The Orioles exhibited something last season that had me thinking about 2007 Orioles sleepers. They agressively promoted their minor league bullpen arms to their major league bullpen with considerable success.
| Player | G | W | L | ERA | WHIP | SV | SVO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | HBP | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Burres | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2.25 | 0.875 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Chris Britton | 52 | 0 | 2 | 3.35 | 1.174 | 1 | 3 | 53.7 | 46 | 22 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 41 |
| Sandy Rleal | 42 | 1 | 1 | 4.44 | 1.521 | 0 | 1 | 46.7 | 48 | 25 | 23 | 10 | 0 | 23 | 19 |
| Kurt Birkins | 35 | 5 | 2 | 4.94 | 1.323 | 0 | 1 | 31.0 | 25 | 19 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 27 |
| Jim Hoey | 12 | 0 | 1 | 10.24 | 1.965 | 0 | 1 | 9.7 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
At the league minimum, the O's looked like they had found an efficient way to fill bullpen innings (read: $360,000 per middle reliever). This had me looking at Radhames Liz (149 Ks in 133 IP), Garrett Olson (162/165) and even Hoey despite his ugly debut. 73 Ks in 51 innings with a fastball in the upper 90s will do much to the idea that there is much more to consider. Then the Orioles went nuts and spent $42MM on middle relievers- $19MM on Danys Baez, $10MM on Chad Bradford, $12MM on Jaimie Walker and a measly million on Scott Williamson.
Is there any reason to believe the 4th place Orioles are better off spending the league minimum on four non-closers than $42MM? Apparently, the time hasn't come to apply some Moneyball thinking on middle relievers - although I can see the O's 2006-7 off-season as the tipping point.