PIÑATAFEST 2007 @ BIRDS IN THE BELFRY

The 2007 Kerry's Piñata Award Contenders
For better or for worse, there were plenty of Piñata Award candidates for the Orioles in 2007.  As a function of injury and/or ineffectiveness, the O's used 27 different pitchers during the season.  Unfortunately--or fortunately, depending on your perspective--only 12 of these pitchers met the minimum usage criteria for consideration.

Breaking with tradition (for reasons which will become apparent momentarily), I will dispense with the normal preliminaries, which involve looking at a list of contenders before naming the winner.  We're going to go straight to the hardware this time, so cinch it up and hunker down...

The 2007 Kerry's Piñata Award Winner
The envelope please.

[House lights dim.  Spotlight shines on the lectern in the center of the dais.  A fast snare drum roll starts softly and gradually increases in volume.]

The man of the hour...the lucky award winner...the individual with the Performance Best Resembling a Piñata in a Starring Role, is...

...well, it's not just a winner...it's a whole group of lucky honorees...

The winner is the entire Orioles' bullpen!  Everyone on your feet!  Let's have a big round of applause, ladies and gentlemen, for this year's top fiesta implements:

THE O'S BULLPEN, 2007

I'm not typically a fan of giving an individual award to a group, but this unit was so collectively bad--and, really, there wasn't a single member of the Orioles' pen last season who didn't contribute meaningfully to the utter ineptitude of the relief corps--that I simply couldn't single out one, or even two, individuals.  This group deserved to share in the ignominy of winning the Piñata Award.

Some may say that not all the relievers were bad enough to be stained by this Award--Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker, for instance.  I can't agree.  While Bradford and Walker weren't as conventionally bad as many, if not all, of the pitchers in the pen last year, both had their share of problems.  Bradford, for instance, allowed opposing hitters to bat .294 and fanned a mere 4.04 men per nine innings.  He lost seven games and blew five of his seven save opportunities.  Walker is surely the least deserving of this group of recipients; his overall numbers--compiled in a series of, largely, LOOGY-like appearances--really weren't bad.  But Walker, too, managed to blow six saves last year; he also allowed 22 inherited runners (of 53) to score, the worst mark of his career.  Five times in the final two months of the season Walker allowed at least two runs in an appearance, and blew five saves during that stretch.  So even the best of this group had some crushing problems.

The rest of the pitchers in this mass have absolutely nothing to complain about whatsoever.  Jon Leicester, Fernando Cabrera and Cory Doyne each posted ERAs above 10, in a total of 19 appearances.  Paul Shuey posted a 9.82 ERA in 25 appearances; in the modern history of baseball, Shuey's ERA is the fourth highest among pitchers with at least 25 appearances in a season and the absolute worst in franchise history.  Rocky Cherry, Todd Williams and Jim Hoey appeared in a combined 47 games and all posted ERAs between 7.30 and 8.  Kurt Birkins, Danys Baez and Brian Burres combined for 90 games out of the pen (Baez appeared in 50 all by himself) and finished with ERAs between six and seven.  Rob Bell just barely missed the six mark (5.94), but posted a WHIP of 1.81.  John Parrish posted a WHIP of 1.78 in 45 appearances before he was dumped on Seattle.  Closer Chris Ray blew six of 22 save opportunities before being lost for the year due to injury.

As bad as all the participants were individually, the real ineptitude shows when considered collectively--part of the reason for assigning the Award to an entire unit.

The bullpen's WHIP was 1.61--second worst in the AL to Tampa Bay--with an ERA of 5.71 (also second worst).  The 279 batters walked were more than any other AL relief corps.  The 6.54 K/9IP mark was the lowest in the league.  The 1.37 K/BB ratio, not surprisingly, was the league's worst.  Only two bullpens in the league allowed higher batting averages to their opponents than the .275 of this unit; the .366 opponents OBP was second worst in the league.  Only one bullpen allowed a worse slugging percentage to its opponents than the .410 allowed by the O's pen.  The O's relief group tied for the most hit batsmen (with the Yankees).  No team blew more saves (25) than the Orioles and the team's save percentage (55) was the worst in the AL.  Only one pen allowed more stolen bases (39) than that of the Orioles.

In all, the pen was truly awful.  All 22 O's pitchers who appeared in relief shared in the "fun," so all 22 can share in the "honor" of winning the 2007 Piñata Award.

Here's hoping that this group honor is a one-time event.

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