The Nationals and Wilson Ramos suffered a crushing injury earlier this week when Ramos tore his ACL — an unfortunate incident that will obviously prevent him from playing in the postseason and may severely hamper his free-agent stock this winter. The full extent of his injury won’t be known until he goes under the knife, but Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeted earlier this morning that it’s believed there could be damage to Ramos’ meniscus as well, which certainly wouldn’t make rehab any easier.
Ramos is thinking of the team first, he told reporters, including MASNsports.com’s Byron Kerr (via an interpreter), explaining how difficult it will be if his injury and rehab needs force him to watch the postseason from home rather than alongside his teammates. Manager Dusty Baker said he’s hopeful that Ramos can at least be available to stay with the team during the playoffs so that he can provide leadership and instill some wisdom and scouting reports into backstops Pedro Severino and Jose Lobaton in October.
From a personal standpoint, Ramos said he hopes to remain with the Nationals but conceded that he’s not sure he’ll be able to play with a National League club next season — seemingly implying that his knee injury may require some days as a designated hitter, at least in his first year back: “Unfortunately, this injury happened so close to the end and it may affect whether I’m able to stay with a National League team or not, but if it’s up to me, I definitely would like to keep playing for the Nationals and play as long as I can.”
Ramos was previously a lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer in search of what we at MLBTR were projecting to be a five-year contract, though his untimely injury certainly reduces the likelihood of that scenario and probably eliminates it altogether. It’s difficult to know exactly where to peg Ramos’ free agent stock until we have a timeline for his recovery, and that won’t be known until after his surgery takes place. As MLBTR’s Jason Martinez observed, Yasmani Grandal underwent surgery in July 2013 to repair both his ACL and MCL but was ready for a full Spring Training and the Opening Day roster in 2014. Ramos’ injury, of course, is not only different but is potentially more difficult to rehab, as he’s older and this is the second time he’s torn his right ACL in his career.
If Ramos is able to make it back for a significant portion of the 2017 campaign and an American League club proves to be the best fit based on his medical evaluation, then there should be no shortage of teams on the lookout for a catcher this winter. The Angels, Astros, White Sox, Twins, Orioles and Rays could all use upgrades behind the dish (though a catcher with knee problems may wish to avoid running on the turf at Tropicana Field, and even at a reduced price, Ramos may prove too costly for Tampa Bay).
In regards to this being his second ACL injury and it being more difficult to rehab I have information to share. So I have just recently torn my ACL in my right (dominant) leg for the 2nd time. The first time was 9 years ago when I was 18. I used an allograft (cadaver) the first time and it took me about 7 months to get back to action, 10 months before it felt stable and about 18 months for it to feel as close as to what normal felt. I tore the ligament again about 1 month ago.
Going in for my consultation I spoke to my orthopedist about this next recovery time and my athletic prospects moving forward. He was saying that the technology and knowledge they have now, will likely make my knee stronger after this surgery than it was prior. This time I will be doing an autograft (my own tissue) and the recovery time is expected to about 2 months shorter than my previous regime. Also, apparently they are using tissue that has bone on both ends and fusing that with the knee instead of pinning the tissue to the bone which creates a more stable hold.
It was something that I found very interesting because growing up the ACL was almost the “death sentence” for an athlete and now its basically a 9 month injury and the way it was described to me is that they can just keep putting in a new acl if I keep tearing it.
I doubt few care but I thought I would share what I know
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
That is very interesting, certainly because it would mean that Ramos will be able to catch again starting next July. However, I think he should take the qualifying offer because many teams want to know for sure what they are getting.
As for you, I hope you get well soon and will be able to play sports again.
there is no way the Nationals even offer the QO now after the injury. Because he WILL take it. Can’t pay 17 million for 3 months of a season.
That was my initial thought as well, but than I reasoned that since a lot of teams need a catcher and the free agent market is pretty barren, he will get a lot of pretty good offers. A 1st round draft pick is valued very highly nowadays, so I think the will give him a QO.
All in all, it is quite a tricky decision for the Nationals front office.
i think they’ll try to give him a qo and he’ll end up taking it. market for catchers is desperate but nobody’s offering the kinda deal he was going to get prior to the injury.
Thanks for the insight!
thanks for sharing, best wishes to you nathan!
If the Washington medical staff deem his timetable for game readiness close to the end of spring training 2017, I can see him definitely getting a Qualifying offer. Listening to his comments about playing time next year, it would be difficult for a National league team to carry Ramos on their roster. For a American League club to carry him, they would need roster versatility. You would need to carry three catchers because Wilson’s workload restrictions would warrant days off from catching and him serving as the DH. No manager with only two catchers wants to use one of his two catchers as a DH.
Times like these wish NL had DH as well.
He’s a great catcher with a great eye for balls and strikes.. priceless in my mind. What more do you want? He catches some of the best in baseball. #fantasyowner #cubfan #keepramos
Wow, that is a scary injury to have for someone in a sport such as Baseball where a catcher’s knees are vital. Hopefully he has had rehab.since then. The team most likely has physical therapists and chiropractors on-call to help him with rehab and moving his knee joints slowly but surely to ensure that he can recover as quickly and efficiently and with the least possible pain as he can. Because if he is not moving his joints, he will be in pain and his recovery will be much slower.