Sidney Ponson, Work In Progress. Devastating to the opposition one day, devastating to his own team and fans the next. Young. Brash. Overweight. Petulent. Spoiled. A Golden Arm with a Tin Head.

All of those terms have fit Ponson over his time as an Oriole. Entering 2000, Sydney was coming off a season where a first half that was near All-Star caliber had been followed by a second-half meltdown. The "common knowledge" was that he had tired in the second half, and that better things would be forthcoming in 2000 as his stamina improved. It took the 2000 Edition of the Yearbook to bring O’s fans the "real" poop…Ponson had not tired, as his numbers simply didn’t reflect it…he just didn’t pitch well in the second half. With this more careful examination of his 1999 performance, we still remained hopeful for an improved Sydney in 2000, especially with a new manager, as it was evident that Ponson and Ray Miller did not get along.

Reality was, the 2000 Sydney was an improvement over the 1999 Sydney, but concentration issues, mound behavior, off field remarks, physical conditioning, and Sydney’s dear friend, Dr. Longball, were still all too common visitors to the Ponson funhouse.

First, the homers. Ponson continued his love affair with the home run in 2000, giving up 30, which placed him 9^th in the AL (Jeff Suppan was the league champ with 36). They were so memorable to home fans because he gave up a whopping 21 of them at home. He didn’t give them up in bunches, just constantly, surrendering at least 4 every month of the season.

A slugging percentage against of .417 was 12^th in the league; his OBP of .323 placed 9^th, but that ERA of 4.82 was 30^th, and that’s just in the AL…if you think 30^th "doesn’t sound bad", Pat Rapp is only 10 spots away.

The sum of Ponson’s numbers do not reflect the individual parts. Ponson doesn’t surrender too many walks, he strikes out enough batters, he holds the OBP and slugging percentages down, yet he’s left with an ERA that shows him in the company of Steve Trachsel, Eric Milton, and Hideo Nomo, one also a work in progress and the others in the twilight of effectiveness.

He did have a terrible beginning (as did the entire pitching staff), finishing May with an ERA over 5.00. The second half of 2000, Sidney pitched to a 4.43 ERA, more in keeping with his overall numbers.

Sidney remains an important part of the Orioles’ future. Even as he struggles to mature, fans must keep in mind that he will still only by 24 at the start of the 2001 season. Much has been made of his reported boorish behavior supposedly aped through his observation/worship of Scott Erickson and Mike Mussina. Since neither will be with the club at the beginning of this year, it will be interesting to see Sidney deal with the pressures of the number 3 slot in the rotation.

Ponson’s numbers do not reflect those of a pitcher with a losing record and poor ERA. Here’s a prediction that, barring injury, Ponson will have a much more effective 2001 season for the Birds.

TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE 2001 ORIOLES, PONSON MUST:

work on reducing the homer barrage, particularly at Camden Yards.

improve his attitudes towards coaches, management, and working through difficulty.

NOTES: began adding new pitches at the end of the season and appeared to be successfully incorporating them...badly regressed in holding on runners, giving up 17 in 22 attempts against…tied with Mike Mussina for third in AL in complete games with 6…5^th in the AL in innings pitched, 11^th in strikeouts…13 quality starts one of the lower figures in the AL (only 13 who started 30 games threw fewer QAs).