Skip to main content

Giants' Bring Back Ortiz

The Giants signed Russ Ortiz to a one-year $380,000 contract on Tuesday. The move gives the Giants insurance for their starting rotation, and if all goes as planned, should help the bullpen out as well. Ortiz signed with San Francisco over other suitors because the Giants told him he has a good shot at cracking the starting rotation. If that happens and Ortiz can rebound from 2 horrible seasons, then the Giants have themselves a bargain. Even if he continues to struggle, the Giants are only on the hook for the league minimum in salary. As I said in my last post, there will be questions as to whether or not Ortiz can be effective enough to hold down the 5th spot, but I have no doubt he will be better off in San Francisco than he was in the hitting friendly confines of Arizona and Baltimore. Supposedly he found his release point again with Leo Mazzone in Baltimore late last year, and after checking out his stats, he did actually drop his era 2 points over his final 10 outings. Then there where the reports out of Puerto Rico, where the Giants had plenty of scouts and coaches, that his velocity and movement was up. So, for what it's worth, Ortiz has actually been throwing the ball better lately. Remember, he's only 32, so it's not like he's hit the wall as far as age goes. I expect Ortiz to crack the rotation, and I expect him to be somewhat successful in doing so. If his velocity is indeed back in the 90's and he can keep his control in check enough to be effective, then he will be alright. There is a chance the Giants just signed a 200 inning starter for the league minimum.

As I said, this move should also deepen the bullpen. Now Jonathen Sanchez doesn't have the pressure on him to fill one of the rotation spots. Sanchez was extremely effective out of the bullpen last season. He didn't give up a run through his first 14 games in relief last year, and had an 1.37 era overall in 22 games out of the bullpen before being moved to the rotation. The Giants where actually playing their best baseball in July last year with Sanchez playing the role as their best reliever. Sanchez had two very good starts after being moved to the rotation. He dominated the Reds in Cincinati, then pitched very well in a loss vs. the Diamondbacks in his final appearance of the season. When spring training winds up, I wouldn't be surprised to see Sanchez actually beat Ortiz out for the 5th spot anyway, but I like the situation he is now in. If he does start the year off in the bullpen as expected, he may prove to valuable to move anywhere else. He is now my darkhorse pick to win the closers' job if Armondo Benitez is not on the team come April. With the news of the Ortiz signing along with the announcement of Tim Worrell's retirement, the pitching staff looks to be complete (not counting a Benitez trade). Sanchez, Benitez, Steve Kline, Brian Wilson, Kevin Corriea, Brad Hennessey, Vinny Chulk look to fill out the bullpen with Barry Zito, Matt Morris, Matt Cain, Noah Lowry and Russ Ortiz starting.

Comments

Anonymous said…
We'll see how the Ortiz experiment works out. However it does, it's a low risk move with potentially high rewards. I would have liked to see them offer give Shawn Estes the minor league deal than Damian Moss.
6:48 PM
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
6:05 AM
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
7:42 PM
Anonymous said…
Visit The Sarcastic Idiocy Forum for truly random thoughts that typically border on the psychotic.
1:20 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Giants Notes: Lincecum Signs, Ross to Boston

Well, even though I touched on it a little bit in our last post, I haven't really had a chance to get my thoughts out on the new Lincecum deal since he and the Giants agreed earlier in the week. Also, on the other end of things, the Giants missed out on shoring up their outfield by letting Cody Ross sign in Boston for only $3 million in 2012. First off, obviously, wanted to talk a bit about Lincecum. I've already said here that I didn't expect him to sign a long-term deal that takes him through free agency, but it doesn't mean he wants to leave San Francisco like everyone is suspecting. I mean, if I were Lincecum, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I planned on eventually signing with the Giants long-term. Why take a chance at mitigating your value to just sign a deal? Granted, a 5 year, $100 million deal isn't anything to sneeze at, in this market, if he were a free agent, Lincecum could probably easily command a 8 year, $200 million deal. If he could get ...
119 comments
Read more

Giants Still Need Infield Help

On Saturday, the Giants finalized a 2 year contract extension with Freddy Sanchez, who they acquired in July for Tim Alderson. The new deal for Sanchez will pay him 12 million over the next 2 seasons instead of 8.5 million for just 2010, which was his option for 2010. I've voiced my disappointment in Sanchez a few times here since the Giants dealt for him over the summer. He wasn't able to stay on the field full time to help this club with their run at the NL Wild Card, and even when he was in there, he didn't seem to make much of an impact in th e lineup. Now, I wasn't necessarily hoping the Giants would cut ties with Sanchez (they probably would have had to pay 4 million or so to buy him out), just didn't think he was worth upwards of 10 million dollars, and would have liked to see the Giants pursue someone like Orlando Hudson with that money. The Giants already have an infielder who's being paid about 3-4 times what his play over the last 2 seasons would indi...
200 comments
Read more

SF Giants' 2024 season preview and predictions

 We've reached the finish line of spring training and it's time for the games to start mattering. The Giants are a much different team than the one we saw report to camp six weeks ago. Did they add enough over the winter and spring to catapult them into playoff contention? What are some keys to success this season? We'll get into all that and more in the 2024 season preview. A winter that started out a little slow and concerning for Giants' fans, really came into form in the spring and was capped beautifully by a Blake Snell signing just over a week before opening day. The Giants are indeed a much improved team from the one we saw in 2023, just how much better they become will rely a lot on three big things. Three Keys to 2024 1. Health Of course, you can say this about every team in baseball and in any sport. In order for them to reach their end-season goals, they'll have to have had stayed relatively healthy throughout the summer. But for the Giants I've highl...
1 comment
Read more