Email a copy of 'Tigers Send Bruce Rondon Home Due To "Effort Level"' to a friend
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By Steve Adams | at
Email a copy of 'Tigers Send Bruce Rondon Home Due To "Effort Level"' to a friend
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rolafaive
But did he get paid to go home, if he did, not much of a message
Steve Adams
I assume that was part of the unanswered followup questions.
Either way, your team announcing that they sent you away due to a lack of effort is a pretty significant message.
MeowMeow
If they weren’t still paying him, you have to imagine we would’ve heard Tony Clark yelling about it by now
donniebaseball
Personally, I’d be embarrassed. Hopefully he wakes up and appreciates what he has.
johnsilver
Detroit doesn’t have a winter instructional league either again this fall either that have seen as of yet to send him to as punishment/a learning tool many/most teams have set up at their spring training home sites. I have been checking at Joker marchent stadium and it’s calm and still over there, none of the grounds keepers have seen, or heard a peep, other than a couple of straggler’s the team has sent down.
Hard to imagine a team as wealthy as this one is can’t afford an instructional league for a few weeks.
bobbleheadguru
It is a huge, unprecedented embarrassment. The money is superfluous and not worth the fight.
rct
I wouldn’t call this ‘unprecedented’. The Mets did this to Ruben Tejada in either 2013 or 2014 (memory is failing me at the moment).
bruinsfan94 2
Its very embarrassing and its likely that this will stick with him throughout his career.
donniebaseball
Good. Hopefully it motivates him to work harder
hojostache
Being that he isn’t even a Super 2, the $ can’t be that much (and not paying him would probably get the Players’ Union all worked up). I’d be much more concerned with the message it sends to every other player/manager/team. If I were another club I’d offer a low-ball trade and see if they bite.
bobbleheadguru
It does not make any sense that the Tigers would do this, then trade him.
bobbleheadguru
Tigers plan MUST be to keep him.
If they had any intent to trade him, they would not have done this. His stock has fallen like a rock in the last 24 hours.
If they wanted to trade him, they could have made up some vague “we are shutting him down due to precautionary reasons” and kept his punishment private and then traded him ASAP in the offseason.
Probably the first interview question for the new manager hire: “How will you handle the ‘Rondon-zoned’?”
ianthomasmalone
I think a trade is very likely. I wouldn’t call it their primary objective, but if Rondon and his agent are going to make a big stink about this, they’re better off sending him away.
This obviously hurts his trade value, but it’s not like it was that high to begin with.
bobbleheadguru
Young, league minimum, under control 100MPH relievers do not go on trees. If healthy, he would without a doubt have HIGH trade value (outside of his poor attitude).
To put in in terms you can relate to, it would be like what the Red Sox did to Cespedes when he did not want to go to RF. The Red Sox gave up Cespedes and Wilson (now the Tigers best reliever), and Speier for Porcello. That trade seems silly now.
stymeedone
Looking at that trade in hindsight is useless. It was a fair trade at the time. Porcello was coming off his best year. Cespedes was not acquired at a discount. The Tigers view of Wilson is much different than yours. He has been their mid innings guy. No matter how effective, they continue to use him in low leverage situations. Lately, they haven’t used him much at all.
bobbleheadguru
He is their end of the game guy (8th or 9th inning) for a while now. He has an ERA in the low 2s. The Tigers view of Wilson is commensurate with the fact that he is their BEST reliever right now.
My point is that the Red Sox tanked Cespedes’s value with that “leaked” information about his un-coachability.
rmullig2
When are the Rockies going to do this to Jose Reyes?
Niekro
With Verlander, Miggy and Vmart on the same team its strange the Tigers are having so many problems like this, maybe not so many just very public problems. Can’t bode well for Ausmus’ future.
donniebaseball
What do you mean so many problems like this? I don’t think that this is an issue for any other player on that team. They have the worst record in the central and have come off four straight division titles so I don’t expect them to look happy all the time, but I definitely think all of them are still giving it their all.
Niekro
Was referring to the Jose Iglesias blow up.
stymeedone
Ausmus doesn’t have a future with the Tigers. There is no way they will extend him, and he won’t be back as a lame duck for a team that will be trying to contend. His recent use of the bullpen, IMO, has cemented his future. He seems to be trying whoever has the highest era as his closer, and even with the team eliminated, he refuses to use any of the call ups. It would have been nice to see if any of them could help next year.
Robertowannabe
Wonder if his arm just never healed yet. Wonder if Iott is an M.D. and examined the arm and the medical history of Rondon? To say it took to long to heal and for him to be ready to pitch goes a bit too far. Wonder if was a case of the player saying his arm did not feel right and was afraid to let loose but the team and their medical staff thought he should be able to throw 100%.
stymeedone
It didn’t even hint at that being the case. Being that it was not an unusual injury, there are plenty of cases to compare his rehab time to.
bobbleheadguru
Matt Dery’s 105.1 interview with Castellanos was very interesting and worth listening to:
1. He was specific about Rondon pitching only 91MPH ONLY in non-save situations. “That does not look good”.
2. He came up with Rondon.. but “never really hung with him.”
3. He believes that Torii would have handled this if he were on the team.
Double WOW!
Steve Adams
Will check that out. Thanks for the heads up.
tuner49
Some of the veterans did speak to Rondon and he either did not listen, blew them off, or ignored them. That tells me they must have felt that something needed to be done to shock him and get his attention.
Asmus must have also tried to get the message to him but no word of any action taken by the manager.
tuner49
Rondon was DD’s Waterloo in Detroit. He anointed Rondon “the closer” before Rondon even pitched an inning in the major leagues. Then Rondon was forced into the spotlight and the big leagues way before he was polished enough to perform. He was supposed to be the answer to all the bullpen problems and Detroit gambled that it would happen. Rondon was coddled to the point where it has reversed his career.
Rondon is a gifted pitcher with a golden, rocket of an arm. Success has been easy for him as he only had to “throw” rather than “pitch” to get to AAA.
Now he refuses, or does not believe, it is necessary to put forth the work or effort to climb up to the next level..He was given a spot on the 25 man squad and has not earned it with effort. His lazy approach to be in physical shape, rehab. an injury, and everyday pitcher routines had reached the breaking point. It must have been so bad that the organization had no other recourse, that had not been done before, to try to get the message across to him.
I hope he goes home, thinks about what he needs to do to continue a very wealthy career in baseball, and starts 2016 hungry and motivated.
gomerhodge71
Bad attitude is now low effort level? Wow.
stymeedone
No, low effort is low effort. Dimitri Young was a case of bad attitude. I believe they called it like they saw it.
Sexyricc
Rich “El Guapo” Garces