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Alexei Ramirez

Rays To Sign Alexei Ramirez

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The Rays have signed veteran shortstop Alexei Ramirez, who was recently released by the Padres, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The signing of Ramirez comes less than a week after the news that shortstop Matt Duffy would likely undergo season-ending surgery to alleviate a nagging Achilles injury.

Alexei Ramirez

The 34-year-old Ramirez inked a one-year, $4MM contract with the Padres on the heels of a disappointing 2015 season — albeit one that saw him finish with a strong .282/.329/.426 in the season’s final three months — but received woeful results from the longtime White Sox infielder. Ramirez batted just .240/.275/.330 through 444 plate appearances with the Friars, and while he’s long graded out as a plus defender at short, Defensive Runs Saved pegged him at -17 this season, with Ultimate Zone Rating offering a similar assessment (-15.1).

Furthermore, Tampa Bay’s decision to sign Ramirez rather than bring the recently demoted Tim Beckham back to the Majors sends a strong message to the former No. 1 overall pick (as Topkin tweets). Beckham was demoted for a trio of baserunning blunders just prior to roster expansion, two of which directly stemmed from a lack of hustle. While the 26-year-old showed some improvement at the dish this season, hitting .247/.300/.434 in 215 plate appearances, he’s yet to justify his elite draft spot or even cement himself as a viable long-term option for the Rays.

Details on Ramirez’s contract aren’t yet clear, but it’s presumably just a one-year Major League pact, meaning it would run only through the end of the 2016 season. The Rays, then, would be on the hook for nothing more than the pro-rated portion of the league minimum. While that’s a fairly negligible investment, it’s still something of a mildly unexpected bonus for the Padres, who will save about $70K due to the Rays’ unexpected expenditure.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Matt Duffy Expected To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

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TODAY: Duffy will likely remain active through the end of the week before having the surgery, Topkin tweets.

YESTERDAY: Newly-acquired Rays infielder Matt Duffy is expected to undergo season-ending surgery, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The procedure would “address the lingering soreness stemming from his earlier left Achilles injury,” per the report.

Duffy, acquired as the headliner in the swap that sent Matt Moore to the Giants, has continued to struggle at the plate since heading to Tampa Bay. All told, he owns only a .260/.312/.360 batting line over 364 plate appearances on the year. He has hit five long balls and swiped eight bases, though he has also been caught five times after going 12-for-12 on stolen base attempts a year ago.

The Rays are obviously banking on a return to form at the plate. Duffy benefited from a .336 BABIP in 2015, but nevertheless impressed with a solid .295/.334/.428 batting line. Even with some regression, a slightly above-average bat would conceivably make Duffy a highly valuable asset, as he rated as an outstanding defender at third with strong baserunning contributions last year. There are some questions there, too, however: Duffy hasn’t compiled stellar metrics since converting to short, though it’s a very small sample and he had primarily played at the hot corner of late, and his baserunning numbers took a huge dive in 2016 (-3.0 BsR, per Fangraphs).

Certainly, the nagging injury could go a ways toward explaining Duffy’s assorted struggles. He told Topkin that the soreness has lingered, with particular problems when playing on the turf infield at Tropicana Field. A surgical option has been on the table since June, the infielder noted, but the timeline for making a decision had shortened. “The only thing would be the recovery time,” said Duffy. “We want to be 100 percent sure that we’re ready to go by next season. I guess that’s one of the concerns.”

Tampa Bay still has plenty of time to make good on its end of the bargain, and certainly won’t be overly concerned with keeping Duffy on the field late this year with the postseason out of reach. The club controls him for four more seasons, and will be obligated only for the league minimum in 2017.

The need to replace Duffy for the rest of the season presents the Rays with many options, which Topkin details. Tim Beckham and Taylor Motter do not appear ticketed for the majors, he says, which could open the door for a move back to short for Brad Miller and/or some time there for Nick Franklin. Another player who could get a chance is prospect Daniel Robertson, though Topkin suggests the club may actually be “more likely” to go outside the organization and add a short-term veteran such as Alexei Ramirez.

Padres Release Alexei Ramirez

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The Padres have released shortstop Alexei Ramirez, according to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (Twitter link). Cassavell reported Saturday that the Padres were unlikely to pick up their end of Ramirez’s $4MM mutual option for 2017 during the offseason. A day later, his time with the Padres has ended. He’ll collect what’s left of his $3MM salary for this season and a $1MM buyout for 2017.

After a subpar 2015 in his final campaign as a member of the White Sox, with whom he spent the first eight seasons of his career, the Padres bought low on Ramirez during the winter. However, he failed to live up to his modest deal. As a result of both Ramirez’s poor performance and the rebuilding Padres’ shift toward youth, the club began phasing the soon-to-be 35-year-old out at shortstop recently, instead turning to the likes of Jose Rondon and Luis Sardinas.

The right-handed Ramirez began working in right field as a way to stay in the Padres’ lineup against southpaws, but that wasn’t enough for him to remain with the team through season’s end. Ramirez batted a disappointing .240/.275/.331 in 440 plate appearances with the Padres and wasn’t any better in the field, where he’s currently last among 2016 shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved (minus-17) and Ultimate Zone Rating (minus-14.4). All told, he has been worth a league-worst minus-2.0 fWAR this year.

Before his decline began in earnest last season, Ramirez was a useful player for several years. The one-time All-Star batted a combined .275/.313/.395 with 78 home runs in 3,868 trips to the plate from 2009-14, also playing no fewer than 148 games in each season, adding 105 steals and totaling 18.5 fWAR.

Padres Unlikely To Exercise Alexei Ramirez’s Option

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The Padres are unlikely to pick up their end of shortstop Alexei Ramirez’s $4MM mutual option for 2017, reports AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Letting Ramirez go would cost the Padres $1MM in the form of a buyout, but his poor output in 2016 won’t leave the club with much choice during the offseason.

Regarding his future, Ramirez said, “I just want to finish this season well, but that’s something that’s out of my hands. It’s not in my control what happens there, so I just prepare myself, finish the season strong.”

With the Padres shifting toward a youth movement at short, where they’ve played Jose Rondon and Luis Sardinas lately, the soon-to-be 35-year-old Ramirez has begun adjusting to right field as a way to stay in the lineup against left-handed pitchers. Ramirez has hit a useful .298/.350/.404 in 123 plate appearances versus lefties this year, but his overall line of .240/.275/.331 through 440 PAs makes him a poor fit as an everyday player. Ramirez hasn’t been any better in the field, where he ranks last among shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved (minus-17) and Ultimate Zone Rating (minus-14.4)

This is the second subpar season in a row for Ramirez, whose eight-year tenure with the White Sox ended in forgettable fashion in 2015. At his best, Ramirez batted a combined .275/.313/.395 with 78 home runs in 3,868 trips to the plate from 2009-14, also playing no fewer than 148 games in each season, adding 105 steals and totaling 18.5 fWAR.

The Padres were surely hoping Ramirez would bounce back to his past form when they signed him to a one-year, $3MM deal last winter, which perhaps would’ve paved the way for an in-season trade, but that hasn’t been the case. As a result, the Friars were considering releasing Ramirez as of last month. While the Padres haven’t yet cut Ramirez, his time in their uniform is likely running out.

Padres Have Considered Releasing Alexei Ramirez

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The Padres have considered releasing veteran shortstop Alexei Ramirez in order to open playing time for some younger options, reports Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune.

The longtime White Sox shortstop landed in San Diego on what looked to be a bargain one-year, $4MM contract with a mutual option for the 2017 season, but even that modest commitment hasn’t been justified by Ramirez’z on-field performance. The 34-year-old is in the midst of perhaps his worst season at the big league level, having compiled a .238/.272/.326 batting line with just four homers and six steals (in 13 attempts). His ratings in defensive metrics such as Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved had begun to decline in recent seasons even before he signed in San Diego, but both have cratered in 2016; UZR pegs him at 15.7 runs below average, while DRS is even more harsh at -17.

Ramirez’s mutual option was never all that likely to be exercised anyhow — mutual options are rarely picked up by both involved parties — but his poor play in 2016 has made it a certainty that the Padres will buy out the option. Releasing Ramirez would create an opportunity for Padres officials to get a look at players like Jose Rondon, newly acquired Luis Sardinas and former Giants prospect Nick Noonan, who enjoyed a strong season playing shortstop at Triple-A El Paso and made three consecutive starts at short for the Padres from Aug. 11-13.

White Sox Notes: Jackson, Alexei, Latos

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The White Sox may finally have wrapped up an interesting offseason with today’s announcement of the signing of outfielder Austin Jackson to a one-year, $5MM contract. He’ll join a series of other new faces on the MLB roster in Chicago, none of whom — including the trade acquisitions — are guaranteed or controlled for more than two years. The overall financial commitment is quite minimal, and the South Siders still look to have plenty of long-term flexibility.

Here’s the latest on a few of those additions, and one notable departure:

  • Jackson will indeed be Chicago’s primary center fielder, GM Rick Hahn told reporters including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin (Twitter link). That means that Adam Eaton, fresh off of a quality campaign in the first year of his extension, will line up primarily in the corner outfield. Clearly, the team’s overall glovework on the grass should be much improved, as the team’s preexisting alignment likely would’ve featured Melky Cabrera and Avisail Garcia on both corners.
  • As something of an added bonus, the Sox kept Jackson from the division-rival Indians, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer (Twitter links). Cleveland felt it would have needed to go north of $5MM to add Jackson, who seemed to prefer to play in Chicago.
  • Padres shortstop Alexei Ramirez asked to go on a road trip to play the White Sox, his longtime club, as Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com reports. Ramirez called it “really emotional” to suit up for the only MLB organization he’d ever played for previously, saying that he put in “eight years of defending, 100 percent energy, eight years of being the first to show up and work hard every day” in Chicago. Ramirez added that San Diego’s $4MM contract was the sole firm offer he received this winter.
  • Newly-signed White Sox righty Mat Latos says that he’s eager not just to show his form on the mound, but also to rebuild his image, as Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com reports. “Maybe I needed a wake-up call,” said the 28-year-old. “I’m very direct, and I’ve just got to pick and choose my battles and learn to just hold onto some things. If I had some issues with things that went on with Cincinnati, I needed to keep them to myself. That was just a slip-up on my part. That was me dummying up. Just a bad lapse of judgment.” In an email, GM Rick Hahn suggested that the organization wasn’t scared off by a player’s reputation, preferring instead to sit down with each individual and make an assessment. In the case of Latos, it isn’t hard to see how the organization might’ve believed he would be motivated to make good on a $3MM investment.

Padres Designate Rymer Liriano

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The Padres have designated outfielder Rymer Liriano for assignment, the club announced. His roster spot goes to Alexei Ramirez, whose signing was announced today.

Liriano, 24, once rated as one of the game’s fifty or so best prospects. But he’s now lost his 40-man spot after only one brief and disappointing MLB cameo in 2014.

Heading into 2015, Baseball America still considered Liriano a top-ten organizational prospect, noting his impressive raw tools but limitations at the plate. Liriano went on to put up a solid .280/.375/.451 batting line (with 14 home runs and 18 steals) over 549 plate appearances in his first full season at Triple-A. He also posted a personal-best 11.7% walk rate, though he continued to strike out in about a quarter of his plate appearances.

That showing was apparently not enough to convince the Pads that Liriano has much of a future in the majors. It seems plausible to think that other organizations might see some upside left to tap into, though it obviously remains to be seen whether any will be willing to give him a 40-man spot to find out.

While the Padres’ offseason may not yet be complete, Liriano had figured to factor in the outfield mix this season. Indeed, it appeared that he and Rule 5 pick Jabari Blash (among others) might battle for a roster spot in camp. Both would have had to make the active roster to be retained. Liriano was added to the 40-man before the 2012 season, which would suggest that he had burned through a fourth option last year.

Padres Sign Alexei Ramirez

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The Padres have officially added veteran infielder Alexei Ramirez, who’ll presumably slot in as the team’s regular shortstop. He reportedly receives a $4MM guarantee, with a $3MM salary for 2016 and a $4MM mutual option that comes with a $1MM buyout.

Ramirez, 34, had spent his entire career with the White Sox after coming over from Cuba before the 2008 season. He’s been a reliable, albeit rarely spectacular, performer ever since.

Sep 1, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez (10) throws the ball to first base for an out in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

The first plate appearance that Ramirez takes in San Diego will be the 5,000th of his career. In the ones that precede it, he’s hit a cumulative .273/.310/.399 while adding about 14 home runs and 17 stolen bases annually.

Ramirez’s work at the plate has fluctuated somewhat year to year, of course, but he generally featured as a 3-or-more-win player for most of his tenure in Chicago. That’s because he also generated consistently strong overall baserunning ratings and above-average defensive metrics.

It all adds up to a nice, veteran package — except for the fact that Ramirez seemed to hit a wall in 2015. He posted a .249/.285/.357 batting line that set personal lows in all three triple-slash categories. And his work on the basepaths and with the glove drew negative overall ratings for the first time since his debut season.

San Diego will be banking on a turnaround, or at least a bounce back toward his career numbers. After all, he did suffer from an uncharacteristically low .264 BABIP while otherwise maintaining a K:BB ratio at his career norms and putting up more-or-less typical batted ball numbers. And things turned up markedly in the second half at the plate.

It’s certainly an understandable move for an organization that received dismal production at the shortstop position last year. While Ian Desmond would have been a bigger upgrade, he comes with plenty of risk and still seems likely to command a much larger contract. And it’s eminently arguable that Ramirez makes for a better fit, as San Diego has some younger players moving through the minor league ranks, led by Javier Guerra but also including names like Jose Rondon and Ruddy Giron. It’s not clear that any will be prepared by the time Ramirez’s deal is up, but at least there’s little chance that the organization will be paying big money to a player who is clogging the depth chart and reducing flexibility at a key position.

Jon Heyman reported the signing and financial details (Twitter links). Eno Sarris of Fangraphs first reported the guarantee and deal structure.

 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Padres Notes: Rodney, Free Agents, Maurer

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The Padres haven’t yet shut the door on free agent right-hander Fernando Rodney, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). The Friars may, in fact, try to lure Rodney to San Diego by offering him the opportunity to close games. San Diego has been connected to Rodney on and off for the past couple of weeks. While the 38-year-old Rodney had disastrous results in Seattle last season — he logged a 5.68 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 and lost the closer’s role before being designated for assignment — he had a nice turnaround following a trade to the Cubs. While it was only a sample of a dozen innings, Rodney yielded just one earned run and recorded a 15-to-4 K/BB ratio in that time. Although the “Fernando Rodney Experience” certainly wore out its welcome in Seattle, the right-hander has drawn interest from the Blue Jays and Cubs as of late (though the Toronto connections pre-dated their acquisition of Drew Storen).

A couple more notes on the Padres…

  • Specifics of Alexei Ramirez’s reported one-year deal with the Padres have yet to emerge, but Lin reports that the contract allows San Diego to at least consider making further free-agent upgrades. While the Padres are reluctant to pursue players with draft pick compensation attached, according to Lin, the club could look for upgrades in the bullpen or in the outfield. Lin also notes that GM A.J. Preller has long been a fan of Ramirez and was dispatching scouts to keep an eye on him as early as April of this past season.
  • Right-hander Brandon Maurer will report to Spring Training with the opportunity to win a job in the starting rotation, Preller told MLB.com’s Corey Brock earlier this week. “One of the things is he wants to do it,” Preller explained. “You put a lot of stock in that.” Maurer, of course, came up through the Mariners’ system as a starting pitcher but struggled in multiple big league auditions before dominating upon a transition to the bullpen. While Maurer is striving for a starting role, offseason pickup Drew Pomeranz will probably work in relief, according to Brock.

Padres Close To Signing Shortstop; Alexei Ramirez Believed Favorite

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12:24pm: San Diego is indeed “focused” on Ramirez and is “getting closer” to reaching agreement with him, Jon Heyman adds on Twitter.

11:46am: The Padres are close to locking up a free agent shortstop, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. While the report does not make clear who’ll be added, it provides that Ian Desmond is not heading to San Diego.

As Rosenthal says, then, it appears Alexei Ramirez will be joining the Friars “barring a surprise.” A recent report from Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune had suggested that the club was about to strike a deal and had seemingly whittled its options down to Desmond and Ramirez.

San Diego has long seemed in need of a full-time option up the middle. Last year’s pairing of Clint Barmes and Alexi Amarista was serviceable at best. While the organization added a promising young talent in Javier Guerra to a system that already featured up-the-middle defenders in Jose Rondon and Ruddy Giron, none of those players appears likely to break into the majors in the immediate future.

With some possible future pieces moving up, perhaps, a lengthier deal with Desmond held less appeal for San Diego. Ramirez doesn’t present the same upside, but also has long been expected to command far less on the open market — both in dollars and years.

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