When a rebuilding team like the Orioles isn't currently trying to win, there's still something interesting going on. (Even if Jon Heyman disagrees.) That's because although the losses are all but guaranteed in 2020, probably in 2021, and maybe in 2022, the results on the field still matter. You may have an idea of what's going to happen, but you don't know the how. And the how matters.
Opportunities and playing time are up for grabs, and that's how players like John Means and Hanser Alberto end up with random and satisfying seasons. It's how a team can end up with Jonathan Villar playing every game and posting 4.0 wins above replacement. And it's how Asher Wojciechowski, whom the Orioles purchased from the Indians about a week before the All-Star Break, ended up fourth on the O's in pitcher fWAR (0.9), fifth in innings pitched (82.1) and with the fourth-best ERA among their starters (4.96).
Posting an ERA near 5.00 in 82-plus innings may not seem like a huge accomplishment, but Wojciechowski has been on quite the journey. Drafted 41st overall by the Blue Jays in 2010, he was traded to the Astros in 2012 and has been well traveled since 2016. Before 2019, he had brief stints in the majors with the Astros (2015) and Reds (2017), and he pitched in the minor leagues for those two organizations along with the Marlins, White Sox, Orioles and Indians. The O's released him in the middle of the 2018 season, but he found his way back in 2019 -- with the major-league club this time.
