Jeff Conine and Jason Johnson, 2002 Upper Deck Victory #11

I know that pitcher wins aren't the most precise statistic, but you don't have to look much further than Jason Johnson's team-leading 10 wins to puzzle out the fate of the 2001 Orioles. When a team wins 63 games total (against 98 losses), there aren't many W's to go around. That was a pretty brutal team, all things considered. Buddy Groom was the leading fireman with a whopping 11 saves, Jay Gibbons and Chris Richard tied for the club lead with 15 home runs, Cal Ripken, Jr. sputtered to a .276 on-base percentage in his final season...yuck. At least Jeff Conine had a pretty solid year, with his .311 average and .386 on-base percentage.

Man, I hope the Orioles don't go back to being crappy next year.

Jason Johnson, 2004 Topps Heritage #105

We're less than 72 hours away from Opening Day. The Orioles' 25-man roster is almost completely set, but there are still surprises to be found in Sarasota.

Remember Jason Johnson? Tall guy (6'6" to be exact), righty, spent the better part of five years in the O's starting rotation? He showed up in camp today after former teammate Brady Anderson got him a tryout. Johnson hasn't pitched in the big leagues since 2008. He got knocked around in a nine-game stint in the Yankee farm system in 2009, had shoulder surgery a year later, and was pummeled in eight starts for the independent Camden Riversharks in 2011. But he says he's fully healed, topping out at 92 miles per hour (a couple of mph below his original peak velocity), and looking for work again at age 38. He's already thrown for the Giants, but they couldn't find an opening for him. It remains to be seen if the Birds will welcome him back and send him through the minor league gauntlet; according to Roch Kubatko, he reached 90 mph in his tryout, which is a touch lower than he can supposedly throw.

Stranger things have happened, I guess.

Jason Johnson, 2002 Fleer Tradition #394

Everyone's favorite diabetic righthanded pitcher is on the move once again. Earlier today, Jason Johnson signed a minor league contract with the Yankees, with an invite to Spring Training. The Bronx Bombers are the ninth MLB organization for Jason, following the Pirates, Devil Rays, Orioles, Tigers, Indians, Red Sox, Reds, and Dodgers. To be honest, I keep forgetting that he's still around. He had two pretty good years in Baltimore (2001: 10-12, 4.09 ERA; 2003: 10-10, 4.18), but spiraled downward after joining Detroit as a free agent in 2004 (20-42 overall). In 2006, he played for three different teams. The following year, he went to Japan, but pitched only seven games for the Seibu Lions (1-4, 4.36). But pitching is such an elusive and coveted commodity that teams keep bringing him back: a 35-year-old with a 56-100 career record (.359 win percentage) and a 4.99 ERA and 1.49 WHIP. It has been a full decade since he notched a winning record in a major league season (8-7 for the 1999 O's). Here's to you, Jason Johnson, and to your Sisyphean task of posting a won-lost record above .500.

Jason Johnson, 2002 Fleer Maximum #117

Twenty-seven year old righty Jason Johnson had a breakthrough year in 2001, improving his won-lost record from 1-10 to 10-12 and lowering his ERA by nearly three runs (7.02 to 4.09). In fact, he was the only pitcher on a wretched 63-98 O's team to reach double-digits in wins.

Of course, he maintains to this day that he would have been even better that season had his head not been Krazy Glued to his left shoulder. Still, the experience taught him one valuable life lesson: Never fall asleep next to Buddy Groom on an airplane.