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2007 Regardless of whether he`s just not the same pitcher since Frank Robinson (and former teammate Jose Guillen) so publicly outed him as a cheat, Donnelly did manage to retain some measure of his value last year. That said, he was almost seven runs worse with inherited runners on in 2006 than he had been in 2005, and his sneaky delivery isn`t quite so sneaky now that the movement on his pitches has flattened out a bit. He still has value as a right-handed situational guy, so, to an extent, he`ll be stepping into Chad Bradford`s old role with Boston, having been dealt straight up for lefty Phil Seibel. 2006 At one time Donnelly was a poster child for the Angels` ability to dig up relievers with good heat, nasty movement, and tricky deliveries. But now it looks like the league caught on--and up ?to him. Frank Robinson catching him putting an extra something extra on the ball put an exclamation point on his decline, but Donnelly had already lost ground from his tremendous `03 season the previous year. 2005 Donnelly took ten years to make the majors. Having finally made it at 30, he established himself with two terrific years, only to have his nose blown off his face in a spring training ball-shagging accident. That sounds like hyperbole, but it's not; Donnelly's proboscis was broken in 20 places and required three surgeries to set it straight. Somewhat miraculously (think Bryce Florie), when Donnelly came back in June he pitched about as well as he always had. In many ways the pride of the Angels, Donnelly shares his birthday with jazz great/baseball fan Louis Armstrong. The birthday that Satchmo claimed, anyway. 2003 You could probably dislocate something just watching this guy pitch. Donnelly’s motion resembles some sort of fast-forward Tai Chi regimen, with lots of jerky, angular motion. Assistant GM Ken Forsch says that they love bullpen guys with a lot of movement on their pitches, so obviously they love him. He throws a very nasty sinking pitch, which causes right-handers fits as they pound yet another ball to Eckstein. Righties hit a whopping .148 against him for the season, with no home runs in over 100 AB. He’s a great guy to have in your pen, which isn’t surprising to find on this team. 2002 A road-weary Donnelly—he'd pitched for five teams in the previous two seasons—signed with the Angels prior to last season. He pitched so well he was added to the 40-man roster in October. Even if he repeats his career-best performance, he’ll need some luck to see action with the Angels in 2002.
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