Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Did the Orioles steal another reliever from the Rangers?

The Orioles have claimed Darren O'Day off waivers from the Rangers. O'Day made 1.22 million in 2011, but had a -.1 WAR,. He did have a 2 WAR in 2010, and 1.9 WAR in 09. 2011 struggles were mainly because O'Day struggled with injuries in 2011. Because of this and the small sample size (16.1 innings), 2011 is basically worthless in statistical analysis. In his career, he has a -1.16 PE, adjusted PE of -.29, and 11.34 TR. These are really nice numbers for a relatively cheap relievers. He is certainly good enough of a reliever that you would think the Rangers should have got some kind of compensation for him. He has a career FIP of 3.76, gives up less than a home run per 9 innings (much of his pitching had been in the very hitter friendly Ballpark in Arlington), and doesn't walk many hitters. He gives up more groundballs than flyballs, and has a career BABIP of just .260. One would think that O'Day has a big enough sample for that not to be luck, but probably means that hitters aren't exactly crushing the baseball off the submarine pitcher. He has given up 31.30 (according to RE24) runs below average in just 180 innings. In short, he is a valuable pitcher that, if healthy, can be very valuable for the Orioles, and make the Rangers look very dumb for just letting him go.

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