The Baltimore Orioles signed free agent pitcher Russ Ortiz and have inserted him into the starting rotation. Ortiz is scheduled to take the mound for the first time as an Oriole on July 1 against the Atlanta Braves.
This season, Ortiz was 0-5 with a 7.54 ERA while with the Diamondbacks. He replaces Adam Loewen (0-2, 6.66 ERA) in the O's rotation who has been sent down to AAA Ottawa.
This move cannot hurt the O's. Loewen had six starts for the O's and has clearly been in over his head. He's got talent and moxie, but not enough to overcome inexperience and lack of command at the Major League level. Loewen pitched about as well as he can pitch at this level (at this point in his career).
Ortiz, on the other hand, has pitched about as poorly as anyone can pitch. His career establishes that he can be an excellent starter. He's had health problems since signing with Arizona. The O's (Mazzone) claim Ortiz is healthy and that he "just needs to pitch good".
So, if Ortiz continues to pitch poorly, it only means that the O's lose the games he starts. They've been losing those starts all season anyway (Chen and Loewen). Arizona is paying Ortiz' salary (the O's pay only the pro-rated minimum salary), so the gamble costs the O's almost nothing. Of course, if Ortiz returns to form, that in itself is a huge improvement to the O's starting pitching.
The guaranteed improvement is that the O's get Loewen back down to the minors where he can develop his skills with first hand knowledge of what it's going to take to compete in the AL. If he develops command of the strike zone, he will be a solid major league starter.
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