Boston Red Sox Top-5 free agent reliever targets
By Sean Penney
Age: 33
2015 Stats: 65.1 IP, 6-2, 1.52 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 11.3 K/9
O’Day is coming off of a year in which he made his first All-Star appearance, while posting a career best ERA that ranked third in the league among pitchers with a minimum of 40 innings pitched. He also ranked 7th in the league in both strikeouts and WHIP.
Casting aside an injury-plagued 2011 season in which he only pitched 16.2 innings, O’Day has delivered an ERA no higher than 2.28 in every season since 2009. He owns a career 2.31 ERA with a 1.00 WHIP and 8.7 K/9. 2015 was his best season to date, as his strike ratio increased to 11.3 to go along with a 5.86 K/BB ratio. Both represent career-bests, as does his staggering 274 ERA+.
The one blip on his resume would be his underwhelming postseason results, where he owns a career 5.02 ERA, albeit in a small sample size of only 14.2 innings. Most recently he was roughed up for 4 runs in 2.2 innings during the 2014 playoffs, but he was also flawless through 7 shutout innings in 2012.
Over the past four seasons in the Baltimore Orioles’ bullpen, O’Day owns a 1.91 ERA, while averaging over 65 innings per season. He has been durable and reliable in recent years, while proving that he can cut it in the AL East. As an added bonus, stealing him away from Baltimore would also weaken a division rival.
Next: Joakim Soria