Al Reyes

The good news was that Al Reyes, whom the O’s had picked up in 1999, was back for 2000. The bad news is, he was going to pitch pretty much the way he had in 1999, too. Although only 29, Reyes was one of those pitchers who demonstrate that pitchers usually lose effectiveness after 28. Since Reyes didn’t have much talent to begin with, it didn’t take much of a reduction to make him useless.

Reyes opened April like nearly everyone else in the bullpen…poorly (5 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K). He followed this up with a solid May, if you can call pitching only four innings a solid month (with the state of the pen as it was, it’s hard to believe Reyes only managed four innings with a 2.25 ERA).

In June, he was back where he started, with another 9.00 ERA to go with April’s, and he was soon traded to the Dodgers for the return of the prodigal reliever, Alan Mills. Mills was damaged goods, and has a big contract, so the Dodgers were willing to part with him, as they, too, were going nowhere. Reyes didn’t do anything for them, either.

NOTES: Reyes did not give up a run all season in the majors after being traded to the Dodgers (6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 8K).