The Giants may have a spot for Tim Lincecum without trading anyone after all. Russ Ortiz has separated himself from the rest of the pack of starting pitchers on the team with an awful start vs. the Rockies at home. Ortiz raised his era to 6.44, and also raised some questions as to how many more starts he'll get until the young phenom, Lincecum, is indeed called up from Fresno. Tuesday night's start was the first time all season in which Ortiz was real bad, but besides his start in Pittsburgh, there really hasn't been any flashes of Ortiz pitching that well. He has had a couple of below average starts vs. the Dodgers, one in which he had to get a little bit of luck in order to avoid being knocked out in the 3rd inning. That being said, the Giants are a lot better off having Ortiz be serviceable so, I am not ready to quit on him. If the Giants are planning on trading one of their starters for some much needed offensive help, they are going to need Ortiz to be in the rotation. However, the Giants shouldn't be too patient here. He is only one more bad start away from an era in the double digits. I'd give Ortiz 2 more starts for sure, depending on the outcome of those, I'd make a decision on whether to make a move or not. Lincecum us clearly ready and at this point I think it's clear that he would give this team a better chance to win than Russ Ortiz will. The only question I would have in bringing Lincecum up this early, is counting on him to be a staple in the rotation for the next 5 months. If where to be called up by mid May, the Giants would be asking this guy to make 25 starts on top of what he's already done in Fresno. I think I'm ready to find out. Tuesday night was the first game this season in which the offense actually showed up early and the pitching couldn't hold up to their end of the deal. The Giants are going to struggle to put up big runs night in and night out, when they put up 7 runs in a ballgame and don't win, it hurts.
The Giants may have a spot for Tim Lincecum without trading anyone after all. Russ Ortiz has separated himself from the rest of the pack of starting pitchers on the team with an awful start vs. the Rockies at home. Ortiz raised his era to 6.44, and also raised some questions as to how many more starts he'll get until the young phenom, Lincecum, is indeed called up from Fresno. Tuesday night's start was the first time all season in which Ortiz was real bad, but besides his start in Pittsburgh, there really hasn't been any flashes of Ortiz pitching that well. He has had a couple of below average starts vs. the Dodgers, one in which he had to get a little bit of luck in order to avoid being knocked out in the 3rd inning. That being said, the Giants are a lot better off having Ortiz be serviceable so, I am not ready to quit on him. If the Giants are planning on trading one of their starters for some much needed offensive help, they are going to need Ortiz to be in the rotation. However, the Giants shouldn't be too patient here. He is only one more bad start away from an era in the double digits. I'd give Ortiz 2 more starts for sure, depending on the outcome of those, I'd make a decision on whether to make a move or not. Lincecum us clearly ready and at this point I think it's clear that he would give this team a better chance to win than Russ Ortiz will. The only question I would have in bringing Lincecum up this early, is counting on him to be a staple in the rotation for the next 5 months. If where to be called up by mid May, the Giants would be asking this guy to make 25 starts on top of what he's already done in Fresno. I think I'm ready to find out. Tuesday night was the first game this season in which the offense actually showed up early and the pitching couldn't hold up to their end of the deal. The Giants are going to struggle to put up big runs night in and night out, when they put up 7 runs in a ballgame and don't win, it hurts.
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