Giants, Ramon Ortiz Agree To Terms
According to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Giants signed right-hander Ramon Ortiz to a minor league contract.
Ortiz will be invited to spring training. The 35-year-old spent last season in Japan, going 4-7 with a 5.82 ERA in 17 starts. Schulman assumes that he’ll start the ’09 season with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Fresno and will only be brought up if the Giants need a spot starter.
Twins Sign Ramon Ortiz
UPDATE: The deal is done for $3.1MM.
According to Ken Rosenthal, the Twins are the frontrunner to sign free agent starter Ramon Ortiz at a deal worth more than $3MM. It would be an odd expenditure for a cash-strapped club; I’m sure they have a kid capable of putting up the same 5.50+ ERA for the league minimum.
Do you remember the days when a 4.00 ERA was crap? I do vividly, and I’m only 24. Now we’re inching toward 5.00 being average, as J.P. Ricciardi recently mentioned.