The Orioles have explored the possibility of signing free-agent first baseman Hanley Ramirez, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. General manager Dan Duquette confirmed Rosenthal’s report, telling Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe that a Ramirez signing is “under consideration” (Twitter links).
There’s already familiarity between Duquette and Ramirez, as Rosenthal points out that the executive has signed the player in the past. When the Dominican-born Ramirez joined the Red Sox as an international free agent in 2000, Duquette was their GM. The 34-year-old Ramirez has since enjoyed an accomplished career with a few teams, though he’s now coming off a disappointing second stint with the Boston organization.
The Red Sox reunited with Ramirez on a four-year, $88MM contract prior to the 2015 season, but he didn’t see the pact through. After Ramirez slashed a so-so .260/.326/.450 in 1,798 plate appearances in his return to the Red Sox, they designated him for assignment last month and ate the remaining $15MM-plus on his deal when they officially released him Friday.
Ramirez is now free to sign anywhere, and while he’d seemingly make more sense on a contender than a bottom feeder, the O’s are the first known team with interest in him. Baltimore entered Saturday with the majors’ worst record (17-40), undoubtedly setting it up to sell in advance of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. But signing Ramirez, whom the Orioles would only have to pay the prorated league minimum, could give them another deadline trade chip if he rebounds in their uniform.
Ramirez has hit .254/.313/.395 with six homers in 195 PAs this year, and even though those aren’t impressive numbers, they easily eclipse the horrid production Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has posted in 2018. Davis probably isn’t going anywhere, though, given that the Orioles still owe the once-elite slugger annual salaries of $23MM through the 2022 campaign. Elsewhere, the Orioles have three designated hitter types on their roster in the expensive Mark Trumbo, Pedro Alvarez and Danny Valencia, so it’s not exactly clear how much playing time Ramirez would accrue with them.
Bench Davis or eat his contract. They need contact hitters not the 3 true outcome hitters.
Davis has $80+ MM left on his deal. The O’s FO might not be the brightest in the business, but I’d imagine even they wouldn’t cut ties with that kind of debt… unless Anaheim cuts Pujols – that’d set a precedent.
Well both Davis and pujols are done. Never gonna be as good as they were. Their contracts are both awful. But pujols is a HOF who’ll sell tickets for autographs alone. Chris Davis is not that. I personally think Davis goes first. I know if I were somehow stuck with both, I’d release Davis and keep pujols for name power.
Teams still have backwards thinking when it comes to big contracts, and a desperate desire to recover some kind of cost.
Fact is, the Orioles are responsible for every cent of that deal. No team is going to take it off their hands. It’s a sunk cost, and how much playing time they give him is an entirely different matter.
Continuing to run the worst position player in the game out on the field, considering they owe him money whether they do or don’t anyway, is bad baseball.
So you’re saying there’s absolutely zero chance for Chris Davis to make a comeback? If so, that’s simply untrue. Sure, maybe Davis is burnt out and it’s all downhill like Ryan Howard. But I’d keep him around for another year or two.
Three horrid years in a row would require a dumping IMO. Davis is only halfway through.
I’d rather be a free agent
Serious question (pardon my ignorance): Is Davis still using Adderall? If he is, it ain’t working anymore. If he isn’t, did the league tell him to stop?
Dumbest-run teams in MLB in 2018:
1. Orioles
2. Mets
3. Blue Jays
4. Rays
5. Marlins
All biggest players for Hanley. lol
Id add Texas into this list
Why Texas?
I agree with all of the ones on your list except the Blue Jays. I’d also probably add the Royals, Reds, and Giants.
Why the Royals? Their current management got them to 2 world series with a limited budget. They may be crappy now but they’re in rebuild mode and should be. Other than them doing the Gordon deal I don’t get it.
Agreed, outside of the Royal may have waited a season too long to start rebuilding the Orioles should be run as well as Dayton Moore has done.
Just because teams aren’t winning right now doesn’t mean they’re run badly.
Lol Mets
No Padres or Reds?
Rebuilding teams at least have a plan.
Colorado not on that list? As in let’s give $70 million to a SS/OF that has never played 1B and make him our regular first baseman. Or let’s spend $100 million on the bullpen early in the off season when we could have waited and gotten pretty much the same bullpen for under half that amount.
Just what the Orioles need. Another player who can play 1B or DH.
Whats with all the hate on teams pursuing Hanley? If anything, its smart. Pay the minimum salary for a player who proved himself servicable as recently as last year. Makes more sense than Bautista, if anything. If it doesnt work out, laugh at Boston for signing the awful contract, then cry in your sleep as you realize that your team is awful.
But for real, its annoying that teams are now all over washed up stars like Hanley and Joey, yet ignored servicable free agents such as Adam Lind right around the time the season had started. What do these guys have that Lind didnt have back then? Money?
Hanley is an “Orioles” type of player. I don’t get why the team (owner) doesn’t believe in pitching. But I think Hanley still has a lot left in the tank. If he didnt have vesting option, chances are, he’d still be on that talented Red Sox team.
Now that’s a line up lol:
c/ Susac
1bs/ Davis
2bs/ Schoop
ss/ Machado
3bs/ Alveraz
lf/ Trumbo
cf/ Jones
rf/Mancini
DH / Ramirez
All Defensive team of all time! LoL
In case you haven’t been paying attention (and apparently you haven’t), pitching is not the Orioles problem. The fact that they have scored 3 runs or less in 12 of the last 13 and looking to add to that total today. I am so tired of people who don’t know about the Orioles commenting about what’s wrong with the Orioles. Either do some basic research to back up what you want to say or shut up and go away. Do the O’s deserve to be criticized? Absolutely. You just aren’t the one to do it based on that nonsense you just said.
The Orioles are 26th in the league for starter WAR….
Where do we sit for offense? Cobb’s ERA is going to keep coming down after his horrendous start and Gausman and Bundy have taken steps forward. Tillman also contributed to that fWar number and he won’t be starting anymore games in Baltimore. There’s more than just a fWar number to tell the tale. Our offense is a serious problem. At this point, it’s way more of a problem than our pitching.
4 of 5 O’s SP have ERA > 4.00 including these:
Alex Cobb 9 starts, 1-7, 6.80 ERA, 1.81 WHIP
Andrew Cashner 12GS, 5.02 ERA, 1.67 WHIP
Oh no, the rotation is definitely still the problem. The lineup has just so happened to be bad lately too.
Dude when was the last time the O’S had a pitcher with 15+wins and a sub 3.50 era?! That team is screaming for pitching.
I have watched almost every oriole games and I agree with you except Alex Cobb
Bro… the Orioles need to be worrying about their team as a whole. Everyone they have is terrible.
You win with pitching and defense, so I guess the O’s are bad at both of those huh?
Of course they are.
Well the way I look at it
If Hanley Ramirez signed it would show that Duquette still has pull in the organization
If Ramirez does well meaning he finds himself again, he could be a potential trade chip
Or if he really fits in then keep him for next year too
I don’t see how signing him would be a losing proposition for the O’s
Of course I read some of the above comments and one could think otherwise, but I don’t because I would like the signing.
I like it for Camden yards also, not to mention hanley’s better than trumbo/alvarez and Davis. What’s not to like about grabbing him for pro rated league minimum with those 3 in the regular lineup every day? It sure can’t hurt and Hanley’s the bargain basement type Duquette is known to grab.. Nothing but upside.
Problem is that he’s another RH bat on a team filled with RH bats. He could play 1B but that takes Davis out of the lineup (not that he deserves to be there right now, but he’s a good defender and hits left handed). Otherwise he plays DH and takes Trumbo (having a good season) out or forces Trumbo to RF and takes out Alvarez or Rickard. On a properly constructed roster the O’s should have a place for Ramirez. Unfortunately this roster is not constructed well.
Wall Ramirez is better than Alvarez and a few other like Silver said
The other problem is the Orioles are not Managed well
I am just overwhelmed by the feeling that the O’s won’t even run through Cheesecloth for Show!
Also McDowell is a complete disaster as pitching coach and Bobby Dickerson is an awful third base coach
Why in the world did Showalter fight so hard to keep McDowell on staff? It isn’t like the guy is any kind of pitching guru. If memory serves he burned his bridge in ATL not only because he wasn’t effective but he got into it with some fans and made some controversial comments.
Well there’s a lot of Boo Birds for O’s fans who think outside the box
Orioles needs to fire there whole coaching staff except buck
Because this is a major league lineup and they arent getting the most out of them they arent even trying to tank this year they have a rostee full of stars/past stars compared to the rebuilding marlins
I have to feel bad for anybody who is an Orioles fan… When your team is in such shambles that they consider picking up a guy who seriously underperformed because he’s cheap and you can hope and pray that he has a six week hot streak so you can trade him for something half-decent… well, that’s got to suck.
Why not go for a bottom feeder? If he does well, the team could flip him to a contender for prospects. Win-win.
I will give the O’s credit as a fan I am tired of teams tanking just to rebuild whatever happened to trying to fixing a farm system with putting up a competitive team that way and honestly would rather see teams go with guys that perform in the minors then guys that think they can hang on just for money and aren’t performing like Nate Orf, Kyle Wren, Tristan Archer, Brett Oberholtser, Ramel Tapia, Al Alberqueria, Sam Moll, Nick Tepesch, Tim Lopez, Dwight Smith, Dalton Pompey, T.J House, Rob Scahill, Robbie Ross, Alex Presley, Casey Gillespie, Jake Elmore,Ryan Cordell, Alexi Olgando, Forrest Snow, Adam Lind, Ivan De Jeusus, Mike Olt, Rusney Castillo, Ramon Flores, Christian Betancourt, Justin Grimm, Brandon Maurer, Kenny Vargas, Jake Cave, type of players. Sometimes heart can take you farther then these talented players who’s ego is holding them from trying or changing
HANLEY WOULD BE DEFENSIVE UPGRADE TO STLOUIS CARDINALS.
No he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t even be a defensive upgrade to the Memphis Redbirds.
You know NOTHING about the game of baseball !
Orioles sign Hanley and trade Davis and cash and Gausman to Colorado for Espinosa and 2 minor league pitching specs(a righty SP and a righty RP).
I hear you but let me ask you this. If Davis was on the Reds would you trade FOR him? Even if they threw an arm in at the price with his pathetic output. I want him gone too but a trade isn’t likely.
You know now that I think about it. I’m starting to think maybe Machado might be the one thing the Brewers could use as the one move they need I wonder if Phillips, Wilkerson, Griep, Ray, Lopez, Broxton, and Gatewood would be enough?
Too much. Way too much. Phillips as a centerpiece with some tagons is more reasonable. He may be machado, but he definitely isn’t staying with Milwaukee, and 7 cost controlled players of any mediocre level are not worth 2 months of machado. Do we need him? Yeah. At that price? Absolutely not.
Who is Espinosa? That being said, I’d be okay with trading Bowden and Nikorak, two former high picks that have not exactly blossomed, in that deal. Neither will ever work in Colorado, but they might have enough upside for another franchise to take on.
It would take BAL trading two quality minor-league arms they don’t have with Davis and a boatload cash for any other team to even consider taking on that five-year commitment.
I cannot imagine any scenario under the current circumstances in which BAL gets anything of value in exchange for 4+ years of Chris Davis.
If this means Davis becomes the most expensive bench rider in mlb I’m with it.
I want to see him sign with giants, only so the red Sox are paying for another giants player.
oh orioles
Dodgers
Can he still play SS? Move Taylor to 2nd and dump Logan Forever
O’s want another guy to try and hit homers? When will their one-trick pony system stop? They need pitching and speed. Not another guy who can hit 20-25 homers.
I get the idea of the O’s letting Ramirez build value for the next 6 weeks in hopes of flipping him, but he’ll need to play every day for that to be a possibility. They’re already backed up with 1B/DH types whose production is intermittent (or nonexistent in the case of Davis), so I’d just put him at 3B every day regardless of his defensive liabilities. The only other viable option is to move Davis to RF so HanRam plays 1B, but having Davis and Trumbo in the same OF every day may be a bridge too far even for this team.
Why is Hanley a better fit for a contender? He’s not a good player anymore. He was already on a contender, he wasn’t helping, and they cut him. He belongs on a ‘second division’ club where he can try to revive his bat.
Why would Hanley be a good fit for a non-contender? Non-contenders are trying to help their prospects become stars, not hope a veteran catches lightning in a bottle (unless it’s to trade him).
Mets.
Hanley can still hit.
This isn’t the first time BOS has waived a good hitting Ramirez with a lucrative contract. Remember from 2003:
The Boston Red Sox placed outfielder Manny Ramirez on irrevocable waivers yesterday, and they are hoping that another team will claim him and enable them to shed the five years and $104 million remaining on his eight-year, $160 million contract, two major league executives said.
If a team claims Manny Ramirez before the deadline tomorrow, it will become responsible for Ramirez’s contract, and Ramirez’s often turbulent three-year association with the Red Sox will end. Unlike with revocable waivers, Boston cannot pull back Ramirez if he is claimed. If no team claims Ramirez, the Red Sox will retain him but will have at least alerted other clubs that they are willing to trade him.
”It’s a weird thing, to be honest with you,” said one of the executives, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. ”I don’t know what they’re thinking, other than they want to get out from under that contract.”
There is no quick fix for the Os, nor a plan to turn things around. Team is a non-factor with international players and is saddled with a farm system starved for talent. Until that is fixed and a plan developed, the Orioles will be mediocre.
Bottom line is that nothing will change significantly until Peter Angelos is completely out of the picture. His meddling and overinvolvement – even in a limited capacity – will keep this organization in the dark ages.