The Brewers have exercised their half of a $14MM mutual option on third baseman Aramis Ramirez, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link). Ramirez and his agents at Kinzer Management will now have three days to decide whether to accept their half or decline in favor of free agency.
Should Ramirez exercise his half, he’d be locked into a one-year, $14MM deal to return to the Brewers. If he forfeits that salary, the Brewers could still make him a one-year, $15.3MM qualifying offer. The team has obviously expressed a willingness to pay him $14M, so it stands to reason that the additional $1.3MM wouldn’t be too much of a detriment, especially considering the fact that it would secure them a compensatory draft pick at the end of the first round of the 2015 draft should Ramirez decline the offer and sign elsewhere.
MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes recently penned a free agent profile on Ramirez noting that he believes Ramirez can find a two-year, $30MM contract on the open market without a qualifying offer attached but may have to settle for a lesser annual value and take something along the lines of a two-year, $26MM deal if the Brewers make the QO.
One other option, as Tim covered in the profile, would be for the two sides to work out a compromise over the next 72 hours and draw up a new two-year deal at a slightly lesser rate than the QO or the current $14MM sum. Tim speculated that the same $26MM price tag might make sense for both sides, and I’m inclined to agree.
Ramirez, 36, batted .285/.330/.427 with 15 homers in 133 games (531 plate appearances) this season, though he did struggle in the season’s second half. Nevertheless, 2014 marked the 11th time in the past 12 seasons that Ramirez has posted an OPS+ of 100 or better. He averaged a 134 OPS+ from 2011-13, suggesting that he can still produce at a very high offensive level even as he ages.
Despite having a down offensive year I think Ramirez would be better served by becoming a FA this year instead of next year. In addition to being a year older the 2015 free agent hitters are superior to the 2014 class.
Normally I’d agree, but it’s unlikely Ramirez will play in 2017. He’s hurt less if he signs a 1 year deal because can probably still easily find another 1 year deal in 2016. Though if he has a bad season he might make less than $10M on a one year deal in 2016.
I agree with this site. I think he’ll sign back with the Brewers on a 2 year deal. 2/26 seems likely, but I’ll also add that there will be deferred money involved and it might possibly be back loaded. Perhaps $10 M in 2015 and $16 M in 2016 with $6M of that deferred. It’d be like a mini version of the first deal he signed with the Brewers.
Can’t say I’m surprised. Can’t say I’m excited, either. This is a guy who spent almost half of 2013 injured, and a fair bit of 2014 injured or badly slumping, is going to be 37, and we might end up paying him $14MM. The only scenario I like that could come from Ramirez exercising his half is, if we are out of it come July, he could be a nice trade piece (assuming he’s healthy, which isn’t really a safe assumption). I’d honestly prefer he decline his half of the option. I think that $14MM could be better spent elsewhere on this team.
Ramirez might be better off taking the QO if offered.
The Brewers will not offer QO. The only reason they picked up their half of the option is they would have to pay something like $4M buyout if they didn’t pick it up. I’m guessing they are hoping he opts out.
What do you think they would do then to fill the position?
Chase Headley or insert random AAA worthy player.
Well, I was hoping “BREWER,” the guy who knows they won’t make a QO and knows the only reason they picked up their half of the option would share some more intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the FO.
Headley won’t be cheap and Melvin said after the season that he wanted to fix the offense or something like that. Headley might do well, but I don’t think it makes sense to expect it.
I’d be happy if they went with younger players, but it just seems so out of character for Melvin.
Crazy long shot that would be fun – the Korean 3B who is going to be posted.
I think you are on to something with Headley. But with several big market teams after him it would be tough. They are after left handed bats that get on base. Looks more like Ramirez comes back. Ben Zobrist is a guy that would make sense for every team out there. Bat similar to Headley but can play every position. Trading 5 years of Khris Davis for 1 year of Zobrist is possible.