The Pirates and Brewers have announced a trade that will send third baseman Aramis Ramirez to Pittsburgh in exchange for minor league right-hander Yhonathan Barrios and cash considerations. The Pirates are reportedly taking on $3MM of the $5.74MM that remains on Ramirez’s $14MM salary.
[RELATED: Pirates Working On Trade For Reliever]
The Pirates have a clear need for infield help after losing both Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer to significant injuries that will keep each on the shelf for another four and six weeks, respectively. Offseason signing Jung Ho Kang figures to man shortstop full time for the foreseeable, with Ramirez serving as the Pirates’ everyday third baseman until Harrison is healthy. At that point, Ramirez could either become a part-time option at third and/or platoon partner for Pedro Alvarez at first base. Another option for the Bucs, though, would be to keep Ramirez at third base and shift the highly versatile Harrison to right field, which would likely cut into the playing time of the struggling Gregory Polanco.
Ramirez got off to a brutal start to the season, posting just a .404 OPS through his first 17 games. However, since that time, Ramirez has looked more like himself, batting .270/.327/.477 with 10 homers in 245 plate appearances. He’s been particularly productive in the month of July, hitting a mammoth .352/.422/.500.
Ramirez, who initially came up with the Pirates and has spent his entire career in the NL Central, has said that he intends to retire at season’s end, and he reiterated that fact following today’s trade, tweets MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. The veteran added that reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2008 in his final season, though, would mean a lot to him. Interestingly, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes (also on Twitter) that today marks the 12-year anniversary of the initial trade that sent Ramirez from Pittsburgh to the division-rival Cubs.
Turning to the Brewers’ side of the deal, the 23-year-old Barrios began his career as an infielder but converted to the mound full-time in 2013. Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel rated him as the club’s No. 30 prospect heading into the season, writing that he sits 94-98 mph with his fastball and has touched 100 mph at times. Barrios, McDaniel noted, has a low effort delivery for a reliever and is still learning to pitch, so there’s some upside with him. Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper calls Barrios a lottery ticket (Twitter link), noting that he has a big arm but lacks quality secondary pitches in addition to having “iffy control.”
Barrios, a native of Colombia, sports a 2.68 ERA in 40 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season, though he’s not missing many bats. Barrios has averaged 4.7 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 in 2015. He missed more bats in 2013 and 2014, however, and given his velocity, it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see those strikeout numbers eventually come around.
NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra first reported that Ramirez was headed to Pittsburgh in a trade (via Twitter). Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported that the Pirates were taking on $3MM of Ramirez’s salary (also via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. This post was initially published 7-23-15 at 4:40pm central time.
Aramis is returning to the team that signed and developed him. Cool way to end a career if it is indeed ending.
And yet, his best years came with the Cubs. Thanks for that.
True and he got them as many World Series rings as he got the Pirates.
I’m sure there are a lot of Cub fans who never got over losing Bobby Hill.
Thanks for everything Ramirez! Good Luck in PIT.
Probably smart for Pirates not to go big. Harrison will be back for the playoff game/games.
Ben zobrist next guy moved
Right after the game.
I would not be surprised, the A’s are brutal
Nice! This was one move I was really hoping the Bucs would make.
How interesting that the taboo of intradivisional trades has become completely nonexistent in recent years. Both of today’s moves have been one.
But for rentals
Craig Calcaterra of HBT had it before Brink did.
Fun Fact: The Pirates traded Aramis Ramirez to the Cubs 12 years ago, today.
… in one of the worst trades in Pirate history, one of those great salary dumps the team used to be known for. Much different team today, much different franchise, and much better trade.
its nice to see aramis back in pitt but why are they not pursuing adam lind for 1st base.he is available and is a solid player and hitter
Aramis is a rental, would take a little more for them to get Lind who has another year of control. May not be a bad decision for Pit as he’d be the perfect stop gap to Bell, but they’d have to pay up to make it happen.
Who says they’re not pursuing Lind?
I would think at least Pit, StL, and Wash are looking at him, possibly more. Milwaukee isn’t as motivated to sell on him as they were on Aramis, so he may not come cheap.
Really doesn’t help that Lind’s being courted by two of the Brewers division rivals. That bidding war will probably push that price tag way up. If the Pirates lose Lind to Stl, the least they’ll do is make sure they pay well for him
Aramis is a much less complicated move than Lind. And they have a more pressing short term need at 3b at this moment. That doesn’t mean Lind isn’t being discussed. Here’s to them getting both and not giving up too much.
Brewers are going to ask for a lot more for Lind than for Ramirez. Lind has another year of control and is younger. And with the extra year of control, I would think that MIlwaukee would be a LOT less willing to trade him within the division. Mitch Moreland might be a more reasonable target if the Bucs want to go the lefty 1B route.
Careful Bucs fans, Ramirez faded badly down the stretch last year and playing in PNC isn’t going to boost his power output.
Eh, he’ll probably move into a bench role once the Pirates are back to full strength anyhow.
This is true, but the Bucs need timely hitting more than they need a ton of power. They have been brutal lately with men on base and in late inning situations, and Ramirez usually puts up solid numbers in both categories if I remember right.
Remind anyone of Alfonso Soriano back to NYY?
Was happy Sori is finally off the books.
Reunites with his former team and like Burnett, a chance to end his career on a playoff run, good move Pittsburgh. But I wonder how things play out when Mercer/Harrison return. Have to imagine in some way, shape or form that Alvarez is then gone.
I still can’t decide on the best way for the Pirates to set up their infielders that are left with the current injury situation. I would probably do Ramirez at 3rd, Kang at SS, Walker at 2nd and STILL have to put up with Pedro at 1st against righties. Just noticed Ramirez never played a day of 1B in his career, that’s a shame.
Also, typing that out made me realize how poor their IF defense is. Walker has the range of a snail, Alvarez has more errors than many shortstops, Kang looks smooth and have been impressed with his D, Ramirez I haven’t seen play D in a few years. Is he still solid over there?
Solid on the ball he can get to, not a lot of range anymore. He will still surprise with some nice diving stops every now and again.
And Aramis has never played 1B in a game, but Milwaukee did try him there in spring training a couple years ago and he looked OK.
I think that would be the best spot for him if he could do it. Alvarez should really only see spot starts against lefties…
Does he still have the cannon?
Yeah, still got the gun. Legs aren’t quite as under him as they used to be so every now and again he’ll fire off a high one though.
Neal Huntingdon said during tonight’s Pirate game broadcast that the trade was made with the idea that Ramirez to be the primary 3B and Kang the primary SS, but that from game to game it’s up to Hurdle. Pirates have a lot of guys who can play 1B on roster right now. Aramis might get a little bit of action there, but I would think they might still be looking for an actual first baseman.
Kenny Lofton is ready to suit up if the Pirates want him back too.
Perfectly nice deal for the Brewers, a young P, in AAA for PIT. I assume the velo is real. Nice.
Routinely hits 99.
Very low K rate for that velocity and the BBs are a little concerning, but he’s still young.
Conversion guy. Cant expect the k’s against better comp til he gets a good secondary offer
STraight as an arrow. he has nearly as many walks as k’s this season.
this is a classic trade deadline trade. Bucs didn’t pay much and didn’t get much.
rammer might do OK and Barrios might pitch for a bit, but this one is ultimately forgettable in a few year. keep in mind the Pirates only need Rammer until Harrison and/or Mercer is back. then he becomes bench depth.
Bench depth, possible platoon with Alvarez at 1B, and maybe the occasional day at 3B with Harrison in the OF to give the struggling Polanco a day off. Could end up being a decent cog for cheap.
In a corresponding move, Kenny Lofton called the Cubs ticket office, but was put on hold by Katy, an intern from DePaul.Katy likes hanging with Friends, mass transit, and dissing former speed merchants. She’s available fellas
Yeah boo…I couldn’t come up with the 1,000th Cardinal scandal joke
Whew, what a relief! Now the Nats won’t have to face Yhonathan Barrios and $3M in the series starting tonight in Pittsburgh!
Three way deal…Pirates trade Alvarez to the Astros and Lombardozzi to the Rays. Rays trade Loney to the Pirates and the Astros send Max Stassi to the Rays.
I don’t think Alvarez is worth Stassi
I wonder if the Pirates have enough money left over to add a mid-rotation starter after this.
They have quite a bit left I would imagine. They said at the beginning of the year they had plenty of room to add salary if it “made sense”. A mid rotation starter, reliever, and an upgrade at first make sense.
Wow! Can’t believe I was just 9 when this trade happened. Loved him and loved Randall Simon and his no-glove, sausage-whacking disposition. Aramis played some of his best ball with the Cubs, and gave us the high-caliber third sacker we hadn’t seen in years. Eternally grateful for his time with the Cubbies.
Yeah. 3B was basically a revolving door after Ron Cey. Vance Law-Luis Salazar-Gary Scott… Slough of guys
cardinal fan here. Pirates have made 2 great pick ups lately with Ishikawa and Ramirez. Though Ishikawa has moved around some, he is a professional hitter, and i guarantee you the cards would have picked him up if the Pirates had let him get through waivers.
Regarding ARAM- while his defense is off ( he used to be a plus defender), he will make the plays to him and still carries a gun. Also, when motivated, like in a pennant race, he is a very dangerous hitter…and he is a threat against the best pitchers which is a real plus.
While you will have suspect defense on the left side with ARAm and kang- you will still probably be league average and have reinforcements coming….really like what pitt has done.
For what it is worth, ARAM has been a Cardinal killer in his career.
What’s good about this trade is two-fold: The Pirates need a depth move more than a splash move, and while Ramirez is not as close to a “sure thing” as say, Ben Zobrist, it’s likely to be better value, as someone like Zobrist is likely to cost much more than he’s actually worth. Second, it’s almost always better to make a move that sets the market value rather than to have the market dictate to you.