The Rangers have signed left-handed reliever Cesar Ramos to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training, according to a tweet from Rangers executive vice president of communications John Blake.
Ramos, a client of the Wasserman Media Group, spent the 2015 season with the division-rival Angels and enjoyed a strong season out of the Halos’ bullpen but was surprisingly non-tendered in December. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected him to receive a $1.7MM salary, which the Angels clearly weren’t interested in paying despite the fact that Ramos logged a 2.75 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 47.1 percent ground-ball rate in 52 1/3 innings.
The 31-year-old Ramos certainly didn’t dominate opponents, as lefties hit .265/.346/.316 against him last season, while righties batted .276/.324/.382. Ramos, though, does have a 3.49 ERA in 276 innings dating back to the 2011 season, giving him a solid track record. Interestingly, the Rangers’ release notes that Ramos will be stretched out to work as a starting pitcher rather than resuming his traditional bullpen role. Ramos did start seven games for the Rays in 2014, but just 10 of his 251 Major League appearances have been starts.
Mane rangers got a scary bullpen
Minor league deal? Kind of shocked.
Thought the exact same thing
Looks like a pretty good pickup.
Freeman is still in the bullpen, as well.
Good God not him! His peripherals were pretty unsightly (5.9 BB/9, 4.60 FIP, 4.43 xFIP). He about gave me a heart attack every time he took the mound with all those walks.
Minors deal? Very Surprising. On the other hand, the Braves got Kyle Kendrick and Alex Torres on minors deals, and Torres and Ramos are comparable. Still surprising none-the-less
He is so underrated
Is there something I’m missing here? Why would the Angels even non tender him? Sure, his 0.3 HR/9 last year seems unsustainable, but his 0.7 HR/9 for his career is solid, and his 3.79 xFIP and his 3.56 SIERA last year should be worth at least $1.7 million. Nice pickup by the Rangers. I think he has stands a very strong chance of making the pen out of spring as the Rangers’ second lefty behind Diekman.
.265 BAA against lefties is troublesome
Sounds like Ross Detweiler 2.0. But….It’s a minor league deal so it’s not a big deal if he doesn’t show much in AZ. Right now, it’s Diekman & Freeman as the LHP’s coming out of the pen.
And I don’t think anyone wants to see Freeman warming up in thr Rangers bullpen. Unless of course you’re the opposing team.
Freeman had a couple bad outings in May…..but pitched very well the rest of the year. He had a 3.05 ERA overall ….like 2.50 in all his other appearances if you exclude those two bad games and did not give up a run in 44 of 54 appearances. I’ll take that! His control is a concern, though. 25 walks in 38 innings is not good no matter how you try and slice the numbers.