Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- It was supposed to be fixed last year when the Orioles spent $42 million to sign four veteran relievers and turn one of the team's longtime weaknesses into a major strength. But night after night during the 2007 season, the Orioles' bullpen was exposed.
Danys Baez, the most costly addition, faltered badly and then needed the same season-ending surgery that closer Chris Ray required. Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker, two high-priced setup additions, were solid but were thrust into situations for which they were ill-equipped. Scott Williamson, the cheapest of the four signings, was let go before the All-Star break, and countless other relievers were discarded after they proved incapable of getting major league hitters out.
When the Orioles' top decision-makers convened in Florida in October for the organizational meetings, a thorough overhaul of the bullpen was at the top of Andy MacPhail's offseason to-do list. The Orioles just went about it in a totally different way.
"I'm not philosophically opposed, when the timing is right, to spend money on the bullpen through free agency," said MacPhail, the Orioles' president of baseball operations. "But given where we were, we were going to try to solve our problems other ways. Whether it was trades or the Rule 5 [draft] or waiver claims, we were going to use every other option available to us."
Knowing Ray and Baez would likely miss most, if not all, of the 2008 season after having ligament-reconstruction surgery, the Orioles acquired promising right-handers Matt Albers and Dennis Sarfate in the Miguel Tejada deal with the Houston Astros. Then they got their likely closer, veteran left-hander George Sherrill, from the Seattle Mariners in the Erik Bedard trade.
They plucked deceptive right-hander Randor Bierd out of the Detroit Tigers organization in the Rule 5 draft and then claimed former closer Greg Aquino off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers.
The moves have made the competition to make the Orioles' Opening Day bullpen one of the most intriguing story lines in an otherwise routine training camp. And amazingly, team officials, who held their collective breath last year every time a starter handed the ball to the manager and left the game, now view the bullpen as one of the Orioles' biggest strengths heading into the 2008 season.
