Baseball News - Wells, Ortiz join new clubs



It was a big day for pitchers as the baseball free agency scene heated up today with the official signings of David Wells, who joins the World Series champion Boston Red Sox, and Russ Ortiz, who leaves the Atlanta Braves to join the Arizona Diamondbacks. These are just the second big moves by the two teams in the past week, which saw former D-Back Matt Mantei join the Red Sox on Thursday, and 3-time All-Star 3B Troy Glaus join Arizona.

The 41 year old David Wells, whom broke into the Majors in 1987 with the Toronto Blue Jays, joins his 8th Major League club. He has won two World Series title, the first coming in 1992 with the Blue Jays, and the second coming 6 years later in 1998 with the New York Yankees. Last season with the Padres, Wells went 12-8 in 31 starts with a 3.73 ERA. Interestingly however, Boomer is just 10-10 with a 4.87 ERA all-time at Fenway Park. In Wells, Boston also gets a proven playoff performer, who is 10-3 with a 3.18 ERA in 25 playoff appearances, 15 of those starts. The Cleveland Indians were also interested in Wells' services, along with his former team, the San Diego Padres. In his career, Wells has a 212-136 record with a 4.04 ERA in 417 starts. The deal is believed to be for 2-years, with Wells making $2 million over the two season with a $3 million dollar increase with a performance bonus.

Elsewhere, the Arizona Diamondbacks continue to shore up the holes in their team, the biggest one being pitching, as they added former Atlanta Brave Russ Ortiz, whom was 15-9 with a 4.13 ERA in 34 starts in 2004. He joins just his 3rd Major League club. He went to the World Series in 2002 with the San Francisco Giants, who lost in 7 games to the Anaheim Angels, and of course, the Braves the past two seasons. Russ Ortiz brings a veteran presence to a young Diamondbacks pitching staff, which is expected to soon lose their ace, Randy Johnson. The deal is for 4 years, with Ortiz believed to make $33 million dollars in total. Over his career, Ortiz has compiled a 103-60 record in 212 starts, with a 4.00 ERA. With the signing of Ortiz, and Troy Glaus a day before, Ortiz solidifies a Diamondbacks' rotation that was one of the worst in the league last season with the exception of the Big Unit.

So, as the baseball winter meetings in Anaheim drag on, so do the free agent signings and the trade talks, and most specifically, Randy Johnson and Tim Hudson. By most fronts, the "superstars" have yet to sign with any team yet, but that could soon change by this week, as many players such as Troy Glaus and Nomar Garciaparra didn't take long to find themselves a new home. We'll keep you informed as the deals go down.




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