O's sign Russ Ortiz

[Flosman]

I think this move just allowed the O's give Adam a wake up call. It also allowed them to move him down before his confidence got shot. Currently he trusts his stuff, he does not nibble he is just wild at times. But with his walks eventually someone is going to light him up, that could lead to nibbling. It also lets him know and he even admitted he needs to learn to throw strikes all the time. Adam has actually bee a little unlucky in the ERA dept, the bullpen has let a good number of his runners score so the ERA is not as bad has it looks, but he has not allowed the clutch hits has often has he statistally should have which would lead to more of his walk scoring.

[allorioles]

The orioles can trade R-LOpez and Trade Bedard or benson for some offense

then we can call up penn and loewen and have a rotation of

Ortiz

Benson or Bedard

D-CAB

Penn

Lowen

[WhereisBoog]

I'd trade Loewen for Shealy. I think he has many things to fix, including his control, holding runners on (abysmal). The question is does Olson have more upside than Loewen down the road.

Personally, I prefer Penn to both, and I 'm hoping with Bedard's new found change up he returns to form.

A rotation of:

Benson

DCab

Bedard

Penn

Rlo

is sufficient.

However, if Mig is dealt to the Angels for theri pitching prospects such as Weaver and Santana, it really soldifies the pitching situation and makes Loewen very expendable.

I just think from watching him that he is a Josh Towers livel pitcher, but with less control.

[PaulFolk]

I keep seeing people saying, "There's no downside to signing Ortiz."

Of course there's a downside. He's not a good pitcher. He's more likely to lose games than to win them. He doesn't help the team build for the future.

I don't care if he's making the league-minimum salary...I don't want him on the team for the same reason that I didn't want Jim Brower or Mike DeJean: because he's not good. Except that Ortiz, being a starting pitcher instead of a reliever, is likely to have more of a negative impact on the team than Brower or DeJean did.

[NewMarketSean]

I think people are jumping the gun with the Ortiz signing.

Not counting his rookie year, Ortiz has had 2 bad years 2000 and 2005. He's had 5 years of being average or pretty good. His career ERA is still not bad. Granted he's been horrible this season but with Mazzone here it's worth a shot.

I think we've seen that Loewen is not ready to start in the MLB. He needs time at Ottawa and should be ready next season. Ortiz is about as good a stop gap pitcher as you can get in the middle of the season.

So not a bad signing, IMO.

And when Penn is ready again you trade Lopez for what you can get for him.

[NewMarketSean]

Here's something that I think many will find interesting. There was talk of Ortiz having a bad arm while he was still with Atlanta. In fact, his slide that continues today, can be traced back to his last two months in Atlanta. If Leo couldn't help him then, chances are he can't do much for him now. Ortiz just doesn't have the same stuff he once did. If he did, I doubt Arizona would be eating 22 million so easily. Why not at least stick him in the bullpen and get something for your money? Because he's damaged goods. Take a look.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlbhist/players/splits?statsId=5954&type=pitching&year=2004

The alarming stat where he walks more guys than he K's started from his last two months in Atlanta and has continued in 2005 & 2006. That's a bad stat brother!

His ERA was up and down that whole year.

April - 5.61

May - 2.41

June 4.18

July - 1.67

August 6.62

September 5.57

I agree that Ortiz may have an arm problem, as he was on the DL earlier this season. But I'll be the first to tell you that Ortiz needs to go -- when he shows us that he does. But until then, I'm going to give Mazzone the BOTD on this one.

Running Loewen out there with his control problems isn't helping him or the team right now. So we might as well go with Ortiz until Penn comes back.

[Sports Guy]

Bravo! He's stunk for 1 1/2 years. Arizona needs pitching and lets him go and is eating 22 MILLION bucks. This could be Leo's ego getting the best of him or it could just be the same old, same old, from the O's organization that young=bad, and veteran=good. They are in some dream state where they think Russ Oritz will help them in their push for a playoff spot. Let's see if Russ Oritz gets as many or more chances as Loewen got. I would guess that he won't be any better. Maybe worse.

An option year makes this a smart move.

Without it, it just seems like they are grasping for straws.

However, it is a low risk/high reward move that could end up being good for them.

I am really on the fence with this move.

I am hoping there is something else on the horizon.

[fansince71]

Rotoworld has a nice take on it.

This should be fun. Ortiz had a 7.54 ERA and a 2.16 WHIP in 22 2/3 innings for the Diamondbacks. His fastball velocity is well below average, so he can no longer afford to challenge quality hitters, and it's not like he ever had exceptional control in the first place. With the Orioles throwing him right into their rotation, there's a good chance he'll be the worst pitcher in the AL over the rest of the season. Since Baltimore will only have to pay him about $180,000, it's not much of a risk. He's unlikely to help, though. Jun. 25 - 2:23 pm et

[NewOrioleWork]

I am really on the fence with this move.

Me too. Ortiz COULD be the next CPat or COULD be the next Brower.

As long as the FO/Sammy is quick with the hook (IE DON'T let him pitch the rest of the year to a 6 ERA) I don't mind this experiment too much. Considering the restraints that the FO has to work with, perhaps they HAVE to take chances like this.

--Alexander

[WEAVERMAN]

Ortiz is not a quality pitcher and he will gone in matter of weeks. Keep Rodrigo, send Adam to AAA (a little more seasoning), and promote Penn to replace Ortiz when he fails.

[PaulFolk]

Here's an article I whipped up on Ortiz.

[El Gordo]

Here's an article I whipped up on Ortiz.

I hope you do. I've been wanting them to get rid of Terry for years.

[RShack]

Here's an article I whipped up on Ortiz.

A fact-check question: 4 years for $55m? Or was it $33m?

Since I always make it a point to keep my own money in amounts that are identical doublt-digits of millions of dollars, I might be just confusing his issue with my own... ya think?

[mweb]

I don't think Ortiz will be worse than Loewen has been. Plus, I totally disagree with Loewen being on the big club right now, so I'm in favor of giving him a shot. If he's bad, replace him with Chen or Penn or whoever, not a big deal, we aren't going to the playoffs regardless.

[The Rick]

I don't think Ortiz will be worse than Loewen has been. Plus, I totally disagree with Loewen being on the big club right now, so I'm in favor of giving him a shot. If he's bad, replace him with Chen or Penn or whoever, not a big deal, we aren't going to the playoffs regardless.

Exactly. Loewen needs more minor league experience to get control fo his pitches, bottom line. And like mweb said, we're not going to the playoffs regardless, so there's really no downside to this... too many pitchers is a good problem, especially if Ortiz ends up turning it around.