The Cubs have signed Ramon Ortiz to a minor league contract according to MLB.com's Carrie Muskat. The right-hander will report to the team's Triple-A affiliate and make his first start Monday night.
Ortiz, 38, threw 30 innings for the Dodgers last year (6.30 ERA), his first big league action since 2007. He was designated for assignment in late-May, then moved on to the minor league systems of the Mets and Rays. Ortiz owns a 4.93 ERA in a big league career that has spanned parts of ten seasons, though it's been almost seven years since he was last a viable MLB starter.
The Cubs are a little thin on pitching at the moment with Andrew Cashner and Randy Wells on the disabled list.
Cubs sign skinny Carlos Silva
People like to joke about Silva, but Carlos Silva was actually the Cubs best SP by far last year until his heart problem. His final numbers were skewered by a two bad starts before he admitted he had a heart problem. Silva was 9-2 with a 2.96 ERA last year until he had two bad starts in a row and finally missed 5 weeks with his heart problem that required a surgical procedure to fix. When he returned the Cubs let him pitch in 1 game, in which he was rusty, then benched him the rest of the year. He finished 10-6 with a 4.22 ERA, better numbers than many starters who aren’t the butt of jokes on MLBTR.
You’re right.
I had him in my pool, picked off the scrap heap. That one start he had against the Cards on Sunday Night Baseball was electric.
Hopefully he gets in shape, takes his head out of his ass and can regain that form.
You are absolutely right about this but some prefer to make up their own reality to suit their prejudices.
Cubs finally out manuever the Yankees.
I don’t know Yanks have all the washed up pitchers in their minors atleast Ramon isn’t being expected to do anything like the pitchers in yankees system are, if Ramon even pitches for big league it will be about 1 maybe 2 starts or just pitch in the pen.
It’s signings like this (38 yrs old, 6.30 ERA last year) that make me think any one of us could pick up a ball and chuck it well enough to cash a few checks.
MLB minimum breaks down to $2558/game in ’11. Surely we could post Ramon Ortiz #s long enough to buy a new Hyundai or something.
Ortiz has been washed up for several years now. I’d like to think any of the journeymen/non-mlb prospects in the Cubs minor leagues could do at least as well as Ortiz.
The Cubs do have a good SP prospect set to pitch at AAA, Jay Jackson, but he’s hurt, otherwise he would likely already be up.
I don’t no who he is. Cubs should a cept silva