The Brewers have claimed righty Neil Ramirez off waivers from the Cubs, according to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). Ramirez, who just turned 27, had been designated for assignment by Chicago.
Milwaukee is obviously in quite a different position than their division rivals. The rebuilding organization surely felt more willing to take a shot on a potentially impactful reliever who has struggled this year.
Ramirez, who was acquired as part of the 2013 Matt Garza deal, racked up 57 2/3 innings of 1.87 ERA pitching over 2014-15. He posted an impressive 10.6 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 in that span.
Of course, Ramirez also missed significant time last year with shoulder issues, and he hasn’t been himself thus far in 2016. While he is still running up a double-digit K rate, Ramirez is very nearly doing the same with free passes and has permitted four earned runs in 7 2/3 innings. The righty has lost over 2.5 mph on his average fastball since his debut season, though his swinging strike rate and zone percentage remain at normal levels.
Milwaukee will surely hope that Ramirez just needs to battle through a rough stretch. If he can right the ship, he’d provide the organization with another late-inning power arm. There’s contractual upside, too: Ramirez entered the year with 1.158 years of service, meaning he comes with four more years of control. Of course, that also makes him a likely Super Two candidate this winter.
As much as hes struggled this year, this is a guy who has a lot of upside if he rights the ship. This is a great move by the Brew Crew.
Wish he woulda fell to my Sox in the waiver order. I’d gladly take his upside over some of our current guys.
The loss of velocity on his fastball is troubling.
This stings. I liked this guy a lot, and it sucks that the Brewers get him for nothing just so the Cubs can keep a worthless AAAA Catcher around.
I understand Joe and theo wanting a third catcher at the ml level but I have no clue why the third catcher is fed and not contreras. I understand they want him to have regular playing time once he’s in the show but why not give him the treatment they were gonna give to Schwarber and have him always catch hammel or Hendricks or something
Cubs have one of the top bullpens in baseball. It doesn’t hurt them one bit. He’s hasn’t pitched well since the shoulder issues. Edwards or Patton will be up once they decide to send Tim Federowicz down.
It better be Edwards. I don’t know how much more dominating a kid has to be in triple A to deserve a spot on the ML roster. In triple A this year he has a 2.66 in 20.1 IP, 20 Ks, and a 1.18 WHIP…… In his 5 seasons in the minors with the Rangers and Cubs he has 332.1 IP, a 2.09 ERA, a 1.04 WHIP, and 416 Ks. Give this man a uniform…… in fact give him Richard’s.
How in the world did the Reds NOT claim Ramirez? Their bullpen is one of the worst of all time and somehow a pretty good arm like Neil Ramirez couldn’t improve it? They have 9 different pitchers with a WHIP over 2.000 in 2016 including 5 that are active on the 40 man roster. That’s just silly.
Hey, man, they’re trying to set reocrds.
It makes me see red watching this guy go to the Brewers all while Clayton motherf***in Richard still has a spot on the 25 man roster.