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Rays To Sign Alexei Ramirez
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.
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.
Tim Tebow, Mets GM Sandy Alderson On Minor League Signing
This post originally appeared on Pro Football Rumors.
When Tim Tebow was last in the New York market, he was under center for the New York Jets. While the former University of Florida standout sold a whole bunch of No. 15 jerseys, he didn’t make a lot of plays for Gang Green and 2012 wound up being the last time Tebow was on an NFL regular season roster. After trying his luck with the Patriots and Eagles, Tebow turned his attention to broadcasting. After years of putting his charm, looks, and athletic background to use on television, he is returning to professional sports in New York. This time, he’s trying to make it with the Mets organization as an outfielder.
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Tebow, 29, has not played baseball full time in more than a decade. In his recent audition for major league clubs, he reportedly struggled to hit off-speed pitches from former big-leaguers David Aardsma and Chad Smith. One scout told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick that Tebow showed a below-average 40 grade arm on the 20-80 scouts scale – a reminder of why Tebow was never able to make it as a quarterback on the professional level. Even though he showed “undeniable hitting ability” in the view of Crasnick, one has to wonder how far Tebow can get given his age, rust, and athletic limitations.
Count Mets GM Sandy Alderson among those with faith in the polarizing athlete. Alderson told reporters on a conference call today that Tebow is not being brought in as a ploy to sell merchandise. While he recognizes that Tebow faces an uphill battle in many respects, the GM says that the Mets could not pass on “a tremendous opportunity for us to associate with excellence.”
“He has demonstrated through his personality a competitiveness that our players can see first hand,” said Alderson, who pointed to pitcher Seth Lugo and minor league standout T.J. Rivera as players who have come from obscurity to find success in the Mets organization. “I think any player evaluation starts with tools and from that standpoint, without grading everything out, suffice it to say that Tim has been a great athlete. He has demonstrated more than rudimentary baseball skills and we think with his commitment to success that this is an opportunity that we think is worthwhile. In terms of power, arm, foot speed, all of those things….we think he can be a baseball player. I think that is underscored by his competitiveness and his determination to succeed and improve.”
Alderson indicated that the Mets will be patient with Tebow as he refused to put a timeline on when the former Heisman Trophy winner could potentially reach the majors. The Mets will find out how ready Tebow is “over the next weeks, months, and possibly years,” though Alderson explained that he will be absent from his Instructional League commitments for “a few days each week” so that he can fulfill his TV obligations with the SEC Network.
So, why baseball and why now? Tebow explained that walking away from baseball was the “second hardest decision” he ever had to make and, in fact, he planned on making this switch more than a year ago.
“[Then Eagles coach] Chip Kelly called in the middle of baseball training and, to me, that wasn’t just any opportunity. I figured Coach Kelly’s offense might fit me really well. But, we all know how that turned out,” said Tebow with a self-deprecating laugh. “After that, I started doing a little [baseball] training. Then, after the season, I really picked it up and now we’re here.”
Tebow explained that as he traveled the country doing speaking engagements over the last few years, the itch to play baseball would move him to call up a local team and take batting practice with them. For UFC fans, this may be reminiscent of pro wrestler-turned-real fighter C.M. Punk telling the world that he has trained for MMA with the occasional jiu-jitsu class and a “background” in Kenpo karate. But, in both cases, one can’t help but be impressed by the athlete’s positive attitude, competitive drive, and willingness to take a monumental risk in a brand new endeavor. Punk does not speak of winning the welterweight title from Tyron Woodley and Tebow isn’t telling the world that he is an All-Star in the making. For Tebow, this is about pursuing a dream – perhaps a little late in his athletic life – and making sure that he does not wake up one day as a 50-year-old baseball fan with enormous regret.
“For me, I would consider success giving everything I have,” Tebow said. “That would be looking back on this journey and saying I did everything I could do to be the best I could be. I don’t necessarily view success as how many rings, championships, or promotions you get. I view it as whether I did everything I possibly could do to succeed.”
Zach Links is the editor and lead writer of Pro Football Rumors, MLBTR’s sister site for the NFL. You can follow Pro Football Rumors on Twitter – @pfrumors.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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AL West Notes: Correa, Gamel, Rangers
The Astros will be without shortstop Carlos Correa for at least two games as he travels back to Houston to get his ailing shoulder examined, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters, including Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle. Correa is believed to be troubled by some inflammation in his shoulder, and despite his leaving the team, the injury doesn’t appear to be serious in nature just yet, as Hinch said the team’s expectation is that Correa will play at some point this weekend. If that’s the case, it’s a minor hiccup for the Astros, but a more prolonged absence is something the Astros can ill afford as they sit two games back in the American League Wild Card hunt. With Correa absent, Alex Bregman saw his first Major League action at shortstop last night.
More from the American League West…
- August trade acquisition Ben Gamel will get a long look from the Mariners down the stretch, writes MLB.com’s Greg Johns. “We’re really going to look at those corner outfield spots against right-handed pitching,” manager Scott Servais said prior to tonight’s contest. “…I do think we owe an opportunity to find out what Ben Gamel can do. So he’s going to play.” Gamel has just one hit in 16 at-bats with Seattle so far, though he’s already delivered some highlight-reel defense. With Nori Aoki and Franklin Gutierrez set to hit free agency, there could potentially be some corner outfield at-bats for Gamel to win next season with a strong showing in September and in Spring Training.
- The Rangers are set to get Colby Lewis back on Sunday, as Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. With Lewis joining Cole Hamels, Yu Darvish, Derek Holland, Martin Perez and A.J. Griffin, Texas will have six options in the rotation, but skipper Jeff Banister says the team won’t deploy a straight six-man rotation. However, each of the six will get some starts down the stretch. Wilson writes that Perez, Griffin and Holland will each have some extra rest built into their schedules over the season’s final few weeks. Lewis, 37, has a 3.21 ERA with 5.6 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9 through his first 98 innings of the 2016 campaign.
- Wilson also writes that Shin-Soo Choo has begun throwing as he continues his rehab from a forearm fracture. He’ll throw every other day and take some swings with a fungo bat today as he aims to return to the Rangers’ roster for a potential playoff run. Choo’s chances of returning during the regular season aren’t great, but he said last month he hopes to play in October.
Stephen Strasburg To Undergo MRI Due To Elbow Discomfort
SEPT. 8: Nationals manager Dusty Baker told reporters last night, including Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post, that Strasburg felt a “pinch in the back of his elbow” and will undergo an MRI to evaluate the damage today. While the news is a gut punch for Nationals fans who were relieved when Strasburg’s recent DL stint proved to be minimal, Baker insisted that Strasburg didn’t rush back and wasn’t trying to pitch through something when further rest was required.
“He wasn’t trying to be a hero,” said Baker (via Janes). “He said that he felt fine. But a lot of times you really don’t know until you get into action. … We thought everything was fine because [Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos] said he was throwing the heck out of the ball. He said his changeup was outstanding, and he had good command. And usually if something’s wrong, you don’t have command. So we’re hoping that it’s something minor, but again we’ll find out more tomorrow.”
SEPT. 7: In his first start back from the disabled list due to elbow soreness, Stephen Strasburg exited in the contest after throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Strasburg winced after his second-to-last pitch (as MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman tweets) and was visited by pitching coach Mike Maddux and Nationals trainer Paul Lessard before leaving the mound and being replaced by left-hander Sean Burnett.
Following Strasburg’s initial placement on the disabled list, it was reported that his DL stint was precautionary and that the 28-year-old would have continued pitching were the postseason already at hand. He returned in just over the minimum 15 days and looked sharp tonight in his first outing prior to his exit. In 2 1/3 innings, he held the Braves scoreless on a pair of hits with no walks and four strikeouts, running his fastball up to 97 mph along the way.
It’s impossible to know how long tonight’s apparent injury will sideline Strasburg, if at all, just yet. The Nationals’ significant lead on the NL East (eight games) should ensure that they take home the division title with or without Strasburg, but his absence from the postseason rotation would be notable. Both Max Scherzer and Tanner Roark would figure to be locks, but left-hander Gio Gonzalez has struggled considerably after a dominant April, while righty Joe Ross is on the disabled list. Rookies A.J. Cole, Reynaldo Lopez and Lucas Giolito, meanwhile each lack experience, and the latter two have struggled to ERAs north of 5.00 in their first big league seasons.
Certainly, the Nationals organization and fans alike are holding their collective breaths as they await further evaluation. Strasburg inked a seven-year, $175MM contract extension earlier this season, surprising many with his decision to pass on the option to explore free agency at season’s end. That massive extension begins next season.
Mets Sign Tim Tebow To Minor League Deal
The Mets have signed outfielder Tim Tebow to a minor league contract, according to a team press release. He’ll head to the team’s instructional league at their Spring Training site in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Tebow is represented by CAA’s Brodie Van Wagenen.
The “outfielder” label, of course, is relatively new for the former NFL quarterback. Tebow’s most recent baseball experience came all the way back in high school, as he went on to star at the University of Florida in an extremely successful college career that saw him win the 2007 Heisman Trophy before being drafted 25th overall in the 2010 draft by the Denver Broncos. Tebow became an unlikely hero early in his NFL career, leading the Broncos to a number of late-game comebacks in his second NFL season, including a dramatic overtime win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, his overall performance was middling, at best, and Tebow would appear in just one more NFL season (2012 as a member of the Jets). He signed contracts with the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles as well in 2013 and 2015 but appeared only in preseason contests for the two teams, ultimately settling in as an analyst at ESPN before recently announcing his desire to pursue a baseball career.
It goes without saying that the 29-year-old Tebow is a phenomenal natural athlete, though that certainly doesn’t guarantee any form of success in his move from professional football to professional baseball. Tebow worked out in front of scouts for 28 of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams last week — the Cubs and A’s did not attend — and was met with, at best, mixed reviews. Tebow was average or slightly above average in his 60-yard dash time and impressed scouts with his raw power, but his throwing arm drew considerably weaker reviews. And of course, Tebow will have to adjust to facing professional pitching on the fly. To this point, he’s worked out with former MLB catcher Chad Moeller and hit against free agent reliever David Aardsma, who pitched in the Majors as recently as last season. Still, even for an athlete of Tebow’s caliber, the learning curve will be substantial from this point forth.
While it has to be characterized as an extreme long shot that Tebow will ever be a meaningful contributor for the Mets (or even reach the Majors, for that matter), there’s little downside in at least rolling the dice on an athlete of his caliber that at least showed some degree of promise in a showcase. Braves GM John Coppolella offered similar sentiments just two nights ago, stating that there’s “no risk” to signing Tebow and admitting that Atlanta was exploring the possibility of signing Tebow to a minor league deal. And Tebow drew at least some degree of interest from at least eight teams, including the Blue Jays, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported last night (links to Twitter).
ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported the signing (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to view MLBTR Chat Transcript With Jason Martinez: September 7, 2016
Poll: Trevor Plouffe’s Future In Minnesota
Twins corner infielder/designated hitter Trevor Plouffe exited last night’s game with an oblique injury, and tests have revealed the 30-year-old to have both an oblique strain and an intercostal strain, as MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger tweets. Plouffe hopes to return before the end of the season, but Bollinger notes that it’s unlikely that Plouffe will have enough time to recover. Oblique injuries tend to linger for at least a month, and with a pair of strains, it seems quite possible that what has been an injury-riddled season for Plouffe will come to a close.
The greater question that should be asked, at this juncture, is whether Plouffe has played his final game as a member of the Twins. The former first-round pick (20th overall, 2004) was an oft-speculated trade candidate last winter thanks to the emergence of Miguel Sano and the signing of Korean slugger Byung Ho Park, but the Twins elected to hang onto Plouffe and try Sano in right field — an experiment that yielded dreadful results. The 6’4″, 260-pound Sano perhaps unsurprisingly graded out very poorly in right field (-8 DRS, -2.6 UZR in 312 innings) and was ultimately moved back to third base when Plouffe suffered a fractured rib that cost him six months of the season.
With Sano now seeing reps at third base and DH, Plouffe has rotated between third base (when Sano is DHing), first base and DH himself since returning from the disabled list. However, next season will present the Twins — who will be headed by a new front office regime — with a similar logjam, as Sano, Plouffe, Park and Joe Mauer will all be back in the mix. (For those wondering about the possibility, Mauer cannot return to catching given his concussion history.) With Byron Buxton, Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario likely handling regular outfield duties in 2017, there’s no obvious corner opening to move one of those pieces this time around.
Further complicating matters for Plouffe is that he’s endured his worst season since 2013. In addition to the current pair of muscle strains and the aforementioned rib fracture, Plouffe also missed nearly three weeks in late April/early May with another intercostal strain. Plouffe established himself as an average defender with a slightly above-average bat in 2014-15 when he hit .251/.317/.429 with 36 homers in 1214 plate appearances — good for a combined 5.9 fWAR and 6.5 rWAR. However, he was hitting just .252/.283/.399 at the time he landed on the DL in July due to the rib fracture. Plouffe has been hot since coming back (.277/.345/.465, five homers in 26 games), which has boosted his overall line to .260/.303/.420, but much of the 2016 season has been a struggle for him at the plate.
Plouffe will be arbitration-eligible for the final time this winter, and though he’s been slowed by injuries and hasn’t had his most productive year, he’ll still receive a raise this year’s $7.25MM salary. A salary in the $8-9MM range isn’t outlandish for a healthy Plouffe, but it may also be more than the Twins wish to pay him given the state of their roster, as currently constructed. Certainly, Plouffe could garner trade interest from clubs looking for short-term upgrades at the corner infield spots, though there’s also the possibility that a new president of baseball operations decides to cut bait simply by non-tendering him. Alternatively, the Twins could elect to move other pieces and keep Plouffe around for what will be his final season before hitting the free agent market.
With a number of avenues that the new-look front office could pursue, let’s open this one up for some crowd-sourcing (link to poll for Trade Rumors mobile app users)…
AL East Notes: Tillman, O’Day, Rays, Green
As the Orioles look to work their way back into first place in the American League East, they’ll soon be joined by a pair of key players that have been on the disabled list, per MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko. Baltimore’s top starter, Chris Tillman, is slated to throw one final bullpen session on Friday before making a return to the rotation against the Tigers on Sunday. Notably, manager Buck Showalter said that no one will come out of the rotation when Tillman returns, as Baltimore will instead go with a six-man starting staff. Meanwhile, setup man Darren O’Day, who has been out since early August with a rotator cuff strain, threw 26 pitches today and felt good. Like Tillman, he’s lined up for a Friday bullpen session, but he’ll require a few days of rest and then a simulated game before he’s cleared to return. The Orioles are hoping that will happen at some point next week, per Kubatko.
A couple more items from the division…
- The Rays have dismissed longtime hitting coach Derek Shelton and promoted minor league hitting coordinator Chad Mottola to take his place, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Shelton had served as Tampa Bay’s hitting coach for the past seven seasons and spent five years as the Indians’ hitting coach prior to that. The timing of the move is somewhat strange, Topkin points out, but the thought process behind the switch is to allow Mottola to begin building his rapport with the Rays’ hitters as soon as possible. Mottola will serve as the team’s hitting coach at least through the end of the 2017 season, he adds. President of baseball ops Matt Silverman and manager Kevin Cash indicated to Topkin that perhaps Shelton’s message had grown stale. Said Silverman: “…the connections with the players, we think that there is a possibility and a hope that some of that can improve with a different person in that chair, with a different voice, different relationships, a fresh start.”
- Chad Green won’t pitch again for the Yankees this season, but the rookie right-hander looks to have emerged relatively unscathed from a potential brush with Tommy John surgery, writes Chad Jennings of the Journal News. Green has a strained flexor tendon, but exams by team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad revealed that there was no damage to his ulnar collateral ligament. Green will spend the next several weeks rehabbing his flexor injury but is anticipating a normal offseason and plans to be ready for Spring Training. Acquired in the offseason trade that sent Justin Wilson to the Tigers, Green made his big league debut this season with the Yankees. While he posted very strong strikeout and walk rates (10.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9), the 25-year-old also had an issue with homers, surrendering 12 long balls in just 45 2/3 innings. The result was a 4.73 ERA, though metrics like xFIP and SIERA, which normalize a pitcher’s homer-to-flyball rate, feel that Green should’ve been in the 3.60 to 3.70 range in his brief sample.