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.
Ramirez would look better as a padre than Desmond would
If Ramirez signs with the padres, watch desmond go to the white sox
Um, Guys…..I hate to even bring this up, but why hasn’t anyone brought up Jimmy Rollins’ name anywhere? I know he’s a shell of his former self, but he’s still a solid defensive SS……and can probably hit as good as Ramirez will…….Just saying….He could be a surprise signing……..
He is no longer a “solid defensive SS”. Whether you look at dWAR, UZR, DRS, whatever, he was near the bottom of the list of qualified players in 2015. The bat may still play, but the glove does not.
He hasn’t been brought up because he’s the guy who’s three years older, was outperformed in nearly every category last year, costs a draft pick, and was looking for more money.
Jimmy Rollins didn’t receive a QO. There is no draft pick associated with signing him. Rollins and Ramirez were the bottom two SS in 2015 among qualifying players with Rollins having a 0.2 fWAR and Ramirez a -0.5 fWAR. Take a look at Fangraphs leaderboards.
Ian Desmond did receive a QO, but he is 4 years younger than Ramirez.
You’re right about Rollins not getting a QO. Total brain cramp.
Rollins want to stay at SS at liest one year takes a 2 year deal with the White Sox not much money involved here till Anderson comes up in September
So like… are they contending orr…?
I’d be shocked to see them finish above 4th place again. Ramirez wouldn’t be a big signing. He’s 34 and coming off the worst season of his career.
A surprise 3rd place finish for the Padres will sneak up on people
Padres won’t finish a head of SFG/LAD/AZD….they are bat tiling for 4th at best vs CR
Contending with the Rockies for 5th in the division.
I don’t believe so. If they sign Ramirez, it would be to serve as a stopgap until Guerra or another prospect is ready.
This could end very badly for Desmond. Even though he would be a clear upgrade on some teams, I don’t see any team willing to spend $107 MM on him (which is the amount he turned down in 2014).
He shouldn’t of turned down that offer
Looks like Ian Desmond should have a sense of humor and change his walk on music to “Turned Down for What”.
That’s true.. he might be regretting that.. I mean , almost every Mlb team is focusing on starting pitching or bullpen… He does not have that many suitors…
Gotta imagine the White Sox are the favorites to sign Desmond, then.
Signing a shortstop is a worst case scenario for the White Sox, who have a plus defender there already and two glaring roster holes in other spots of their offense.
Is there something precluding the White Sox from addressing the shortstop position as well as the need for an outfield upgrade and perhaps a right-handed starting pitcher through free agency or trade?
If you are under the opinion that Tyler Saladino gives the White Sox a better chance to compete for the division crown or the wild card as the White Sox opening day starting shortstop as opposed to a veteran like Ian Desmond, Alexei Ramirez or even Jimmy Rollins, you would be in a very small minority of opinion.
Fact is, upgrading offense, especially power, was the White Sox biggest offseason need, especially in a hitter-friendly venue like the Cell. The White Sox key to winning since opening their ballpark has been elite pitching and 200+ HR’s. in any given season.They have already added Todd Frazier at 3B and Brett Lawrie at 2B to help in that endeavor. If the White Sox were to sign Desmond, they would add a SS capable of hitting 20+ HR’s in addition to playing at least adequate, if not plus defense at the position. Conservative estimates would have a starting infield of Jose Abreu, Lawrie, Desmond and Frazier hitting in the vicinity of 90 HR’s, with a ceiling approaching 120.
With a solid rotation in place from 1-3, a decent enough bullpen, the upgrades at catcher and thus far in the infield, the White Sox are already projected as a .500 team for 2016. Adding a quality veteran SS, at least one more significant OF bat and perhaps a decent right-handed starting pitcher just might elevate the White Sox to division favorites, if not the entire American League.
I agree with your point but the issue with multiple needs and limited money is balancing importance. Yes, Desmond would indeed be an upgrade but an OF upgrade would upgrade multiple needs (LF and DH). I have no doubt Desmond would out perform Saladino but by upgrading the OF whether it be by trade or FA allows the White Sox to maintain gold glove play at SS with what will most likely be below average offensive potential. However the offense, overall, will have that upgrade in the OF, both offensively and defensively wiith an upgrade at DH with Melky moving into that spot as well The big issue here is will the White Sox spend enough to grab a pitcher, an OF upgrade, and a SS when they are not willing to spend 100 on one player such as Cespedes? Ideal world I’d want them to grab Cespedes, Desmond, and Latos to fill out the team which should fall right under 180mm in total money spent which would be well out of the white sox spending unfortunately.. If they pony up and grab those guys then I would feel very confident picking them to win the AL central as that power output would be immense
If Ian Desmond wants to go back to being a 125+ OPS hitter with a K-rate around 20%, I would love to see him on the South Side.
Unfortunately, his OPS+ has dropped 10+ points in three consecutive seasons (down to 80 this past season!) and his K-rate is near 30%.
Not to mention pretty bad defense.
Precisely. Bad now, and won’t improve – in fact, likely to decline further.
The more years he gets, the worse it looks. WAS dodged a massive bullet when Desmond turned down their extension offer.
Ramirez a deadline chip. I see you AJ.
No
ugh White Sox don’t sign Desmond please!!! You’re gonna make it so hard to support you in Chicago.. Give Saladino a shot at SS his Defense alone can carry him as a 9 hitter
The problem is currently they have multiple players vying for that 9 hole. You can only really compete with a player like Sanchez or Saladino at short if they make major upgrades to the outfield and DH.
agreed, however if defense up the middle is truly their priority why would you not remove Melky or Avisail from the OF and replace them with Cespedes or Upton, or Gordon for that matter before he resigned. Signing Desmond does nothing but add more offensive potential while hurting the defense in the long run. Signing one of the OF will push Melky to DH which kills 2 birds with one stone essentially where Desmond does nothing but give you a very good defensive option off the bench. Add in the draft pick being taken away and it does not bode well for the White Sox unless Desmond reverts back to his silver slugger days which I doubt would happen
That’s why I believe they should focus on the outfield. They need another high level hitter or another good on base guy. I don’t think any of the remaining shortstops are that guy, but Cespedes, Fowler, and J Upton are all still available. Give Saladino his chance. He flashed gold glove potential at a new position in third, shortstop is his natural position. Also, he’s shown improvement in his second year at every level he’s ever been at and flashed some power last season. I think he’s a perfectly suitable option and has a higher ceiling than most think.
As a long time Sox fan I’ll miss Alexei’s fielding but his situational hitting is very poor. First pitch fouled over the third base dugout so many times.
I want the Phillies to sign him for one year as a Jp Crawford stop gap and move galvis to second, or use Desmond at second doesn’t matter
He’s a good defensive SS except for April . In the right situation, he can hit 25 HR again pretty easily, his second half numbers looked a lot like his career rates. Someone might get a pretty good deal now.
Desmond declined a QO. There’s zippy chance the Phils would give up a 2nd rounder for him.
I’m sure with the revamped system the Phillies have they would be more then willing to take a chance at 25 home runs and 70 RBIS and a possible deadline trade to get the second rounder they lost via trade
Just what the Padres need. A 34-year-old shortstop that is a defensive liability and has been in a decline for 3 seasons. Paying him $30+ million for 3 years is just icing on the cake.
?
1 year for 4 mil buddy
Although Alexei Ramirez will be 34, he is not error prone and he is NOT an offensive or defensive liability. As a SS in 2015, he was 9th in MLB in Total Bases and 2nd in MLB in Chances. Generally, the higher the range, the more the errors committed. Here’s a short list: PO-Assists-E
Elvis Andrus 248-516-22
Alexei Ramirez 206-462-16
Alcides Escobar 217-417-13
Andrelton Simmons 235-444-8
Brandon Crawford 191-427-13