Buddy Groom was acquired by the Orioles to ostensibly fill the role vacated by Jesse Orosco when he was traded upon the hiring of Mike Hargrove. Groom was coming off a four-year stint with the A’s, where he produced two good seasons, one mediocre season, and a sub-par one. So what did the O’s get?

Well, for April of 2000, they got a pretty solid pitcher, the bright spot of the O’s bullpen. Since he was the left handed specialist in a bullpen laden with incendiary devices, this didn’t have THAT much of an impact. Buddy made his presence felt in May and June, however, when he leapt into the fray for worst performance in a bullpen full of them, challenging Chuck McElroy for worst performance by an O’s newcomer by allowing 36 baserunners in just under 18 innings.

In July and August he settled down, and pitched pretty well, but in September he was once again spectacularly awful, allowing 19 baserunners in just over 11 innings to the tune of a 9.53 ERA.

Groom’s overall numbers are not that bad. He achieved a 97 rating (100 being average) in the BBBA assessments for relief pitchers, which seems pretty accurate if one breaks down Groom’s numbers; his batting average against was right at the league average of .276, and his slugging percentage allowed was actually decent at .393. The problem is, his numbers were not delivered in a constant fashion. Groom was either overwhelming or awful in 2000, and a more consistent performance at the overall level he produced would probably have garnered more positive results.

In other words, in April, July and August, Buddy Groom was Da Man. In May, June, and September, however, he was Da ManHOLE.

Perhaps if the overall bullpen performance would have been more positive, Groom would have turned in a better season; or perhaps Grover misused him. In 93 appearances against lefties, Groom allowed a .193 batting average, a .229 OBP, and a .273 slugging percentage. In 157 appearances against righthanders, he allowed a .326 BA, a .396 OBP, and a .468 slugging percentage.

So what Buddy Groom turned in for 2000 was a wildly inconsistent, overall mediocre performance.

If he can be used more judiciously in 2001 and develop some consistency, the Orioles may have at least one positive performance from the bullpen.

TO CONTRIBUTE SUCCESSFULLY TO THE 2001 ORIOLES, HE MUST:

1.Either pitch better to righthanders or pitch to fewer of them.

2.Develop some consistency. He was simply awful for a full half of the 2000 season.

NOTES: had a wide home/away split: 3.18 ERA at The Yard, 6.39 on the road…displayed an aversion to night work: day ERA 2.30, night 5.77…so one supposes if you throw him against a lefty in the daytime, he’ll probably get him out…one of few O’s pitchers with a 2:1 K/BB ratio, but gave up more than a hit per inning.