The Cleveland Guardians invested important resources in Luis L. Ortiz.
They traded away infielder Spencer Horwitz to pry Ortiz away from the Pittsburgh Pirates this offseason.
However, in reality, they used Gold Glove second baseman Andres Gimenez to get Horwitz.
It could be said that Cleveland flipped Gimenez and reliever Nick Sandlin for Ortiz and three prospects as the result of an earlier trade.
Ortiz hasn’t proved much in the majors beyond a 3.32 ERA in 135.2 innings last season.
He is much more than numbers, though.
The Guardians love his 79th percentile extension, his easy upper-90s velocity, and the fact he is young (26 years old), cheap and controllable.
All those elements likely make him a lock to be in the rotation come Opening Day.
Ortiz is not exactly enjoying a good spring, though.
He recently was delivering a nice game against the Colorado Rockies until things suddenly unraveled.
After he struck out the side in the third inning, he had allowed just one run on two hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
However, he then gave up two walks, a three-run homer and a single in the fourth inning before being removed from the game.
He ended up surrendering four runs in 3.2 innings, with three walks, four strikeouts and two home runs.
It’s possible he just ran out of gas, but his 12.66 ERA in spring training games is slightly concerning.
The Guardians have high hopes for him in the middle of their rotation, though this was a step in the wrong direction.
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