OK, this guy has no business being the closer for the best team in baseball. He blows save after save, and chokes in crucial situations and yet Leyland keeps trotting him out there time after time! WTF is wrong with you Jim?!! It's clear this guy is not getting it done and when you have stud relievers like Zumaya and F Rod, let them do their thing. Jones is an old, pudgy, washed up bum who needs to have his role severely diminished. AAAAAAAAAAH!

Player, TEAM,W,L,ERA,G,GS,CG,SHO,SV,SVO,IP,H,R,ER,HR,HBP,B B,SO

J Zumaya DET 3 0 2.25 25 0 0 0 1 2 32.0 18 8 8 3 2 16 38

F Rodney DET 4 2 2.59 28 0 0 0 7 9 31.1 15 10 9 4 1 18 29

T Jones DET 1 4 6.38 24 0 0 0 17 20 24.0 33 17 17 2 1 5 7

Updated Jones stats after the Devil Ray debacle-7.27 ERA? 1-5? 7 strikeouts? That is flat out horrific for a major league closer.

http://www.mlive.com/cgi-bin/prxy/photogalleries/nph-cache.cgi/cache=3000;/mlive/images/3130/20060602_jones.jpg
Get him out!

Man, I hate to say it. I want him to do well, but wow.....

I am not going to blame him for tonight's loss.

I still think he sucks. But the blame for this loss falls squarely on the offense. We had 12 innings to hit against a weak TB pitching and we failed miserably. 1 fucking hit through 9 innings? That's fucking pathetic. As is having 32 LOB in this series.

Can't wait to hear what wonder boy Tony Ortiz has to say about this...I have no clue why some people are in love with this guy (Jones) he clearly doesnt have it

He's got a higher ERA than his strike out total?

We need to demote him from the closer role, yes, but we didn't get it done in the bottom of the ninth where we could have won it.

Jones should not have been sent out for the second inning.

Rodney has question marks for me, Zoom is awesome. DD needs to make a move to bolster the closer situation for sure.

They need to put hi on the DL. Something is wrong the muscle in his skull is very weak.

You have to look pretty hard to find mistakes that DD has made recently, but he's obviously made two in a row with the closer position (first Percy, now Jonesy).

Jones needs to lose his closer's job after last night, no questions asked.

People can justify poor W/L records for closers (1-5) and even poor ERAs (7.27), but the opponents .336 avg. against Jones doesn't lie.

Is Zoom ready to close? If not, DD better get a legit closer in here ASAP.

Ok, I was just looking around the league to see who we, in our dreams, might be able to go for. Did you realize there are only 20 guys in the majors with more than 1 save? Of those 20, 6 have and ERA of 4.95 or higher. That leaves 14 guys in the majors with more than 1 save and an ERA I can live with. One of them is Rodney. Another 3 are in our division (Jenks, Wickman and Nathan) so I doubt they would be available. Now we're down to just 10 guys, and most of them are on teams that are within a half dozen games of first in their division. Basically, I think it would be hard to find anyone we could get very easily that's proven in the majors. What would be nice is if we were able to find the next Papelbon somewhere. That kid is unreal.

I say bring up Orlando Perdomo from West Michigan (yeah, right).

why not just switch the rolls of Zoom and Jones? Zumaya looks like the perfect closer, IMO. He can actually strike people out, and he's got that mentality.

I think we're set in the bully even if we dump jones. Z and Rod can do the 8-9 and with Ledezma up now we're set for any long relief troubles. No need to deal for something when our lineup is a much bigger concern.

While all the talk is about Jones today, it should center on Inge, Shelton, and Monroe all taking donuts again.

Yeah, I expect it from Inge. Not Shelton and Monroe. Those guys can hit, but wow. Its just been brutal to watch.

I really think we'll see Zumaya in the next closing situation. He's a bulldog who can get it done.

Ok, I was just looking around the league to see who we, in our dreams, might be able to go for. Did you realize there are only 20 guys in the majors with more than 1 save?

I count 43, not sure where the mixup comes from, but your points are still valid.

The thing with Jones is, as bad as he's been, I'm not sure that I'd necessarily want him pitching the 7th or 8th either, where Zumaya and Rodney have been so good.

Leyland's been giving Jones a pretty long leash, mostly out of respect, I'm sure, but he's not stupid. He'll give Jones one, maybe two more chances at most, and then he'll bounce him. I hope, at least.

The thing with Jones is, as bad as he's been, I'm not sure that I'd necessarily want him pitching the 7th or 8th either, where Zumaya and Rodney have been so good.

I say promote Walker to 7th Inning Guy, Rodney to 8th Inning Guy, and Zoom to closer. Walker's probably been our best bullpen pitcher this year, and no one ever talks about him.

Demote Jones to long relief so he can grow tomatoes with Grilli and Seay.

Walker's a specialist, though. I'm not against the move, but when he faces tough righties too much, they tend to tee off on him. That's why Leyland only let's him pitch against 1-2 batters at a time. Also, it's good to save him for if you need him against that tough lefty in a key situation.

why not just switch the rolls of Zoom and Jones? Zumaya looks like the perfect closer, IMO. He can actually strike people out, and he's got that mentality.

Thats what I've been saying. We have 2 pitchers that are better,imo, than our closer. Zoom and Rodney. Just move them around. Bring Jonesy in the 7th or something. Let him get some confidence back.

Most of the good closers around the league, have some sorta deadly pitch. Mariano Rivera has those crazy good fast balls, for example.

Todd Jones dosnt throw anything special. He just has your Fastball, Change, and Curve. And dosnt throw any of them any more than above average. His out pitch is a long fly ball that dies on the warning track after he's givin up a lead off walk and then a single into left.

Zumaya, has that 100mph fast ball, and that nasty breaking ball. And like someone said, he's just a bull dog. He's not going to mess around out there.

You have to look pretty hard to find mistakes that DD has made recently, but he's obviously made two in a row with the closer position (first Percy, now Jonesy).

Jones needs to lose his closer's job after last night, no questions asked.

People can justify poor W/L records for closers (1-5) and even poor ERAs (7.27), but the opponents .336 avg. against Jones doesn't lie.

Is Zoom ready to close? If not, DD better get a legit closer in here ASAP.

I agree wholeheartedly. I don't know that Zumaya is ready to close -- don't ruin a good thing by throwing too much at him at once. Jones may be slumping (to put it kindly), but I think if it continues the answer is to go out and get another veteran first.