FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -The booing was the furthest thing from Danys Baez's mind. As he walked off the mound after an outing that typified his trying 2007 season, all Baez could think about was the pain in his right elbow.
He didn't pitch again in 2007, his lasting memory his Sept. 12 appearance against the Los Angeles Angels in which he allowed two hits - including a homer - walked three, surrendered two earned runs and got jeered by what remained of the home crowd.
Baez, 31, will finally be back on the mound in an Orioles uniform today with a surgically repaired right elbow and his eyes on a new role. He'll start against the St. Louis Cardinals at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, his first audition for a rotation that has at least two spots available and plenty of candidates.
"I'm super excited," said Baez, who hasn't started a major league game since Aug. 24, 2002, when he was with the Cleveland Indians. "It's a good time to prove how healthy I am. It's going to be a good day for me and my career."
The Orioles signed Baez to a three-year, $19 million deal as part of their pre-2007 season bullpen spending spree, hoping he would become then-closer Chris Ray's primary setup man. The contract was criticized industry-wide at the time, and it looks even worse now.
While the Orioles got at least productive stretches out of fellow bullpen acquisitions Jamie Walker and Chad Bradford, Baez went 0-6 with a 6.44 ERA in 2007, his first season with the club. He had ligament-reconstruction surgery that October and missed the entire 2008 season as he rehabilitated the injury.
Aside from being a spectator in spring training last year and occasionally joining the club when it was in Florida to face the Tampa Bay Rays, Baez had little contact with his teammates. Instead, he worked out near his Miami home and spent significant time at the club's minor league complex in Sarasota.
"It was crazy," Baez said. "It was the first time I just did not feel part of the team. I wasn't ready to do anything for the team. I couldn't help my teammates. That's the first time I went through that, and it wasn't fun. It was just a real tough time, just very frustrating."
It was toward the end of his rehabilitation when Baez started thinking seriously about trying to make the transition from a reliever - he has 114 career saves - to a starter. His thought process, which he eventually voiced to team officials, was simple. He didn't think his elbow would hold up under too many back-to-back assignments, and the four days between starts would allow him to get the rest and treatment he would need to be effective.
