The Brewers announced tonight that they will activate right-hander Corey Knebel from the disabled list tomorrow and designate fellow righty reliever Neil Ramirez for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster.
Ramirez, 27, was claimed off waivers from the division-rival Cubs just nine days ago and made only two appearances with the Brewers before his somewhat surprising DFA. The former No. 44 overall pick yielded two runs in 1 2/3 innings in his short time with Milwaukee, but as recently as 2014 he looked to be an emerging setup man with the Cubs. Ramirez was originally drafted by the Rangers out of high school in 2007, and he was included in the trade that sent right-hander Matt Garza (now with Milwaukee) from Chicago to the Rangers in 2013. He posted a 1.87 ERA with 68 strikeouts against 23 walks in 57 2/3 innings with the Cubs from 2014-15, though his 2015 campaign was derailed by right shoulder inflammation and an abdominal injury. Ramirez also dealt with triceps soreness back in 2014, and his fastball velocity is down more than two miles per hour since that strong 2014 debut.
While the injuries are clearly a cause for some concern, Ramirez’s former prospect pedigree and success in the 2014-15 season make him somewhat of an intriguing play for a team that can afford to take a chance on a controllable bullpen piece. It’s worth noting that the Braves, Reds, Padres and D-backs — each of whom had waiver priority over the Brewers when he was claimed on May 31 — passed on Ramirez last time he was placed on waivers, however, so it’s also certainly possible that he could slip through waivers a second time around if the Brewers elect to go that route rather than pursue a trade.
Well, that didn’t last long… White Sox could claim him, see what “Coop” could do with him……..
Cooper is the most overrated coach in baseball. Mr. Arrogance thinks more of himself than most fans.
Thank you. Been saying that for years. They lucked into the success of the ’05 team. Since then, garbage. Time for Kenny to go
Lol!
Hope he falls back to the Cubs and they cut the deadweight worthless 3rd Catcher who they stupidly decided to keep before.
Yeah no kidding.
What is his purpose on this team?
Doesn’t catch….Doesn’t pinch run….Doesn’t pinch hit…Doesn’t warm up guys in the bullpen….Doesn’t hand out the lineup cards…..I call him Sasquatch.
The Cubs want a third catcher around, since that could be as close to a weak spot as they have in June. He’s a fire extinguisher.
Contreras should be getting regular at bats, so he remains in Iowa. The best way to retain T-Fed as a fire extinguisher is to leave him where he is, and play him twice a week.
Bring him back and get rid of Clayton Richard
If the Cubs get him back (waiver claim), there is no reason to put him on the 25 or the 40 man roster. They would assign him to AAA or AA to try and figure out how serious his shoulder injury is
Knowing what we know about theo/Jed/Jason’s talent assessment and how theo/Jed manage every spot on the 25 and the 40, give them some respect for their logic for keeping Federowicz over Ramirez
Epstein cut ties with a former Sox player he drafted? Almost unheard of.. He’s afraid he’d lose the out of options retread type to some other team.. Why.. If Boston DFA’d another retread C (Dan Butler) right now, he’d be trying his best to ink him as well!
Ramirez was out of options. Cubs carried 13 pitchers to keep him on the opening day roster. If the Cubs got to claim him and tried to send him down, I think the waiver process starts all over again. I may be wrong, but the AL teams would get a crack at him after the NL teams.
I guess Joe needs Fed as a 3rd catcher security blanket even though he is basically just riding the pines.
Cubs’ bullpen is not bad, but it is shaky before Strop and Rondon. Richard is surviving because there no LHRP options ready in the system.
The Cubs keeping a 3rd catcher has more to do with Montero not being 100% healthy and the Cubs being afraid to expose Federowicz to waivers where he would more then likely be claimed.
All comments are legit;
– theo/Jed do love the guys they knew in Boston (they also must have a sense that the backup catching market is very weak .. Ie no chance that fed would pass through waivers
– yep.. Cubs went as long as they could with 13 pitchers
– Montero plus Ross plus ‘risk of injury’ does not give us 162 games
Real bummer that Ramirez shoulder injury cost him 4-5mph. Met him at cubs convention and he is a really nice guy
testing!
Ed is right but being conservative with the not 100% assessment. Word is that he is in worse condition than being advertised. I’m sure Contreras will be up at some point this year, just not now.