stuff is less than and it is causing him to nibble, thus creating bigger problems. I sure hope he can find himself again. I'm really rooting for him.

hypobole - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 05:45 PM EDT (#272862) #

Churchill said it best:

"Ricky is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key."

Four Seamer - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 06:36 PM EDT (#272865) #

I missed the introduction to the discussion, so I may have this entirely wrong, but on the radio broadcast Jerry and Dirk were talking as if the Jays have moved Romero to the bullpen, at least temporarily.

Wildrose - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 07:23 PM EDT (#272868) #

Blair and Hayhurst have a long discussion with AA ( 8-9 minutes ) about the whole Romero issue that addresses many of the issues raised in this discussion.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/anthopoulos-no-answers-to-romeros-struggles/

Wildrose - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 07:53 PM EDT (#272870) #

One doesn't need to be a psychology expert to know that a guy who is having serious confidence issues (via every source we saw) is not going to suddenly have it be better after one start in A+ ball where he did well but didn't dominate.

AA addresses this issue specifically in the interview by stating that Romero had multiple appearances after he was sent down during extended spring training games and apparently was pitching well. He was facing live batters from opposing teams, gradually building up his pitch counts and generally looking good, and because there are no box scores published it was not a case of going from 0-7 innings at A ball. He also says Romero himself said he was ready to return.

TamRa - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 08:12 PM EDT (#272872) #

This is the sign of a guy who has lost it all. They really should've sent him back to A+ once he blew up in the majors to rebuild confidence. Heck, he shouldn't have left A+ until he had 3 or 4 solid starts. Sadly the Jays saw what worked for Halladay all those years ago and started down the path but rushed it and now Romero's paying the price. Dumb thing is if they did 3 starts per level he'd have just now had his first AAA start and might be ready to rejoin in mid-June with a solid confidence level. Sigh. I fear Hayhurst is right, that the Jays screwed it up totally and Romero will need to follow Hill's route out of here to ever be a ML pitcher again.

One can very well argue that the team ought have made better choices.

i don't see how one can rise beyond the level of fantasy that, had they made the right choices, Romero would be whole right now. Seems to me the odds are greater that he'd be a mess either way.

John Northey - Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 10:57 PM EDT (#272878) #

Wildrose - I figured he probably did a ton of simulated games and others that no one but the club knows occurred. However, those would've been against extended spring guys - IE: hitters who would be playing in short season ball. If he cannot slaughter them then it is time to stop pitching. The idea that the Jays decided to promote him because Romero said he was ready is scary as players ALWAYS, no matter the level, think they are ready to go. That is part of the competitive spirit that makes them strong athletes but also makes them blind to just how far away they might be from being ready to compete. Also, doing simulated games where no one is in the stands, then A+ ball where you might get a couple thousand now and then is not a good way to know if you can handle the pressure of the majors again. AAA is where you get 10k plus sometimes and can see if you can handle the catcalls and players who can actually hit a 1/2 decent changeup.

TamRa - it is possible that nothing would've changed what stage Romero is at right now. However, I have to think that a gradual progression would've hit these control issues in AA or AAA rather than him blowing up in the majors, then being able to get adjusted instead of the ugly, ugly show we've been seeing.

Do I know more than the Jays on all of this? No. But Hayhurst and others saw it coming and boy did it look risky when they called him up to this untrained eye.

katman - Wednesday, May 29 2013 @ 12:46 AM EDT (#272880) #

I've seen an interesting point mentioned elsewhere, so I'll throw it in here, and then explain why it's problematic. The theory says: look at Romero's stats since he split up with (was dropped by?) Miss America, Rima Fakih. This post places the timing around October/ November 2011.

http://graymatter123.blogspot.de/2011/12/tuesday-blue-jays-notebook.html

The problem with this theory is that it's at the beginning of an off season, and so many other things can come into play between then and February 2012. He did start that 2012 season 8-1, but the peripherals weren't fantastic. It seems that once the league cottoned on to the control loss and the Jays' offense cooled a bit, that was the end.

If anyone can point me at a slice and dice of 2012 that might shed a bit more light on how badly he didn't or did start off, it would be of interest.

jerjapan - Wednesday, May 29 2013 @ 08:33 AM EDT (#272881) #

The idea that the Jays decided to promote him because Romero said he was ready is scary as players ALWAYS, no matter the level, think they are ready to go.

This is where I have to disagree with you John ... even in my limited coaching experience with young athletes, many many competitors are there own best judges and critics. Athletes today are too savvy, and have too much to lose, to ALWAYS be optimistic. AA may very well have decided that Romero has earned his trust and took him at his word. Romero may very well have felt fully ready.

We fans have no idea, and there are no statistics to support these arguments about rushing Romero.

Wildrose - Wednesday, May 29 2013 @ 10:34 AM EDT (#272885) #

The idea that the Jays decided to promote him because Romero said he was ready is scary as players ALWAYS, no matter the level, think they are ready to go.

This is not why they promoted him, you're obviously misinterpreting the interview. He was promoted because they felt he pitched well in his last spring training game, threw well in numerous game situations during extended spring training games , had solid side sessions under close coaching observation and appeared ready. I included the observation about him being ready as merely an observation that his head was in the right place and appeared confident and ready to try his new mechanics in the majors. It wasn't like he rolled out of bed one day and said " lets go".

As for a pitcher with 127 major league starts being intimidated by the amount of fans in the crowd, I won't even go there. As AA says in the interview they have no blueprint to follow as to getting Romero back on track. Everything is on the table, from putting him into the bullpen or even further demotions. Nobody has the magic formula.This is a very unique situation.

As a side note, as much as I like Hayhurst he can be a bit of a drama queen about pitchers and mental toughness. He was on the show with Blair the other day and blatantly said that history has proven that J.A. Happ will never ( not maybe) recover from his beaning.

Listen everybody is frustrated by this situation. Would moving him along more slowly have worked ? Maybe , maybe not. That's hind sight . His basic problem ( per the interview ) is that his stuff looks good in side sessions, warming up, even at times in games , but then the wheels come off when faced with adversity. He just can't seem to let his pitches go, he tightens up.

Wildrose - Wednesday, May 29 2013 @ 10:55 AM EDT (#272886) #

There is now a print interview by Davidi regarding Romero's struggles on the Sportsnet site as well.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/anthopoulos-no-answers-to-romeros-struggles/

He states there is no manual to follow in this situation;

The debate now within the Blue Jays front office is where to go from here, and there are no obvious paths on that front, either. As Anthopoulos put it, “we’ve never been through this before with anybody, so there’s no manual to say when this happens, do X.”

He touches on how he looks good at times then the wheels come off;

“It’s really start to start at this point,” said Anthopoulos. “There’s a lot of trial and error and one (approach) is to continue to run him out there. We talked to the staff down there (Monday) night, we’ve heard this a lot, that the bullpens have been good, the side work has been good, it’s just translating that into the game. Or there might be some success coming in the game, but the minute things seem to fall off, whether it’s some base hits or broken bat singles or walks, it seems like the roof caves in. …

Baseball can be a very difficult game. They have some hope he can rebound looking at other precedents.

Anthopoulos pointed to Scott Kazmir, Cliff Lee and Barry Zito as pitchers who have endured significant struggles and rebounded, and he’s hopeful Romero — due US$7.75 million in each of the next two seasons — joins them.

I wish I had the easy answer.....

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