This article incorrectly says that a Baltimore Orioles reliever played in 1999 for Evansville (Ill.) of the Frontier League. Evansville is in Indiana.
O's Sherrill Had Snowball's Chance
Once a longshot to ever make a major league roster, new Orioles addition George Sherrill will be counted on to buoy the Baltimore bullpen this spring.
(Jim Bryant - AP)
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008; Page E01
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 25 -- When George Sherrill arrived in Winnipeg for spring training six years ago, his chances of making a major league roster were as fragile as the snowflakes that fell on his frigid city, where the final blasts of winter often encroached on the early days of camp.
Scouts had long ago deemed Sherrill unfit to play in the big leagues. While he possessed a deceptive delivery that flummoxed batters who couldn't see the baseball leave his hand, the left-hander's fastball was merely ordinary and his physique made him look more like a beer keg than a ballplayer.
With no suitors for his services after college, Sherrill found work in the only place that would take him. Composed of clubs with no ties to any of the 30 major league organizations -- and long disregarded as the game's answer to a department store's irregulars bin -- Sherrill toiled for years unnoticed in baseball's far-flung independent leagues.
"He was at a crossroads with absolutely nothing happening for him," said former pitching coach Rick Forney, who feared that Sherrill's big league dreams were fading.
Instead, Winnipeg became the final waypoint to a path that has led to this, a sun-splashed morning in South Florida. It is here where Sherrill is in position to become the Baltimore Orioles' closer.
"It's been a long journey, but it's been worth it," said a slimmed-down Sherrill, the beneficiary of an unbelievable career arc that allows him to claim truthfully that he played 4 1/2 seasons in independent professional leagues and that the New York Yankees once lost a bidding war for his services.
In his entire professional career, Sherrill has been traded only twice, though the deals underscore just how much has changed. The first came as a throw-in player in a deal that sent him from Sioux Falls to Winnipeg.
The second time Sherrill was traded was as one of five players from the Seattle Mariners to join the Orioles, who dealt ace pitcher Erik Bedard.
Now, the same franchise that a season ago forked over $42 million for four free agent relievers now appears ready to hand its top bullpen job to a 30-year-old who was acquired by the Mariners for a $3,000 check to the Winnipeg Goldeyes, a $2,500 signing bonus and a one-way plane ticket to San Antonio.
In 73 games for the Mariners last season, Sherrill went 2-0 with a 2.36 ERA.
"It's all about pitching, deception and changing speeds," Orioles President Andy MacPhail said. "And sometimes those are the things that scouts are not as quick to pick up on."
Sherrill's work with the Orioles has been limited in recent days because of a mild hamstring strain. Manager Dave Trembley said Monday that Sherrill probably won't be ready to play in spring training games until he completes two side throwing sessions, the first of which is scheduled for sometime midweek.
