On the heels of twin rotation injuries – Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner both went on the disabled list last week, and neither is expected back for another three to four weeks – the Cubs today signed 38-year-old pitcher Ramon Ortiz to a minor league deal.
You may remember Ortiz from such successful seasons as 2002 with the Los Angeles Angels. Oh, you don’t remember that? Well, he was league average as recently as *seven* years ago, so there’s that.
Indeed, Ortiz has been intermittently awful and unemployed for the better part of a decade, so any hopes you might have about him being the Cubs’ knight in shining armor should probably be set aside. The Cubs likely (make that hopefully) view him as organizational depth – he’s headed to AAA Iowa – and an emergency option for the big league rotation.