The Nationals have signed outfielder/designated hitter Harold Ramirez to a minor league deal, the team announced. Ramirez will report to Triple-A Rochester just a day after he was released by the Rays.
Ramirez posted unremarkable numbers over his first three MLB seasons before he was dealt from the Cubs to the Rays in March 2022, and he then emerged as a quietly productive part of Tampa’s lineup. Ramirez hit .306/.348/.432 with 18 home runs in 869 plate appearances in 2022-23, playing mostly as a DH but also getting a decent amount of time as a first baseman and in both corner outfield positions. While not a platoon player, the Rays tried to prioritize Ramirez as a weapon against left-handed pitching, as the bulk of Ramirez’s right-handed hitting production naturally came against southpaws.
A .354 BABIP in 2022-23 stands out as a notable asterisk on Ramirez’s time in Tampa Bay, as this batted-ball luck helped him overcome very low walk and barrel rates, and roughly average hard-contact numbers overall. These numbers caught up to Ramirez this season, as his .268/.284/.305 slash line over 169 PA (even still with a .328 BABIP) led the Rays to designate the 29-year-old for assignment and then release him entirely when no suitors emerged to swing a trade or make a waiver claim.
Considering that Ramirez is earning an $3.8MM salary this season, it isn’t surprising that teams opted to just wait for the Rays to release him, as a trade or waiver claim would’ve put a new club on the hook for most or all of that remaining salary (approximately $2.19MM). Tampa Bay also explored trades for Ramirez this past offseason without any success, with payroll certainly a factor in the Rays’ endeavors. If Ramirez makes Washington’s big league roster, the Nationals will owe him just the prorated portion of the MLB minimum salary, and the Rays will cover the rest of the $2.19MM figure.
It adds up to an inexpensive flier on the Nats’ part, and Ramirez might essentially act as a replacement for the injured Joey Gallo, though Gallo is a left-handed hitter. Adding a righty bat into the left field/DH mix might be a better fit anyway considering that Jesse Winker and Eddie Rosario both swing from the left side, and Ramirez figures to be mostly utilized as a designated hitter given his limited defensive ability at any of his positions.
If Ramirez really gets back on track with his new team, the Nationals still control him via arbitration through the 2025 season. He could also be one of several veteran trade chips the Nats might look to move at the trade deadline, though it isn’t yet a lock that D.C. will be looking to sell. Thanks to the parity in the National League, the rebuilding Nats find themselves 1.5 games out of the wild card race despite a 33-36 record, so it is possible Washington’s deadline priorities could change if the team heats up and establishes itself as more of a real contender.
And here we go. Good for Harold.
I figured he would have gone to Houston to platoon with Singleton.
Would’ve made more sense for the Rays to pay him to play for them instead of paying 3/4 of his salary for him to be good for another team. I’ve been a Rays fan since ‘98, and I really hope they have some losing seasons so $ternberg can get exposed for being the cheap owner he is. He needs to sell the team to someone who will spend money so they can get past the Wild Card round, and hopefully someone who will relocate them to Tampa or Orlando where they can have a bigger radius of fans go get to the stadium. Over 75% of tickets to baseball games are purchased within a 50 mile radius of the stadium. For the Rays the left half of that radius is in the Gulf of Mexico. Fish don’t go to games. They would draw more people by moving stadium to Tampa or relocating to Orlando/Kissimmee area. $tu just sits there laughing knowing he can get the Rays to sneak into the postseason, and it really doesn’t matter to him how they fare because he is perceived as a good owner cause they get into the playoffs while he doesn’t spend. It won’t work forever. Rays fans want a title. Getting rid of a quality guy like Ramirez is just another one of $tu’s evil tricks to save money. To hell with $tu!!!!
Calm down Karen, this is a Wendy’s.
The Rays are still paying almost all of his salary, so your reasoning about the Rays dumping him to save money isn’t holding up.
100% agree. For those of us who’ve lived through the previous ownership and the emergence of a competitive team, it’s time to move on to the next step. A poorly located stadium is going to be replaced by guess what, a prettier poorly located stadium. Why? Where does this make any sense? In Stu’s “who’s going to divy up the most”, the taxpayers and visitors of St Pete. Anyone with a brain knows that for successful attendance, it has to be where the people are with the money to attend and closer to where they work.
Fans don’t show up to home games. Hard to spend money, when you are not making any.
As in real estate….
location
location
location
OK Karen
Good gosh…he’s better than what the Pirates have. They should have gone after him.
Been waiting for the Nats to make a move like this, i.e., get a veteran bat who is reliable. Despite the fact that Rosario and Winker are lefties, I was still hoping for a (better) lefty bat, IOW, someone in the vein of Gallo (who is awful and no one wants to see back) but can hit .270 and drive in runs. So Ramirez is potentially the righthanded version of that. I suppose Garrett Cooper also fits that description. But a true lefty banger would have been a good idea. Getting the bulk of your lefthanded power from your shortstop just seems wrong. So basically, Ramirez is another Joey Meneses, and I suppose he can upgrade the production vs. lefties as a DH. The guy is a .287 career hitter, and the Rays can’t use him? Rizzo sure knows how to bargain-shop.