Ramon Ortiz

The Rockies picked up Ortiz when a chunk of their starting rotation went down with injuries in the second half. He filled a long relief and spot-starting role, but failed to show any reason why he is still in the major leagues. He's a free agent and will likely fill a Triple-A spot on someone's roster, but his future as a major league pitcher is looking dim.

Despite moving from Cincinnati's bandbox to Washington's more forgiving RFK Stadium, Ortiz's 2006 numbers ended up looking almost identical to his 2005 totals. It seems clear that he'll give up too many home runs and too many hits no matter where he pitches thanks to poor command and a mediocre strikeout rate, and that makes Ortiz a risky investment. He'll likely begin the season in Minnesota's rotation after signing with the Twins this offseason. But given his recent struggles and the wealth of young talent in the organization, we don't see him holding a spot in the rotation for long.

Like Eric Milton, Ortiz was a spectacularly bad fit for Cincinnati, with a career G/F ratio that was below 1.10 and a relatively high homer rate. Opposing batters hit .332/.363/.558 against him in the Great American Ballpark last year, making the average hitter against him there the equivalent of Jim Edmonds or David Wright. At least he'll move on to RFK, where the confines are much friendlier - just don't expect a resurrection similar to that of Esteban Loaiza.

Ortiz finished the season in the bullpen and he's probably better suited to stay there. He had a 5.47 ERA and 1.52 WHIP over 79 IP as a starter in 2004 but recorded a 2.76 ERA with 1.16 WHIP in 49 IP with better peripherals from the pen. Traded to the Reds for Dustin Moseley, they will use him as their third starter, at least to begin the season.

Ortiz was a respectable 13-8, 4.14 through the first of August, but then came down with a tired arm and was pretty awful down the stretch, going 3-5 with an 8.34 and giving up 9 homers in just 45 innings. He'll turn 31 in the spring, so the Ortiz we saw for most of 2003 may be as good as it gets. The signings of Bartolo Colon and Kelvim Escobar should take some pressure off of Ortiz. His command still isn't where it should be (3.15 BB:9) and his strikeout power may be gone forever.

Ortiz had the best year of his four-year career in 2002, posting 15 wins, a 3.77 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. Started 32 games each of the last two seasons and is among the top 20 starting pitchers in the AL. The only knock on Ortiz is the amount of home runs he gives up. Ortiz's ERA has gone down each of the last three seasons, only to see his home runs allowed go from 18 to 25 to 40.