Let's Meet...Will Ohman!

Oh-Man!

The Ohman!

Willy Oh!

Whatever you want to call him, say hi to Will Ohman. A veteran of 220 major league games, Ohman has been a steady part of the Chicago Cubs pen, especially over the last three seasons. He is a stereotypical LOOGY, which means that if he is used correctly, he could be an asset. If Bobby Cox decides to turn him into a one-inning pitcher who is scheduled to face two lefties and a righty, we could be in for some trouble.

After originally being pushed to the majors early in his career in 2000 and 2001, Ohman disappeared from baseball for two years, likely because of injury, before resurfacing in 2004, where he pitched in 45 games for Iowa. The following season, he established himself as a factor in the Cubbie pen and spent the majority of the last three years in the majors. His best season remains 2005, where he posted a career-best 151 adjusted OPS. Over the last two seasons, he has simply been good enough to not be a weakness.

Most of his troubles have stemmed from Wrigley Field. Over his career, he has a horrid 6.63 ERA at home while posting brilliant numbers (2.53 ERA) at home. He has looked pretty great at Turner Field, if you are curious.

For a base salary of $1.6M this year, Ohman might be a bargain compared to the contracts other LOOGY's like J.C. Romero are getting. He replaces Ron Mahay and with Royce Ring, should provide the Braves enough pitching to get outs consistently. If Mike Gonzalez provides anything resembling his prior injury-self, the lefthand side of the Braves pen could be a beast, a heck of an advantage considering the Phillies lefthand terror of Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.

(kudos to the Cubs blog, Crawly's Cub Kingdom for the pic. Check the blog out. His description for Infante and Ohman...garbage. Hopefully, he's wrong.)