I Don't Like This At All

The Twins are reportedly close to signing right-hander Ramon Ortiz to a one-year, $3.1 million deal that is contingent on his passing a physical.

Last year, Ortiz posted a 5.57 ERA in a pitchers park (RFK) in the National League. I don't know the exact translation, but I'm pretty certain that equates to something around or above 6 in the AL.

Until today, I thought Terry Ryan and Gardy had learned from their mistakes, and would start to give the youngsters a shot. I was wrong.

The way I see it, the opening day rotation will most likely be Santana-Bonser-Silva-Ortiz-Ponson. If that doesn't send shudders down your spine, you must have much more faith in Rick Anderson than I do. (Even if Anderson can fix these guys, I'd still rather have him work with Garza, Perkins, Baker, Slowey, etc. and see some of them in the rotation)

Maybe the plan is like last year. A 25-33 start before cutting the dead weight and playing .700 ball the rest of the way. But I don't think that works two years in a row.

Going into a 3-game series, it's possible that an opponent will face Silva, Ortiz, and Ponson as starting pitchers. If the Twins skip the fifth starter when possible (barring injuries), look out for May 21-23 at Texas, where many home runs will be hit. If they don't skip the fifth guy, doom and gloom comes even earlier, May 8-10 against Chicago at the dome. Sadly, I'll be at school in Eau Claire, not collecting Jim Thome balls while eating dollar dogs in the cheap seats.

My apologies for the rant, but needless to say, I'm much less optomistic about the Twins 2007 season now than I was when I predicted this starting rotation.

UPDATE: That may not even be the worst of it. In signing Ortiz, the Twins had to make room for him on the 40-man roster. They cut loose Alex Romero, a 23-year old AAA outfielder, who projects to be a reliable backup outfielder and perhaps even a solid starter. I'd actually rather have him on the big club than Lew.