MARCH 27: The Angels have announced the move.
MARCH 24: The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent righty AJ Ramos, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll head to the Halos’ alternate training site to begin the 2021 season.
Now 34 years old, Ramos was an All-Star closer with the Marlins back in 2016. He had a terrific six-year run with the Fish, pitching to a combined 2.78 ERA and racking up 92 saves over the course of 327 1/3 innings of work. However, his shoulder began giving him troubles not long after a 2017 trade to the Mets.
By the summer of 2018, Ramos was headed for surgery to repair a torn labrum. He missed all of the 2019 season as a result of that procedure, but he did make it back to the big leagues for three games with the Rockies in 2020, allowing a run on four hits and three walks with one strikeout through 2 2/3 frames.
Ramos has pitched just 22 1/3 innings since the 2017 season concluded, but given his track record there’s little harm in taking a look at whether he can return to form now that he’s more than two full years removed from surgery. Control was always an issue for Ramos, as evidenced by a bloated 12.6 percent walk rate, but he also punched out 27.6 percent of his opponents as a Marlin — at a time when the league-average strikeout percentage was far lower than today’s 23.4 percent. At his best, in 2015, Ramos punched out 31.4 percent of his opponents against a career-low 9.4 percent walk rate.
good signing.
Don’t expect much. This guy’s been done for a while.
Would have preferred Shane green but I digress
Tats and I agree on something.
But he’s better than nothing.
He was very solid for the Marlins. Unfortunate that the injuries ruined his career and guaranteed he was never able to test the free agent market at his peak.
Angels taking baby steps… very small baby steps…
good get
Do you take the over or under on the Angels signing Jose Bautista for their pen by April 22nd?
My money is on a Troy Percevil come back
Jose Bautista or Gerson Bautista?
Jose Bautista.
This is a whole NEW kind dumpster diving!!
Thank you Arte!!!!!!!!!!
I mean, there’s dumpster diving, and then there’s dumpster diving!!!
A+
Don’t understand how anyone is praising this pickup. It’s not a crime to sign him to a minor league deal but to expect anything from him is kind of crazy. He hasn’t been good in a loooong time and the last time he played significant innings he was terrible.
i mean its a cheap deal for a guy who, even if a fraction of his old self could still be a nice piece in the pen. one forgets how good Ramos was before gis injuries, and getting back to the Majors last year was a huge step.
I don’t think anyone forgets how good he was but time moves on, players age and their peak ends, their ability fades. I’ll never understand when fans justify signing a washed up, aging player on the basis that “he used to be good”. Who cares? He’s not good now. Banking on a hundred to one chance of a player suddenly reversing career trends and being worthwhile again is a foolish way to build a team as it very rarely works out. Very rarely, if ever.
Well… isn’t that why they have professionals to figure this stuff out?
It isn’t like we have YOU up there making the calls. We have people that decide these things… and they make money doing it!
Heaven forbid you trusting them while giving the guy a break here?
Is that too much to ask before criticizing a one time all-star?
Critiquing players is what we do here. Complaining about that is a supremely dumb take. You came here only to hear folks hand out the benefit of the doubt? Gimme a break, how absurd. I’m a Met fan, I’ve seen plenty of bad Ramos and players do age. I gave my opinion based on observation. Why you have an issue with that is beyond me.
No… you have me confused with yourself… or you live by double standards? YOU were the one complaining. YOU were complaining as to why they acquired a person that you believe to be incompetent while not seeing him throw one ball.
HAD HE THROWN A BALL… “That” would be considered “critiquing”!
Or msybe you need to read a dictionary?
Either way… you are using the wrong words to describe me.
critique
a critical essay or analysis; an instance of formal criticism: The critique was devastating.
Not to be confused with:
critic – one who censures; a person who reviews literary, artistic, or musical works, etc
Com·plain (kəm-plān′)
intr.v. com·plained, com·plain·ing, com·plains
1. To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
2. To make a formal accusation or bring a formal charge; file a complaint.
Which one were you doing?
Yes I was complaining. About baseball. That’s what many of us do here. You, on the other hand, were complaining about me complaining about baseball. Absurd. And I’m being generous by using your wording. More accurately I was criticizing a point of view. Which, again, is more or less what goes on here. I was discussing baseball, you complained because my opinion was critical, as if that’s somehow wrong.
Lottery ticket. You’ve normally wasted your money but once every now and then one hits.
Odds of this one hitting are really, really long.
Reading is FUN-damental, not optional.
This is MiLB signing. Very little $$$ involved unless he gets called up—and if he does, it is because the bet paid off.
I don’t understand the fans’ reflex to whine when something like this is announced.
I think we all realize it’s a minor league deal. He’s fine as a vet to stash in case a wave of injuries hit. The pushback is against the notion that he’ll be worth anymore than that.
But can he pitch?
It’s like dating a compulsive eating beautiful fat girl!
With this pen, he’ll be pitching in Anaheim before too long. This pen is this teams weak link. The more possibilities the better.
Well… I see it that way too. I mean, it’s a waste of time saying that a player is going to be a disaster before his first pitch, right?
The professionals in positions to make these calls are confident enough to bring him along.
They’ve done their jobs… it would be insanity to dismiss him now!
… but some people have hate or discontent in their hearts so bad, that trashing him seems the thing to do instead of allowing him to prove himself? Imagine if everything worked that way?
“Nope… you don’t have experience… college isn’t pro… sorry & goodbye!”
“Well… it seems you played 10 years already… it’s too likely that you can’t perform anymore… goodbye!”
WTF?
… and, thank you for your comment, Halo11Fan!
I gave it a !