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Harold Ramirez

Rays’ Harold Ramirez Suffers Broken Thumb

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Rays first baseman/outfielder Harold Ramirez left today’s game after being hit on his hand by a pitch. The club later announced to reporters, including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, that he has a broken right thumb and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Ramirez, 27, has been somewhat quietly having an excellent breakout season in Tampa. Although he’s only walking 6.1% of the time, he’s also only striking out at a 13.7% clip, producing a batting line of .329/.376/.446. The resulting wRC+ of 141 indicates he’s been 41% better than the league average hitter. Among hitters with at least 250 plate appearances, that’s the 23rd highest mark across the majors, just ahead of Pete Alonso.

While any team would surely suffer to lose that kind of production for a few weeks, it’s especially noteworthy for a Rays team that’s had a host of injuries to deal with, including in the outfield. When Ramirez is inevitably placed on the injured list, he will join Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot. In Kiermaier’s case, his injury has the potential to be season-ending, per Topkin, though more details will come on that after he sees a specialist in the weeks to come. Margot might return at some point this season, but not soon. Even if Ramirez’s thumb is okay in a couple of weeks, he will likely need to get in some rehab work in order to get back into game shape.

That leaves the club with Randy Arozarena, Josh Lowe, Brett Phillips and Luke Raley as their regular outfielders. Arozarena is having another good season, but the rest are all hitting at below-average rates right now, with none of the three producing a wRC+ higher than 71 on the year, coming into today’s game. Brandon Lowe has played outfield in the past but only just returned from the IL in the last couple of days. He played second base yesterday but is the designated hitter today. Vidal Bruján is in the minors and could be recalled, though he also struggled in his MLB action this year, producing a wRC+ of just 41.

Despite all their injury woes, the Rays began today in the top American League Wild Card spot with a record of 50-41, meaning they will likely look to do some buying ahead of the August 2 trade deadline. There were a number of outfielders featured on MLBTR’s recent list of top trade candidates, including Andrew Benintendi, David Peralta, Ian Happ, and many others.

Rays Acquire Harold Ramirez From Cubs

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The Rays have acquired outfielder Harold Ramírez from the Cubs in exchange for minor league infielder Esteban Quiroz, according to announcements from both teams. Tampa Bay announced they’ve placed reliever Nick Anderson on the 60-day injured list to open space for Ramírez on the 40-man roster.

The move brings Ramírez’s Chicago tenure to an end before he ever suited up for the team. The Cubs acquired the right-handed hitting outfielder from the Guardians in exchange for cash in late November. That came after Cleveland had designated him for assignment in advance of Rule 5 protection day, part of an overhaul of more than a quarter of the Guardians’ 40-man roster.

While Ramírez didn’t play in a game with the Cubs, he has logged a fair bit of MLB action over the past few seasons. A former Blue Jays’ farmhand, Ramírez debuted in the majors with the Marlins in 2019. He hit .276/.312/.416 in 119 games as a rookie, but he missed almost all of the following season after suffering a severe hamstring strain. Cleveland picked him up off waivers in February and gave him 361 plate appearances, and his .268/.305/.398 line wasn’t much different than his 2019 performance.

The 27-year-old Ramírez has a career .271/.308/.405 mark in a bit more than 800 plate appearances. He makes a fair amount of contact, leading to a solid batting average. Yet he’s paired that with a minuscule 4% walk rate and a below-average .134 ISO (slugging minus average). Ramírez’s 47.2% hard contact percentage and 91.3 MPH average exit velocity were more impressive than those bottom line power numbers might suggest, but he negated a good bit of that batted ball authority by putting more than half his balls in play on the ground.

Ramírez adds an affordable option to the Tampa Bay outfield. He’ll play the 2022 campaign on just a $728K salary and is controllable via arbitration through 2025. The Rays could keep him around as a long-term piece, but he’s also out of minor league option years. That means Tampa Bay must either carry him on the active roster all season or DFA him themselves.

Whether Ramírez sticks long-term could be determined by what the Rays have planned for the coming weeks. The outfield is already pretty crowded, with Randy Arozarena, Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot lined up as the projected starting group. Austin Meadows will see some time in the corners and at designated hitter, while the out-of-options Brett Phillips and top prospect Josh Lowe figure to be in the mix. It may be tough to carry both Phillips and Ramírez in depth capacities all season, but the former is a better defensive option off the bench. Ramírez has some experience in center field but is better suited for the corners.

Of course, it’s possible the Rays deal from the outfield logjam before the season. Meadows, in particular, has been floated in trade rumors since the lockout was lifted. The front office isn’t going to be pressured to deal one of their regulars because they picked up Ramírez in a minor trade, but today’s deal could be a preemptive move to bolster the outfield depth in case another swap on the horizon.

From the Cubs’ perspective, the pair of Ramírez trades essentially amounts to picking up Quiroz for cash. Despite never having appeared in the majors, Quiroz is actually a few years older than Ramírez. At 30 years old, the lefty-hitting infielder isn’t a prototypical prospect. Yet he has a long track record of performing well in both the Mexican League and in the high minors, one that has caught the attention of a handful of clubs.

Originally signed by the Red Sox out of Mexico, Quiroz was dealt to the Padres for Colten Brewer over the 2018-19 offseason. Tampa Bay picked him up in March 2020 as the player to be named later in the Tommy Pham, Jake Cronenworth, Hunter Renfroe deal. Listed at 5’6″, 199 pounds, he doesn’t have overwhelming physical tools. Yet Quiroz owns a .270/.391/.534 line in his Triple-A career, including a .268/.401/.526 mark with the Rays’ top affiliate in Durham last season. Quiroz won’t occupy a spot on the Cubs 40-man roster; he’ll presumably head to Triple-A Iowa and keep trying to earn an MLB debut.

Anderson’s placement on the 60-day IL was a formality whenever the Rays needed a roster spot. The righty underwent a UCL brace procedure last October that was always expected to keep him out of action past the All-Star Break.

Cubs Acquire Harold Ramirez From Guardians

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The Cubs have acquired outfielder Harold Ramirez from the Guardians in exchange for cash, per a club announcement out of Chicago. Ramirez was one of seven players designated for assignment in Cleveland last Friday. The Cubs now have 38 players on their 40-man roster.

Ramirez, 27, made his big league debut with the Marlins in 2019 and earned quickly made himself into a Miami fan favorite with a mammoth first season in the Majors. In May 2019, Ramirez slashed .368/.419/.474 — understandably endearing himself to those who follow the Fish.

It’s been a steady decline since that point, however, as Ramirez has posted just .264/.299/.400 (86 wRC+). Ramirez has solid bat-to-ball skills but rarely walks and chases outside the zone far too often. Since 2019, Ramirez’s 43.6% chase rate on pitches off the plate is the ninth-highest mark among 340 players with at least 500 plate appearances. His .134 isolated power (slugging minus batting average) during that time ranks 281st in the same subset, placing him well shy of the league-average — particularly relative to his corner outfield peers.

Ramirez joins Michael Hermosillo as a right-handed-hitting bench option for the Cubs, though he doesn’t have the typical platoon splits one might expect. His numbers against lefties (.275/.315/.400, 92 wRC+) and righties (.270/.306/.408, 90 wRC+) are nearly identical. Defensively, Ramirez has appeared at all three outfield spots but is best-suited for work in either left field or right field.

Ramirez is out of minor league options, so the Cubs will either need to break camp with him on the Opening Day roster next year or else expose him to waivers. He’ll compete for a bench spot in Spring Training, but it also stands to reason that Chicago could be in the market for outfield upgrades this winter, which could complicate Ramirez’s path to a roster spot.

Guardians Designate Seven Players For Assignment

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The Guardians announced Friday that they’ve designated outfielders Daniel Johnson and Harold Ramirez; righties Justin Garza and J.C. Mejia; and lefties Kyle Nelson, Alex Young and Scott Moss for assignment.

Cleveland also added a whopping 10 players to the 40-man roster, headlined by top prospects Tyler Freeman and George Valera. Also added to the 40-man roster are Brayan Rocchio, Richie Palacios, Steven Kwan, Jose Tena, Cody Morris, Bryan Lavastida, Konnor Pilkington and Jhonkensy Noel.

Finally, the Guardians have also acquired right-hander Tobias Myers from the Rays in exchange for minor league infielder Junior Caminero, tweets FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen. Myers will also be added to the 40-man roster.

Johnson and Ramirez have been part of a revolving door in an uncertain Cleveland outfield in recent seasons. Neither has hit well enough to lock down a permanent roster spot, although Ramirez did start more than half the team’s games in 2021. Ramirez would have the right to elect minor league free agency if he clears waivers.

Mejia logged significant action as a depth starter this year but struggled. Garza, Nelson and Young saw some bullpen work, while Moss has yet to make it to the major leagues.

The massive turnover highlights the high minors depth Cleveland has stockpiled in recent seasons. The selection of ten prospects is highly atypical, but it’s a testament to the Guardians’ scouting and development staffs that they’ve managed to accumulate so much talent they’re afraid other teams might jump on. That’s particularly true on the position player side, with much of this group being hitters with advanced bat-to-ball skills who could factor onto the big league roster in relatively short order.

Freeman, Valera and Rocchio might be the most notable. All three appeared on FanGraphs’ Top 100 list entering the 2021 season. They’ve all topped out at Double-A Akron, where each posted above-average offensive performances despite being 22 years old or younger. Valera plays center field, while Freeman and Rocchio are middle infielders. Palacios is another infielder with great high minors numbers, while Lavastida is regarded as one of the better catching prospects in the minors.

Every Team’s Initial September Callups

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The limit on active roster players expanded from 26 to 28 today, as the calendar flipped to September. Every team announced at least two additions to the big league club (some teams made three or more due to injured list placements). Here’s a recap of today’s spate of transactions:

Indians Claim Harold Ramirez, Designate Jordan Humphreys

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The Indians announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed outfielder Harold Ramirez off waivers from the Marlins. Right-hander Jordan Humphreys was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

The 26-year-old Ramirez debuted at the MLB level with the Marlins in May 2019 and posted a superb .368/.419/.474 batting line over his first month of action before his bat cooled off. Ramirez struggled through June and July that year before rebounding, to an extent, in the final two months of the year. Overall, his .276/.312/.416 batting line through 446 plate appearances as a rookie looked to position him well for a lengthier audition in 2020.

That didn’t happen, however, as Ramirez was one of the 20 members of the Marlins organization to test positive for Covid-19 during the team’s outbreak. When he returned from that diagnosis, he sustained a hamstring injury almost immediately and didn’t return from there on. All told, he played in just three games last summer.

Ramirez adds to what has been a consistently jumbled outfield mix for Cleveland over the past few seasons. The Indians brought in former division rival Eddie Rosario on a one-year deal to play left field, and they’ll likely give Oscar Mercado a chance to rebound in center field. Beyond that, playing time ought to be largely up for grabs, and Ramirez should be squarely in the mix, alongside Josh Naylor, Jordan Luplow, Jake Bauers, Bradley Zimmer and Daniel Johnson.

All of those players in that hodgepodge, Ramirez included, have at least one minor league option remaining, so there won’t be any cases of a player winning out solely to avoid a DFA. That should set the stage for a legitimate competition during camp, though Ramirez and Luplow are the only two right-handed bats in the bunch, which could give them an advantage.

Humphreys, 24, has yet to make his big league debut but had a big 2017 season across two Class-A levels in the Mets organization before requiring Tommy John surgery. He allowed just two runs in 13 innings of Rookie ball in 2019 as he rehabbed from that surgery and likely would’ve been ticketed for a Double-A assignment in 2020 had their been a minor league season.

The Mets traded Humphreys to the Giants in exchange for Billy Hamilton, however, and Cleveland eventually picked Humphreys up off waivers. Coincidentally, both Humphreys and Hamilton are with the Indians organization at the moment, as Hamilton inked a minor league deal earlier in the winter.

Cleveland will have a week to trade Humphreys or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If they can indeed sneak him through waivers, he’d remain in camp as a non-roster invitee and give the club an interesting depth piece. In 169 2/3 professional innings, Humphreys has a 2.60 ERA with an above-average 26.1 percent strikeout rate and a brilliant 4.4 percent walk rate.

Marlins Designate Harold Ramirez For Assignment

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The Marlins announced Wednesday that they’ve designated outfielder Harold Ramirez for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander John Curtiss, whose previously reported acquisition from the Rays is now official. Miami also formally announced its one-year deal with outfielder Adam Duvall today, placing righty Jeff Brigham to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.

Ramirez, 26, made his Major League debut with the Marlins in May 2019 and came out of the gates on fire, batting .368/.419/.474 in his first month of action. His bat cooled after the fact, but that early hot streak was enough to leave him with a respectable .276/.312/.416 batting line through 446 plate appearances as a rookie.

The 2020 season was another story entirely, however, as Ramirez was among the many Marlins players to test positive for Covid-19 early in the year when the team was hit with an outbreak of the virus. He returned in early September but sustained an immediate hamstring injury that resulted in him being carted off the field. Ramirez didn’t make it back to the active roster following that injury and finished out his 2020 season with just three games and 11 plate appearances.

That was obviously a disappointing outcome for a player who likely hoped to have cemented himself on the big league roster with a decent rookie showing, and today’s DFA is a further downturn in trajectory. The Marlins will have a week to trade Ramirez or pass him through outright waivers. SportsGrid’s Craig Mish tweets that Miami has been attempting to move him “to no avail,” though with the DFA clock now ticking, it’s possible those talks could be accelerated.

Ramirez does have a minor league option remaining, and in addition to a respectable output at the plate in 2019,  he carries a career .303/.358/.421 slash in parts of eight minor league seasons. He’s still appeared in only 31 games at the Triple-A level, but Ramirez has been productive both there and in Double-A. He’s best deployed in an outfield corner, but the Fish gave him 192 innings of center field work in 2019, so he can at least handle the position. Teams in search of a right-handed, corner outfield bat could certainly have interest in swinging a minor deal for Ramirez, who can be controlled through at least the 2025 season.

Marlins Reinstate Jose Urena

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The Marlins announced a number of roster moves today. Infielder Eddy Alvarez was optioned to the team’s alternate training site, Harold Ramirez was transferred to the 60-day IL, and Jose Urena was reinstated from the IL.

Alvarez, 30, was an medal-winning Olympian in a past life, but the former speed skater slashed just .189/.268/.216 in his first stint with the Marlins. While playing all over the infield, Alvarez managed to steal a couple of bases, but a strikeout rate of 39% slowed his offensive progress and relegated him to the team’s alternate training site for the near-term.

Ramirez only appeared in 3 games this year before a strained hamstring sent him to the injured list. The 25-year-old established himself as a useful player last season with a triple slash of .276/.312/.416. It wasn’t necessarily a standout season, but enough to get a look this season, had he been healthy. Ramirez’s future is probably as an extra outfielder because of his ability to play all three outfield spots. Starling Marte now mans the middle, and Ramirez doesn’t likely holster enough thunder to provide regular ABs in the corner.

The Marlins are on the verge of a playoff spot as of today, but they remain percentage points behind the Giants. Getting Urena back from the COVID-19 injured list should provide a boost to their pitching corps. The right-hander will step right back into the rotation today to take on the Braves. Urena has been a starter for most of his Miami tenure, though he was moved to the bullpen at the end of last season where he was used primarily to finish games.

Urena holds a 4.57 ERA /4.69 FIP for his career, but he’s usually been either a tick better or worse than those averages. The Dominican righty looked sharp from 2017 to 2018 over which time he went 23-19 in 59 starts with a 3.90 ERA. While he was able to outperform his FIP for each of those seasons, his fortunes reveresed last year when he put up a 5.21 ERA despite a marginally-better 4.74 FIP. His strikeout-to-walk numbers have shown modest improvement from his younger days, though the biggest jump came during the 2018 season when he posted 6.7 K/9 to 2.6 BB/9 for a 2.55 K/BB.

For now, at least, it appears Urena will fill out the rotation alongside Pablo Lopez, Sandy Alcantara, Sixto Sanchez, and Trevor Rogers. Assuming Urena can return to form, the Marlins suddenly boast a potentially formidable starting five. The remaining few weeks of the season provide a stretch of baseball that should test their mettle, as they have little more than three weeks to find their way past the Giants to earn their first playoff berth since 2003.

Injury Updates: Hamels, Soler, Rays, Ramirez, Yankees

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Cole Hamels will throw a live batting practice session on Sunday, as the injury-plagued southpaw might yet still have a chance to factor into the 2020 season.  Braves manager Brian Snitker told MLB.com’s Mark Bowman and other reporters that “We’re just looking to get through a couple live BPs and see how he is,” perhaps wisely not setting even a speculative timeline given that Hamels battled shoulder issues during Spring Training and is currently on the 45-day injured list recovering from left triceps tendinitis.  Bowman speculates that Hamels likely won’t start pitching in simulated games until next weekend at the earliest, so the left-hander might not be able to join the Braves until roughly the last 7-10 days of the regular season.

It makes Hamels into a total wild card for Atlanta’s playoff drive, though with the club looking to have a good shot at the postseason, it isn’t out of the question that Hamels could be part of a playoff roster.  Having a former World Series MVP coming out of the bullpen would be quite an interesting wrinkle for Atlanta, though Hamels has only worked as a reliever twice in his 439 career games in the regular season and postseason.

Some more injury situations from around baseball…

  • Jorge Soler left tonight’s game due to what the Royals described as right oblique soreness.  This is the second time in four days that Soler has exited a game due to such an injury, and perhaps on a related note, Soler is hitless over his last eight plate appearances.  Soler has been a few steps behind his big 2019 numbers this season, though he is still hitting a solid .237/.333/.459 with eight homers over 159 PA.
  • The Rays have been plagued by pitching injuries this season, and two more hurlers ran into potential issues on Saturday.  Newly-acquired southpaw Cody Reed left tonight’s game during the eighth inning with an injury to his pinkie, though manager Kevin Cash told MLB.com’s Jose Toribio (Twitter links) that the problem doesn’t appear to be serious.  The news isn’t as good for left-hander Shane McClanahan, as the prospect will miss around two weeks after suffering a hyper-extended left knee during a fielding play at the Rays’ alternate training site.  The 31st overall pick of the 2018 draft, McClanahan got some top-100 prospect attention from Baseball Prospectus and Baseball American prior to the season, and there was some speculation Tampa Bay might give the 23-year-old his first taste of big league action sometime in September.
  • Marlins outfielder Harold Ramirez had to be carted off the field tonight after suffering what the club described as a left hamstring strain.  Ramirez suffered the injury while trying to beat out a grounder during the fifth inning of Miami’s 7-3 win over Tampa Bay.  Playing in just his third game of the season, Ramirez was only activated off the injured list today, as he was one of the many Marlins players sidelined after positive COVID-19 tests.
  • Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided reporters (including ESPN’s Marly Rivera) with updates on injured sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, saying that Judge will increase his baseball-activity work on Monday.  Stanton, who Boone feels is “a little ahead of Judge” in terms of readiness, has already been taking part in baseball activities and is now running at 80 percent as he continues his recovery from a hamstring strain.

Brandon Kintzler Drawing Trade Interest

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Marlins closer Brandon Kintzler is drawing trade interest, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, but with Miami still vying for a surprise postseason bid, it’s unlikely that he’ll be moved at this point. More likely candidates to be dealt by the Marlins are lefty Caleb Smith and righty Jose Urena, per Heyman. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro also lists Urena and Smith as players who “possibly could” be moved, adding outfielder Harold Ramirez to that tier.

The 36-year-old Kintzler is having a fairly typical season: tons of grounders, few strikeouts and very few walks. In 12 1/3 frames with Miami, he’s posted a 2.92 ERA with seven punchouts (5.1 K/9), three walks (2.2 BB/9) and a huge 59.5 percent ground-ball rate. Since establishing himself as a big leaguer back in 2013, Kintzler has only turned in a grounder rate south of 54 percent in one season, when he put up a 49.7 percent mark in 2018. His career 56.3 percent rate is tied for 37th among 499 qualified relievers since his MLB debut.

Kintzler is playing out the 2020 season on a one-year, $3.25MM contract, but that pact contains a reasonable $4MM option for the 2021 season, so he’s not a strict rental. This year’s $3MM base salary — the option has a $250K buyout — is prorated to about $1.08MM, and he’s still owed roughly $452K of that sum over the remaining four weeks.

Urena, meanwhile, has been a rumored trade candidate for a year or so now. He’s yet to pitch in 2020 after being among the team’s 18 players to test positive for the coronavirus, and he didn’t throw especially well in 2019, when he turned in a 5.21 ERA and 4.74 FIP in 84 2/3 frames. Urena, though, has had success as a starter — 3.90 ERA in 343 2/3 innings from 2017-18 — and is controllable through the 2021 season. He’s a non-tender candidate with the Marlins this winter, so perhaps another club could get a month-long look at him for a relatively negligible return.

The 29-year-old Smith is controlled all the way through 2023 and is a more interesting target for pitching-hungry clubs. He’s missed bats in droves since being acquired from the Yankees prior to the 2018 season, fanning 259 hitters in 233 2/3 innings as a Marlin. He’s also been plagued by injuries in that time, though, including a brutal Grade 3 lat strain in 2018 and a hip injury that cost him just shy of a month last year. Smith was placed on the injured list earlier this month after the Marlins’ Covid-19 outbreak and has pitched just three innings so far. He looked rusty, issuing six free passes in that time. Overall, he has a 4.39 ERA and 10.0 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 in his time with Miami.

Ramirez, 25, has yet to return since the team’s outbreak but posted a solid .276/.312/.416 batting line with 11 homers, 20 doubles and three triples in 446 plate appearances with the Fish a year ago. He’s controlled all the way through the 2025 season, leaving no urgency to move him, but Miami has quite a few corner-outfield alternatives. Corey Dickerson is signed through 2021, while Brian Anderson has proven capable of oscillating between right field and third base. The Marlins have gotten initial looks at Monte Harrison and Jesus Sanchez this year, and they still have Garrett Cooper, Lewis Brinson and Magneuris Sierra in the outfield picture as well.

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