Aramis Ramirez Opts For Free Agency

It's been reported by Bruce Levine on ESPN 1000 in Chicago that Aramis Ramirez has opted out of his contract and filed for free agency.

Daily Herald sportswriter Bruce Miles calls it a formality, reminding Cubs fans that the Cubs still have the exclusive right to sign him for a while.

Comments

[start_wearing_purple]

Does anyone else think this will make the yanks reconsider trading arod? NOTE: I never said the yanks should...

[Baseballfan79]

welcome to pinstripes

personally like to see him go back to pittsburgh but I doubt that would happen. Aram, Bay and Freddy and then sign nomar as well and they have a powerful lineup.

[xxxJamesxxx]

Say hello to the Phillies new 3rd baseman

[erkman12]

You can have the oaf, he won't hit until you are out of the playoff hunt anyway. This just gives the Cubs another 11 million to spend on OF or SP.

[Laputian]

That must mean he hit for the cubs all year am I right?

[ckremer]

You beat me to the punchline, Laputian!

[revolution99]

under the japense third baseman post, people were talking about the sox signing him, now i belive this is highly unlikely, but as a sox fan i wouldnt want to see the angels get him, wouldnt want to face them, but lowell is a Great player but his bat hurts the line up, the sox despertly need a guy to hit behind manny or even behind ortiz if manny stays as injury prone, the sox had no one this year, yes i think they would be giving up some defense but they could also trade lowell to maybe sandiego or to any team that doesnt get the japanese player to hopefully get bullpen help. yes I think im dreaming, but who else could they sign or trade for, Dun? he may make a nice fit batting 5th low average but plenty of HR... Ideas?

[revolution99]

sorry I wasnt cleat i wouldnt want to see the angels Get A-RAM. Thats why Signing A-Ram to block the angels, the adventure of a big market team. and to be clear I would like to see a line up of
1.youk 1b
2.lorreta - re-sign 2b
3. ortiz dh
4. Manny lf
5. A-Ram 3b
6. varitek c
7. pena rf
8. crisp cf
9. Gonzo ss

BN C? mirabelli? greg Zaun(lorreta and him were friend in high school)?
2b ss pedroia cora
Of murphy
sp schill
sp Beckett
sp Wakefield
SP Paps
SP lester? Clement(in dreams)? Tavarez?

BP timilin
hansen
delcarmen
breslow
Tavarez or clement
and some one from a lowell trade
faulk - if he picks up his player option

they could use a better 4th OF in case manny goes down

and bullpen... but this is just an idea who knows if clement will ever pitch again, another implosion of foulk this team would have some big questions.

[ptk420biatch]

You are all speaking before him filing is certain. And also before the cubs make it clear they dont want him. Until he signs with another team he is still a cub. And I believe he will be a cub next year also.

[russell]

The better question than where ramirez could possibly land( Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers ,Twins, Angels, Rangers, Phillies, Astros, Pirates, Dodgers, Giants, Padres. he can land just about anywhere in the country) Who cubs going to replace him with Huff, Feliz, Hillabrand, Helms or any of the jappansse imports. If they trade how much can Eyre/Howry bring back?

[Omar052391]

Hello Southern California!!

[ptk420biatch]

Russell, if he doesnt go back to the cubs I could see them bringing back walker to play 3rd. He is a fan favorite in chicago, and now that dustbag is gone he would prob be willing to return. And would be fairly cheap.

[anthoneytheghost]

i think that aramis ramirez should be somone the red sox target if manny is traded to be a righty power sourse behind ortiz. i think that lowell should be traded for bullpen help either way, as i like youkilis' bat better at third than i do first, but replacing lowell with A-ram would be fine with me.

and, if youre interested in what id do with the rest of the linup, i would explore a 3-way deal with the reds and white sox. id deal coco to chicago for one of their pitchers and send him to cinci with edgar martinez for adam dunn. add in second tier prospects where necesary. i think freddy garcia and edgar martinez sound like a package the reds would be interested in. i dont know though. if manny is traded i would play dunn in left, if manny stays id play dunn at first, moving youkilis to third and trading lowell for bullpen help (linebrink?). as for center and right field i would like to give wily mo the centerfield job to begin, because he was much better there defensively than he was in right and for right field i would give up the bag of balls it would take to get ryan church and have him as insurance in case wily mo cant play in center everyday. sorry, that post is probably inapropraite for this thread.

[revolution99]

Anthoneytheghost that sounds pretty good, but imagine that out field Scary defensivly but a good 345 ortiz aram dun, but u almost need a Ichiro type defender in rf to cover for that D.

[revolution99]

Anthoneytheghost that sounds pretty good, but imagine that out field Scary defensivly but a good 345 ortiz aram dun, but u almost need a Ichiro type defender in rf to cover for that D.

[pinetarhand]

ptk420biatch, are you serious about Walker? He's a bench player at best. He'll never make up for Ramirez offensively & is worse defensively. Although us Cub's fans like him, I don't know any who think he's an adequate replacement at third. He would be far below league average at that position.

erkman, oh yeah, he was real terrible in '03 when we needed him down the stretch. There's no way that $11 mil can be more well spent than on A-Ram. Cubs lose him & they now need an OF, 3B, & SP without enough money or quality FA to fill the positions. I don't see how this is a winning situation for the Cubs.

[anthoneytheghost]

well, church has been a centerfielder, which is something i was looking at when thinking about RF. i think hes a pretty good fit for the bottom of the batting order.

[jballgame]

You guys can all froth at the mouth, but the fact still remains that he is a Cub until Cubs lose exclusive rights. I would be VERY surprised if the Cubs don't sign him-there's nothing out there to replace him with. Can't affort to lose his production and leave D. Lee "naked" in the line up.

Granted, some of Hendry's moves have been questionable, but if the Cubs are INCREASING payroll even when they cleared room (Maddux, Wood, etc), don't you think the FIRST thing they'd focus on is A Ram?

[jballgame]

BTW-anybody remember that we re-signed D. Lee........that's a good indicator they'll try to keep A-Ram.

[russell]

Wouldnt a Murton, Howry ,H.Blanco from cubs to the white sox for Crede and Podsednik. It clears the RF postion for the cubs moving Podsednik to center so the cubs can go after a lee/soriano/sheff type of hiter. While the trade will not help satisfy the need for center fielder for the sox it adds much need depth to the bench and pen

[quintjs]

jballgame makes a really good point.

The Cubs still have the rights to talk to him for a long while yet.

A-ram could just decide to opt out of his current contract to get a new contract. When he sees the money made available, why not get a new contract?

He also could want out of the cubs, not a bad idea when you consider the amount of contending teams wanting a power hitting 3rd baseman (dodgers, astros, red sox, angels..)

[MadMatt15]

i honestly think your idea is pretty good and is not impossible or retarded although it won't be easy either.
to revolution 99, that bull pen is worse than last years and we all know last years.

[revolution99]

madmatt15 i have to agree haha but what are you going to do you really have to hope for something maybe hansen delcarmen will start to come into there own, but were stuck with foulke if he picks up the player option and were stuck with clement for the last year of his contract, and would u want to see him in the rotation, ive heard a far out idea of maybe clement closing if he can even pitch, nasty stuff over all weve all heard it. maybe take a chance on gagne turning it around, i think it would make more sense leaving paps in the bullpen and signing a top starter, better starters out there then relivers so any ideas your self?

[rickrhtexas]

After losing nearly 100 games in 2006, I don’t think the Cubs can fix the team quickly enough to succeed in 2007. The Cubs need to take a longer term perspective. Attempting to fix the team in one offseason will result in too many desperate moves that the Cubs will subsequently regret.

If the Cubs look to 2008, they will have at least two more pieces of the puzzle: Scott Moore at 3B and Felix Pie in centerfield. Besides Zambrano and Hill, by 2008 the Cubs should find at least one more starter out of the group of young pitchers that stepped in prematurely this season, such as Sean Marshall, Angel Guzman, Carlos Marmol and Juan Mateo.

If the Cubs looked ahead to 2008, they would be indifferent about re-signing Ramirez. They would look for a righfielder to complement Matt Murton and Pie. They would look to sign a starting pitcher like Wade Miller or Randy Wolf. Both are 30 years old and recovering from arm surgery and would have upside potential by 2008. They would find one-year stopgaps at 3B and centerfield like Rich Aurilia and Kenny Lofton.

In order to win a World Series, a team needs to sustain a playoff level of performance for a number of years. It usually takes several appearances in the post-season to finally win. The Cardinals are a good example.

[pinetarhand]

Yeah, I remember the great Marlins dynasty before they won a world series. Same thing with the White Sox last year. Come on now, the Cardinals limped their way to the world series playing a depleted Mets team in the playoffs & a Tigers team that forgot how to hit mediocre pitching. All the credit to the Cardinals, but a team doesn't have to be perennially in the playoffs to make it. There is no exact equation for a team to use to get to the world series. The pieces just have to fit into place at the right time.

[Dave]

Oh yeah, those Tigers. How'd they do last year? Or the last few years?

The Cubs could win in 2007 based solely on the crappy level of competition in the NL Central.

[Dr_BB69]

a

[Dr_BB69]

Ok so the cubs cant win next year? LOL ya right!

Lets take a closer look at this shall we.

The Tribune Company has already said that they will increase payroll to 120 mil. This is the starting number, it could go as high as 140 mil! They have said for the right players they would increase more than 130 mil. Right now the Cubs payroll sits at 74 mil. (now that the season is over that is) That means the cubs have around 65 mil to spend!

The Cubs want to add three starting pitchers, and there is three they have in mind. The Cubs rotation could look like this in 2007.

Carlos Zambrano, Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt, Daisuke Matsuzaka,(Star pitcher in Japan that is coming to the U.S.) Rich Hill! Now that is a nice rotation.

Now that is only a small amount of the money that the cubs have to spend. With that rotation the cubs would still have close to 40 mil to spend. If they cut loose Mark Prior, Ronny Cedeno, Jacque Jones, it adds another 17 mill to the spending limit. That means the Cubs have left 57 mil to spend on hitting!

Here is what the cubs would like to do to the line up.

Juan Pierre CF, Alfonso Soriano 2B (he wants to play second) Derrel Lee 1B, Manny Ramirez LF, A-Rod SS (he wants to play SS and LOVES Lou Piniella) Carlos Lee RF, Aramis Ramirez 3B, and Micheal Barrett C. With all the money the cubs have this is a REAL Possibility! The cubs have a lot of talent to make these two...thats right only two trades! The Yankees would have to take on some of A-Rods contract but they have already said if they traded A-Rod they would be willing to do this! With all the money the Cubs can spend the Yankees would only have to take on about 5 mil a year to make these moves for the Cubs a real possibility.

Now tell me again that the Cubs cant win next year? LOL

[anthoneytheghost]

wow, the cubs are going to sign the top 6 free agents on the market and trade for manny and a-rod. ooooooookkkkkkk.

[Kyle]

Dr_BB69 you are a lil nuts there. What exactly are the Cubs going to be trading for both A-Rod and Manny. Either of them will take at least one major league ready pitcher, one major league ready hitter and another interesting piece. Also lets look at the money:
A-Rod-11 Mil(after yankees pick up 5)
Manny-20 Mil
Soriano-15 Mil
Carlos Lee-13 Mil
Barry Zito-13 Mil
Jason Schmidt-11 Mil
Matsuzaka-11 Mil

That would mean they are adding about 94 Million dollars to the payroll and it could conceivably be higher as those are just guesses as to contracts. It also ignores the 30 million + for posting on Matsuzaka.

The cubs are not going to get all those guys. They dont have enough talent to trade for EITHER Manny or A-Rod. I would say there is a chance they sign one top flight pitcher and thats about it.

I really hope that was meant in jest and that no one is that crazy.

[Dr_BB69]

WOW are people around here realy this literal?

Of Course I dont think that all of this will happen! After all I am a Cubs fan and I know that they will be lucky to get even one of the mentioned players. I am just saying that with the payroll that they have and the players that are currently under contract (plus others they would move for the trades) it would be possible to fit all of those players in. The cubs would part ways with a lot of players to get A-Rod and Manny. Good trade for Manny would be Pie, Guzman, Prior, and maybe another player. I would think the cash strapped Sox would even go for that. I would also say that the Yanks would go for a Jones, Wood, Pagan, Howry, Eyre, Trade. These can be moved around a little but I would guess there is enough talent just in those players there to make at least one of these trades.

Dont take me so literal please. The Cubs do have a chance to make a lot of noise in the market this year.

I think myself that at least one top pitcher and one top Fielder are in the cards. Plus it wouldnt suprise me if we traded for Willis as another pitcher. The Marlins already want to trim payroll more and the cubs have a few young players to make that happen too.

[MZink]

Does anyone think that Murton might be a real possiblity as a new third baseman? This would help us look to the future. It would also help us to retain a talented hitter while still adding more power to the outfield. If we do get a Sheff or Lee, Where would Murton play then? If he moves to third, it would help us quite a bit, the only question is would the Cubs do make this move and could Murton make this transistion????

[pinetarhand]

Interesting idea MZink. I don't think he's ever played anything but outfield throughout his minor & major league career though. It might be pretty hard to convert him after playing nothing but OF his whole life. All the same, if he could, he would be a lot cheaper than & probably just as good defensively & offensively as the FA's that are out there. Sheffield has played 3B in the past, but not much at all since '93 so I don't know if it would be easier to convert Murton or trade for Sheff & put him at third. Does anyone know how he was as a 3B?

[pinetarhand]

Dr_BB69, please stop posting while you're high as a kite.

[CubsFan]

If you ask me... the rookie Scott Moore that played 1st and 3rd, the last month, getting two homeruns in a week in a half, with his first homerun as his first at bat would be perfect for third. The Cubs will do good next year.

[Dr_BB69]

Pinetarhand, You stop posting. I am entitled to a opinion just like everyone else on these forums. Truth is none of us know what is going to happen. Sorry if I am a little excited since it sounds to me like the Cubs are going to try and bring in some real talent. The Cubs are already talking with Aram so I dont think he is going anywere. Look at the cubs web site. It even says that they are going to try and get two of the top pitchers and at least one of the top bats this offseason.

[pinetarhand]

It was a joke, just like you telling everyone else to not take you literally. Relax.

[Dr_BB69]

Ok well then I apologize. You know how hard it is to translate text into a joke. Sometimes it dont come through like we always want.