Better defense awaits Ramon Ortiz
Posted on February 22nd, 2007 – 12:39 PMBy Joe Christensen
Ramon Ortiz is due in Twins camp tomorrow, and he’ll be carrying the weight of last season’s struggle with the Washington Nationals. It’s hard to sugarcoat his 11-16 record, 5.57 ERA, 31 home runs allowed, .297 batting average against, etc. RFK Stadium is considered a pitcher’s park, he’s coming back to the American League — not good.
But the Twins hope a change of scenery suits Ortiz well. I can see the logic. He was the only member of Washington’s staff last year who didn’t miss a start, so he’s been durable, and he’s moving from a team with a horrendous defense to a team that plays some of the best defense in the game.
A story in the Washington Post today pretty much sums up how bad Ortiz and the other Nationals pitchers had it last year with defensive liabilities all over the field:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022101682.html
In a game sometimes ruled by numbers, defense is perhaps the hardest aspect to quantify. But the Nationals committed more errors (131) than any other team, had the worst fielding percentage (.978) in baseball and finished 29th of 30 teams in double plays turned (123).
“Let’s put it this way,” catcher Brian Schneider said. “It can’t get any worse.”
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