The Diamondbacks announced today that the club has designated pitcher Russ Ortiz for assignment and will fill his spot on the roster with reliever Randy Choate whose contract was purchased from Triple A affiliate Tucson.

The entire Arizona press release:

PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks today designated righthanded pitcher Russ Ortiz for assignment. In a corresponding move, the club purchased the contract of lefthanded pitcher Randy Choate from Tucson (AAA - Pacific Coast League).

Choate, 30, appeared in 32 games for Tucson this season, going 3-0 with 5 saves and a 2.45 ERA. He has pitched in 164 career big-league games and owns a lifetime 5-6 record with a 4.71 ERA. He will be available for tonight’s game against the San Francisco Giants.

Ortiz was 0-5 with a 7.54 ERA in 6 starts for the Diamondbacks this season.

It was a bold move considering the amount of cash that Arizona is forced to leave on the table (around $22.5 million according to the Arizona Republic). The team is contractually obligated to pay that amount (now you know why beers are so expensive at Chase Field) and even if another team takes a flyer on Ortiz they will be required to pay him all of that money less the league minimum that the new team will likely offer. There is also a chance a team might offer Arizona a low-grade prospect or two for Ortiz. If no trade develops then Ortiz becomes a free-agent and he can sign with whatever team he wants (or whatever team will have him — hellllo KC).

But I LOVE this move by the team. It was the right move at the right time. Ortiz has been a horror show of a pitcher and his appearance at the ballpark created an energy black hole that sucked all enthusiasm from Arizona players. In the past two weeks you might not have been able to tell the difference but this team looked like the cast of Night of the Living Dead whenever Ortiz took the hill.

The current ownership group can take solace in the fact that they inherited this horrendous contract and now they have ended it (at least in terms of Ortiz playing for the D-Backs). This opens up a permanent rotation spot for young Enrique Gonzalez (who pitches tonight for Arizona). With Juan Cruz on the DL until June 19th the team will need to find another starter for at least one start. The Republic reports that the likely candidates are Edgar Gonzalez (3.75 ERA in 13 starts for Tucson) or possibly long-reliever Kevin Jarvis. Once Cruz is healthy the Arizona starting rotation for the remainder of the season (barring any more trades or injuries) will be:

1. Brandon Webb - Developed into a true ace this season.
2. Miguel Batista - 6-3 record and eating up innings but needs to cut down on walks.
3. Claudio Vargas - Also 6-3 despite a bloated 5.34 ERA.
4. Juan Cruz - 3-3 but strong ERA at 4.05. Six-year veteran is providing stability in middle of rotation.
5. Enrique Gonzalez - 1-0 record with 2.40 ERA. This kid has electric stuff with 16 strikeouts in 15 innings pitched and just two walks!

If I am completely honest I would have choked at the sight of this rotation during spring training. It would have brought to mind another classic Major League line: “who the *&#$ are these guys?” But this rag-tag band of pitchers (plus Brandon Webb) has been (at least prior to the last two series’) getting the job done. I think the release of Ortiz will send a positive message to the players that management does not care about contracts. Players who get it done will be on this team. Those who don’t, won’t.

The Diamondbacks have another potential hot-shot young pitcher on the horizon. Micah Owings who the D-Backs took in the third round in last year’s draft was just promoted from Double-A Tennessee to Triple-A Tucson. This report from the Arizona Republic tells why we should keep an eye on this kid who might break into the big league rotation sooner rather later:

“Right-hander Micah Owings, a third-round draft pick last year from Tulane, was promoted from Double-A Tennessee to Triple-A Tucson, and farm director A.J. Hinch said Owings could pitch himself into the mix at the major league level before the end of the season.

Owings, who will make his Triple-A debut Thursday, was 6-2 with a 2.91 ERA in 12 starts for Tennessee.

When you get to Triple-A, you become a legitimate candidate (for a big-league promotion),” Hinch said. “One thing we’ve talked about in our front office is we’re not afraid to try new things.”

If you’re going to have a seven game losing streak better to do it in June than September. We still have three and half months of baseball ahead of us and in the course of a season a couple of seven, eight or nine game losing streaks can be absorbed.

What has been especially deflating about this one is two-fold:

1. Six of the seven have not been close, including the worst of all yesterday when the Mets bombed the D-Backs 15-2. This nasty streak has included two sweeps, one shut-out and two blow-out losses of 9 and 13 runs.

2. The let-down is team-wide. The starting rotation, bullpen, defense and offense have all been horrible.

So what’s the deal? What has caused a first-place team to suddenly implode faster than the 1919 Black Sox? Well I think we have to start with Jason Grimsley. For those of us on the outside he looked like a mediocre pitcher who made little difference to the ball club. But to the Diamondbacks he was a teammate. A real person with a family who was not very different from any of them. They are relating to this scandal in an entirely different way.

Imagine if you went in to work one day and someone in the office who you knew very well was suddenly fired for drug use. This would cause a significant disruption as people thought and talked about it. Now imagine you hear that the person who was arrested is naming people in the office who also took drugs. The level of interest suddenly gets amped up. Even if you are clean, your reputation could get besmirched if you were linked to them. Now imagine your office was on the national news every night and just about everyone you ran in to asked you about it. Suddenly the fired employee is suing the company and fire-storm starts up again. This little distraction is now occupying a whole lot of your free time. Your concentration slips and you start missing deadlines. Now imagine that all magnified 100 times and you get a semblance of what the Arizona Diamondbacks are going through. They are not creating Power-point presentations or analyzing flow charts. Most of us have some leeway when it comes to concentration. I can finish the spreadsheet after lunch. A professional baseball player makes plays or hits a ball in a split-second. Any deviation in their concentration means failure. I don’t make excuses for millionaire ballplayers. They have to get over this, they have to resume their focus on the game. But for those who wonder why this team looks a whole lot different this past week — well that’s one reason.

Another perspective is momentum. The Diamondbacks had some great momentum prior to this seven game losing streak when the team went 11-4. But in addition to the Grimsley affair the team also had to deal with the return of Russ Ortiz. While Ortiz was marginal in his first game back he was back to his old rotten self yesterday. Ortiz seems to bring out the worst in the team. They simply do not look like they want to play behind the guy. No doubt management was hoping for a couple of decent performances so they could trade Ortiz and his bloated contract but that is extremely unlikely now. The team would be best served by releasing him. Yes, they will be stuck with his contract but that is going to be the case no matter what. They may want to wait until Juan Cruz is ready to return, but Ortiz should never start another game for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

One last thing to consider with this bad run: we lost to a couple of pretty good teams. The Mets have been especially good and lead their division by 6.5 games. Good teams take care of business against teams that are distracted or injured or simply lost (Arizona appears to have the trifecta). What this team really needs is a road trip. Get out of town and regroup. Hunker down as a team and work your way through this. That comes Friday when the D-Backs travel to Texas for an interleague series against the leaders of the AL West. In the meantime there are three big games against a division rival. Tomorrow’s starter is young Enrique Gonzalez who has had three starts this season compiling a 1-0 record with a sparkling 2.40 ERA. One of the quiet events that happened just prior to the current losing streak was the demotion of Gonzalez. I have a feeling the team is going to play well behind this kid because they want him to be successful. This is a kid with heart who is too young to know he should be distracted. He will go out and simply deal against the G-men and Barry Bonds. He could get lit up — like everyone else this home-stand — or maybe, just maybe he could be just the ticket to turn the tide for Arizona.

You know we’re in trouble when even Brandon Webb can’t pull us out of the nose-dive.

Not that it’s really his fault. He, once again, put up some great numbers- 8 innings, 9 strike outs, he gave up 4 runs, but only one was earned- his season ERA sits at a fine 2.06. However, the offense isn’t even hitting .206. In our series against the Mets, we’ve managed to get 17 hits in 93 at bats, and 12 of those came in one game. We’ve been absolutely stifled by the Mets, even making El Duque look like an ace in his return to Chase. Our defense has been lacking, as well- four errors in three games. All in all, nothing seems to be working out.

Our only saving grace is that the Dodgers aren’t doing all that well, either- they, like us, are 4-6 over the past ten starts. Thanks to that, we’re still in first place- tied, for the moment. If we don’t suddenly get some offense, that will soon be a memory.

Your obligatory Grimsley update: there’s currently some disagreement over whether or not Grimsley is getting paid. His agent says that he deserves the rest of his contract, which is a pretty funny idea for a guy who’s admitted that he’s been using illegal drugs. Bah.

Well, here’s hoping that tomorrow’s start goes better. Or, if not that, then we start making our recovery against the Giants.

With the release of reliever Jason Grimsley and a trip to the DL for starter Juan Cruz, the Diamondbacks had a couple of spots to fill on their active roster. The team initially brought up two starters, Dustin Nippert and Enrique Gonzalez giving Nippert the start on Wednesday. In hindsight that proved to be the wrong call as Nippert got touched up for five runs on seven hits and took the loss in an ugly effort. Why wouldn’t the team simply start Gonzales who was brilliant in two previous starts (1-0, 2.25 ERA). Could it be the team wanted to see if Nippert was ready in case (1) Russ Ortiz returned to his horrible previous form; or (2) They traded/released Ortiz; or (3) As a potential replacement for the struggling Claudio Vargas. Whatever the case, Nippert did not seem ready for the promotion and the team has said Gonzalez will return to the rotation next Tuesday against San Francisco. Gonzalez relieved Nippert on Wednesday for three innings, giving up one run on two hits including a solo HR from Sal Fasano.

Nippert was dispatched back to Tucson after his start and the team then recalled reliever Greg Aquino who Aquino pitched himself into all kinds of trouble last night, surrendering two runs on three hits and two walks in one inning of work.

According to the Arizona Republic some thought had been given to promoting Casey Daigle but according to the article “recent scouting reports favored Aquino.” The article went on to say “Melvin liked that Aquino had been stretched to a 40-plus pitch count, giving the team another reliever capable of throwing at least two innings.” He may give up four runs but he can go the two innings.

I love the recall of Gonzalez who is making a strong case to become a permanent fixture in the Arizona rotation. Ortiz’s next start should be telling in terms of his ability to either cement his place in the rotation or enhance his trade value. With Ortiz’s bulky contract in tow there are only a handful of teams he could be traded to without the Diamondbacks picking up the bulk of his salary. One team in the market for a veteran starter is the Yankees. Then again, the Yankees are always in the market for a starter. New York’s depleted minor league system makes a trade for prospects difficult but Arizona might be happy just to unload the contract.

Like a battered prize fighter, the Arizona Diamondbacks have absorbed a lot of punishment and are staggering. Insult was added to considerable injury when former teammate Orlando ‘El Duque’ Hernandez came to town to pitch for the New York Mets and confounded the Arizona bats for a complete game 7-1 victory over his former team. But one has to wonder whether it was El Duque, suddenly and inexplicably, becoming an ace pitcher or was he simply the right pitcher against the right team at the right time. When you look at Hernandez’s stats for the season it certainly looks more like a case of the latter. Particularly when you consider the fact that Hernandez has only pitched past the sixth inning one other time in eleven starts this season (and that was only into the 7th). Traded players always want to make their old team’s regret the move and while I’m not sure Arizona is regretting the move quite yet, he likely got some satisfaction in kicking his old team while they are down.

Despite manager Bob Melvin’s assertion to the team that the Jason Grimsley episode could no longer be used as an excuse, the play on the field suggests something is still awry. But downturns are inevitable for every team and they do not necessarily define a team’s identity. What does define a team is how they respond to adversity and losing streaks. The Diamondbacks are mired in a 4 game losing streak which is their longest of the season. That is actually a good thing, testament to the team’s overall success so far. In spite of the losing streak the team still has a one-game lead over second-place Los Angeles. But now, against one of the best teams in the league (a team they beat 2-out-of-3 times in their home park last week) they will try to lift themselves off the mat like a true contender. Tonight the veteran Miguel Batista will to lead the team out of their funk. But the offense needs to get back on track as the team has only scored 5 runs in their past three games combined. One guy who really needs to pick-up his game is Craig Counsel. The Arizona lead-off hitter is 2 for his last 24 (.083 avg). Couns sets the pace for the offense and needs if he isn’t setting the table it makes things tough on the meat of the order.

According to the Arizona Republic pitcher Jason Grimsley has been released. Further, the team contends that Grimsley requested the release and addressed teammates last night telling them, in essence, that he did want to be a distraction that would “bring (the team) down”.

So Grimsley takes himself out instead of waiting for the inevitable. This was the only course of action and I suspect had Grimsley not “asked” to be released, he would of been sent packing just the same. From a team perspective, the quicker they can excise this from the team the better. Grimsley will not be overly missed as a reliever and will likely be replaced from someone in Triple A. No word yet on who is coming.

The Diamondbacks had quite a week yesterday when the following happened:

* Jason Grimsley was implicated in a Federal steroids investigation (as Devin points out below)
* Juan Cruz was placed on the DL right before his scheduled start
* Russ Ortiz returned in a slightly improved form
* Dustin Nippert was recalled from Triple A to start tonight’s finale
* Arizona got blown-out by the Phillies 1-10

Things had been going so well for so long it stood to reason that something bad might crop up but this is ridiculous. First lets discuss the Grim situation. Grimsley is 1-2 with a 4.88 ERA so its not hard to see why he was accepting packages of HGH (Human Growth Hormone). The 39-year-old right-handed reliever is, quite obviously, not a kid. He knows what he was doing and probably figured this was the only way he could remain in the big leagues. Health and self-respect be damned, Grimsley was going to do whatever was necessary to stay in the bigs. At this point we don’t know how long Grimsley has been on the juice. I doubt he rolled out of bed last week and decided it was time to try turn himself into a human bobblehead ala Barroid Bonds. Grimsley’s career stats are remarkably unimpressive and if ever there was a guy hanging by a thread to a big league job it had to be him. Therefore I would make the case that Grimsley is likely a long-time user.

More troubling is the report at mlb.com that says Grimsley is cooperating with authorities and will be throwing fellow players under the bus.

Grimsley reportedly agreed to cooperate with the IRS after the 39-year-old veteran, now in his 15th big-league season, received a package containing two kits of human growth hormone (HGH) on April 19 at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home. The IRS had been awaiting the delivery of the shipment….

–From a report a mlb.com

Grimsley also provided “details about his knowledge of other Major League Baseball players” who took steroids or amphetamines, including several close acquaintances.

–The mlb.com report citing an affidavit filed by IRS agent Jeff Novitsky (who is in charge of the BALCO investigation) in US District Court in Phoenix.

So to save his butt, Grimsley is going to name names. While I don’t lose any sleep about cheaters getting punished I don’t like the idea of players turning on one another — in particular teammates. Who knows if any other D-Backs will be named but some of Grimsley’s current and former teammates might be getting nervous. Grimsley played for the royals and Orioles last season and had spent the previous three seasons with Kansas City. In order to get the Feds to forget about him, Grimsley will likely need to either name multiple players (and the report makes it sounds like he has) and/or name bigger players.

In the short-term this is just the type of distraction the team does not need. It reminds me of last season’s gambling ring implication of Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet. That pretty much sealed the season for the ‘yotes who went on a hellacious losing streak to knock themselves out of playoff contention. We will see how strong a leader Bob Melvin is as he guides the team through this landmine.

Who would have thought that the worst news tonight wouldn’t be Russ Ortiz’s start? Ortiz got bumped up a game, and gave us a decent effort- 5 innings, 3 earned runs, 4 hits, 7 Ks, though he did give up 5 walks. But the rest of the team just isn’t playing well- our bullpen has given up 4 more runs, we’ve only managed 4 hits and one run through the 8th.

But the big, bad news: Jason Grimsley involved in a steroids probe. Involved like “caught receiving a package of HGH” and “federal agents searching his house” involved. Seems to be in pretty deep. This is fairly breaking news, so I’m certain we’ll hear a lot more about it in the next few days.

Russ Ortiz. The name conjures dread in the heart of most Diamondback fans. Bob Melvin became a hero when he pulled Ortiz out of the rotation six weeks ago and many thought he might be gone for good. But after a stint on the DL with a strained calf Ortiz came back to make four rehab starts for Tucson and, surprisingly, pitched OK. According to the Diamondbacks website Webb pitched 20 2/3 innings while giving up 22 hits and 5 walks while striking out 10. The hits to innings pitched ratio is not good but the low number of walks is encouraging. Ortiz contends that he problems were all mechanical and the rehab starts helped him to correct those. Time will tell Russ. The D-Back right-hander will return to the starting rotation on Wednesday against the Phillies at Chase Field.

After signing a 4-year, $33 million contract prior to the 2005 season, Ortiz went on to one of the all-time worst first-year performances for a big-time free-agent signee going 5-11 with a horrendous 6.89 ERA in 2005. Earlier this season it was more of the same for Ortiz who went 0-3 with a 6.91 ERA in four starts. Understandably the D-Backs are hesitant to simply release a guy they owe that much money to. But Arizona could still have options. Should Ortiz be able to put together a solid start or two the Diamondbacks could keep him in the rotation or try and trade him–preferably to an AL team. The Yankees and Red Sox are always looking for a pitcher and if the D-Backs could get a low-level prospect and someone to pay Ortiz’s salary they would likely jump at the opportunity.

Enrique Gonzalez, the young phenom starter who made two starts while Ortiz was gone, went 1-0 with 2.25 ERA. Even more impressive was E-Gonz’s strikeout to walk ratio which is 12:2. One thing is certain, with a slim 2.5 game lead over the hard-charging Dodgers the Diamondbacks will have a short leash on Ortiz. If the veteran falters in his first two starts Arizona may have to make the difficult decision to either cut him or move him to the bullpen. Either way they will be on the hook for the balance of his $33 million contract.

Folks, let’s take a moment to look at our starting rotation. Yes, I know, it’s been painful to do so this year. But bear with me, here. I hope you’re sitting down, because I’m about to hit you with some numbers.

Plus, standing while using a computer can be pretty rough on the back.

Anyway, in our last two passes through the rotation, our starters have combined for an ERA of… 1.95. And that would drop over half a point (1.29) if we didn’t count Monday’s 6 earned runs in 6 innings from Claudio Vargas. In point of fact, through the last ten starts, Monday was the only time we didn’t get a quality start from our starting pitcher. Given the stomach-churning turmoil our starters gave us early in the season, that’s pretty dang impressive.

“But, Devin,” I can hear the cynics complain, “Most of that is just Brandon Webb! The rest of the rotation isn’t doing well!” Okay, three points- first, get out of my head! Second, fine! Here’s the non-Brandon Webb numbers out of that span! 51 innings, 15 earned runs for a 2.65 ERA- that’s respectable even in Cynicville! A 4-1 record in 8 starts! Other than Vargas on Monday, the most earned runs allowed in a start was 2 in 6 innings. And tonight, Miguel Batista, the man who gave up 15 earned runs over 14.1 innings and 3 starts at the end of April, shut down the NL East leading Mets. A complete game, giving up two runs- one unearned, and the other on a meaningless home run in the ninth.

This team is showing that they can compete- they may not go anywhere in the playoffs, but we’ve got some definite potential to at least get there this season.

Of course, this impressive showing from the starting pitchers is quite timely. We lead the NL West at the moment, but only by the slimmest of margins- a half game over the Dodgers, who’re on an impressive run over the past few weeks, going 8-2 in the last ten. The Padres have cooled considerably from their hot streak near the beginning of the season, while the Giants and Rockies are treading water and just staying close at the moment. But we’re near a third of the way through the season, and the NL West remains a close division- the Giants, in last place, are as close to first place as the Reds are in second place in the NL Central- both are 4.5 games out of first, as of the time I’m typing this.

Oh, and my third, and final point: show proper respect, he is to be referred to as 2006 NL Cy Young Winner Brandon Webb until actual fact proves me otherwise.

A few links to keep you busy before what looks to be a great pitcher’s duel tomorrow:

-Over at Sports Illustrated, Albert Chen wrote up a nice little story about Brandon Webb’s sinker. I was amused to hear about Webb’s pregame ritual, but someone should let him know that the Diamondbacks don’t play at the BOB anymore.
-A campaign for the All-Star game has started- a campaign to get the worst players nominated. I must agree with the sentiment behind it- the idea of allowing the fans to pick players is fine and all, until the game has actual repercussions later in the season. Not that I expect the commissioner’s office to do much of anything about it.
-Page 2 gives us a look at why the Giants fans love Barry Bonds. It’s an interesting perspective into the fan mindset, and though I don’t like Bonds anymore, I can understand why they do. Thanks to Giants Cove for the link.
-I was going to post a map to Cynicville, but Google Maps was no help. Sorry.

Go Diamondbacks!