Hanley Ramirez spoke to The Athletic’s Zack Meisel about his comeback bid with the Indians (subscription required), revealing that he had offers to join clubs following his release from the Red Sox last May. At the time, Ramirez told his agent that he preferred to take the remainder of the season to “get my body healthy and come back next year.” Informed that doing so would likely mean settling for a minor league contract — which proved spot on — Ramirez simply said he trusts himself and his ability to hit. As Meisel notes, that ability to hit is key for Ramirez, who’ll be viewed as a designated hitter if he breaks camp with Cleveland. That, in turn, would likely mean Carlos Santana serving as a dedicated first baseman and Jake Bauers playing primarily in the outfield, which would lead to further decisions in a muddled outfield mix.
A bit more from around the division…
- Twins slugger Miguel Sano is still about a week away from having the protective boot from his right foot, writes La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The laceration on his heel is “probably about 80 percent healed,” per Twins trainer Tony Leo, but its proximity to Sano’s Achilles tendon necessitates that it be fully healed up before he can resume baseball activity. That timeline could put Sano in doubt for Opening Day, though if all goes according to plan, he’ll have three weeks to build up to game activity and begin taking at-bats and reps at third base. New manager Rocco Baldelli simply stated that there’s “no way to say for sure” what Sano’s timeline is until the boot comes off.
- White Sox pitching prospect Dane Dunning won’t throw for seven to 10 days after having his recent bout of forearm discomfort examined by team physicians and doctor James Andrews, the team announced (h/t: Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, on Twitter). He’s slated to begin a throwing program at that point, assuming the pain in his arm has alleviated. Acquired alongside Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez in the 2016 Adam Eaton swap, Dunning has raised his profile with the ChiSox and has drawn his share of praise on top 100 prospect rankings throughout the industry. However, while he turned in a stellar 2.71 ERA with 10.4 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 between Class-A Advanced and Double-A last season, the 24-year-old was also limited to 86 1/3 innings by an elbow sprain.
- Tigers roster hopeful Dustin Peterson chatted with Chris McCosky of the Detroit News about his surprise at being designated for assignment by the Braves late last season and the opportunity he now has before him with his new organization. Peterson, who was promptly claimed by the Tigers upon hitting waivers, said he’d been hoping for a September call-up on the heels of a strong finish to his season in Triple-A Gwinnett. (Indeed, he hit .296/.345/.441 over his final 200 PAs with Gwinnett.) Instead, however, he was informed he’d been designated in order to make room on the roster for Preston Tucker (who’d spend the final month with Atlanta before being cut loose himself). McCosky notes that Peterson has been working out at first base to increase his versatility in a bid to make the Opening Day roster, though he does have a pair of minor league options remaining. Peterson could also see some time at DH, though manager Ron Gardenhire indicated to McCosky that the precise manner in which he utilizes the DH slot will be determined by how often Miguel Cabrera is capable of playing first base
Everything I’ve read coming from Cleveland’s front office says that Bauers and Santana both will log time at 1B. In fact, Antonetti has said he sees Bauers as being a really good first baseman.
Myself, I believe Ramirez making the team out of spring camp to be a longshot. Maybe he ends up going the same route as Melky did last year?
Santana and Bauer’s will get ABs at 1B/LF leaving DH ABs for Ramirez.
How many positionless teams won World Series since positionless baseball arose? Zero. How many teams have won World Series when their player obviously out of position? Zero. Santana or Bauer in outfield is bad. Hanley signing for DH? If he smash mash in spring, then send away to Tampa for a cheap outfielder.
Has a team ever won a WS with a terrible defensive outfielder? I seem to recall the cubs winning one with Schwarber who at that time was a god awful OF. Bauers runs pretty well for a 1B and has spent extensive time in the outfield in the minors so to suggest he’d be that bad is a bit of a stretch.
Buddy take a look at how many rings the Yankees won with Jeter playing shortstop.
Red Sox won with JD, then before that Napoli.
Astros had Beltran and Gattis.
Yet Jeter won 5 Gold Gloves.
Let that sink in.
Gold Gloves aren’t an accurate representation of defensive ability.
Jeter actually had terrible range.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/513855-damn-yankees-the-pure-insanity-of-derek-jeters-gold-glove
Let us not forget Edgar Martinez winning a Gold Glove while being a DH.
Jbigz…
Schwarber didn’t play the OF during the 2016 regular season or the postseason. He came back in the WS as a DH only.
So he won a popularity contest 5 times…clap clap clap…
Jeter was a terrible SS. He should have moved off the position when ARod joined the Yankees but Jeter is a selfish man.
Just another hyperbolic article from a hyperbolic writer — it’s the norm. Everything is either fantastic or terrible. No gray area. A more thoughtful writer would never call Jeter’s range “abysmal”. As a New Yorker I watched him play a thousand times, easily. His range was about average, nothing special. A far cry from “abysmal” or your word, “terrible”. Try not to jump on writers’ bandwagons — most of them are out to stake a place for themselves by making bold statements with little regard to their verity.
Any team whose best hitter was the “designated hitter”.
A thoughtful person would not put anecdotal data ahead of analytic criteria. All empirical data points to Jeter being a “terrible” defensive shortstop – on his best day. You are simply making it clear why eyewitness evidence has the least value.
We’re using subjective language. Your “terrible” isn’t likely to be precisely mine. I’ve seen shortstops with much worse range than Jeter — if we call Jeter’s range “terrible”, what word would I use for them? I know what I saw — I’ve been watching baseball for 50 years. I know, by my own definitions, who I would call “terrible”, who I would call “below average”, who I would call “exceptional”, and so forth.
So there!!!
Schwaber got hurt in like the third game of the season and was out until the World Series and only played dh then. So no the cubs did not win the World Series with his bad defense nice try though
But wait! Isn’t using the most extreme language from a position of limited knowledge what these boards are all about?
Bauers is a good young player. Should have no problem playing the outfield for a few years before moving back to first when he’s older
There is absolutely zero mention of Jeter in the article above.
Yes, teams have won the WS with a terrible defensive outfielder. 2004 Red Sox, with Manny Ramirez in left.
Jd Martinez was primarily a DH last year. And napoli was nearly a gold glove caliber first baseman
Jeter had a gold glove SS next to him playing 3B and a gold glove 2B. He was bad but covered.
Jeter played deep to help compensate for his range.
Some of the dumb Jeter-worshiping comments on this threat make me dislike MLBTR removing the “dislike” vote. Hellz, that was half the fun coming here. Now we can’t vote down Xabial’s stupidities?
Gosh I hope you’re not referring to my comments. Never was much of a Jeter fan, and I despise the Yanks. But if there’s one thing that never belongs in a forum, it’s name-calling. Calling anyone’s post “dumb” doesn’t say anything about them; it only says a whole lot about the kind of person you are.
That I’m a person who’s not afraid to call stupidity out? Especially when it’s from a repeat offender?
I’ll wear that badge with honor.
Ok, Stupid.
you can expect hanley to stay behind for extended sping training. indians have no need to rush him and will want the dust to settle to see where things stand. maybe they could squeeze 20 dingers from him?
I wish Dustin well—the Braves will miss him!
I hope he makes the opening day roster. I’m confused why let him go when he has ML options left? I like the pick up, regardless.
Why will they miss him? Outside of one ok year in AA, he doesn’t appear to bring much of anything to the table..?
Look deeper into his stats. He faced much older, more developed competition regularly. Each time he was nearly on level with the guys he faced (he was only say within 1.5 to 2 years younger instead of 3-4) the kid started hitting 290s, 300s for avg, and was putting up about a homer every 10-12 games – showing some power to grow into.
With 2 options left, even if you didn’t want him long term, one would think he gets held as a trade chip. Maybe not centerpiece, but a nice compementary player in a swap
I’m curious to see if the trade market will pick up for Castellanos, with Harper off the board.
I would love Castellanos for a Rockie, especially if they send back Ian Desmond plus two top prospects.
Then we all win! Rockies produce electric offense and dump salary. Tigers get top prospects.
Oh yeah the Rockies would win big time. Blackmon back to CF and Castellanos playing RF. You hit the ball in the air to right center field and it’s going for extra bases. That’d be a terrible idea.
Nick’s 2018 defensive numbers were better than one recently-signed superstar. He has played a grand total of one season in the outfield.
I think TB makes the most sense. I think the mindset should be trade now, or extend. With JV and Prince’s dead $ coming off the books soon, 3 year $50m would be reasonable.
I dont think Castellanos would accept that offer.
He’d probably go to FA if that was their offer. But it hasn’t been very kind recently to guys who don’t have a defensive position. He’s a very good hitter but he’s also not an elite one. If/when the NL adopts the DH his value would go up but I can’t imagine there’s too many NL teams wanting to giving this guy a long term deal given that he’s this bad of a fielder at his young age.
Yeah, right. The 2nd worst OF just got a 13 year deal from a National League team.
Thanks for pointing that out. Funny, most ignored the defensive numbers.
It seems Nick just keeps improving with the bat. I expect him to be in the 50 plus doubles category pretty soon.
Aj pollock signed a 5 year $60m, Eduardo Escobar signed a 3 years $21m, Marwin Gonzalez 2 year $21m, and Iglesias signed a year for $2.5. I think 3 year $50m for what Nick offers is more than fair. He’s not Machado or Harper, and his market is significantly less.
I would’ve liked to seen the Tribe go after Castellanos.
He would hit a ton of homers in Cleve.
I’m looking at the Sox trade of Adam Eaton and in retrospect, I think they will be the winners with 3 of their core rotation coming from the trade. I know Lucas didn’t have have the best of years last year, but he’s pushing 200 innings at 23. Not bad.
I know Kopech is out for the season w/ TJS, but man that kid looks like he’s going to be a good one. His first game he pitched against the Tigers was filthy.
Kopech came from the Red Sox in the Sale trade. He’s been clocked at 105 before
He’s a mental basket case though. A lot of scouts don’t think he’s capable of putting it together.
WSN hasn’t been able to get a full season of ABS from Eaton combined these last 2 years. To get Dunning, Giolito, and Lopez will for sure be a win. Lopez looks to be a back end starter while the other two have the higher ceilings. Giolito needs to iron out a lot to get there but getting that kind of potential for Adam Eaton always looked good. I think this deal was no worse than a win a win for CWS the day they made it. Looks like a win to me now already.
The Nats need to balance how bad Beane took them to the cleaners in the Doolittle trade. Luzardo is a legit ace in the making and Treinen is straight up better than Doolittle. Also Neuse turned his ship around after a slow start last year and is great at 3B defensively, so he’s a further trade chip.
Its the timing of those trades that was dreadful. If you put Sale, Quintana, Eaton and Sieman back on the WSox, they would be contenders now, with the division being lead by a weak Cleveland team. Instead, they are rebuilding at the same time as Detroit, Kansas City, and Minnesota. I have little faith in Hahns and Williams being able to do things better than those other 3 teams over the next 5 years.
Who cares about timing.
There is absolutely nothing dreadful or wrong about trading a slightly above average OF’er for 3 top 100 pitching prospects.
If anything is dreadful it’s the fact Rizzo is still GM in Washington.
That guy took a team who tanked their way to the top, spent assloads of money on players, and he made them insignificant with all his idiotic moves.
Also I have a hard time believing Eaton would of be done anything to improve the Sox over the last 2 years.
It’s hard to make an impact when you’re watching from the dugout 50% of the time.
Indians must be content with being central champions and getting bumped in the first round. They have done nothing about their bullpen and their outfield.
They can pretty much coats on pitching, perhaps they open the season to see how things go and then gauge the market for most pressing needs or even just wait until teams head north and see who has roster limitations and players become available.
Coast
There are other ways of shoring up a bullpen besides spending multi-year mega dollars on free agents.
Bingo! It seems like for every big dollar bullpen signing out there that fails there are two or three bargain price bullpen fillers that succeed. Lose guys like Shaw and Smith for $$$$$ and what them struggle and sign retreads like Oliver Perez have a great season on the cheap.
Hanley raked in 88 million over the last 4 years. I’m sure taking the rest of the year off while still collecting that check wasn’t a real hard decision. Can’t say I blame him. I’d have taken a full salary vacation as well. Particularly when there was no guarantee he wouldn’t have had to sign a minor league deal this year anyway.
I don’t buy the Hanley comments. All these teams and he picks 1 team where he’s a long shot at making the club. Sounds more like his agent begging teams to hand him a minor league deal.
You think this team is the one where he’s a long shot? They have a 1B who can play LF and currently have guys like Tyler Naquin, Jordan Luplpw, Matt Joyce, and Greg Allen fighting for those 2 starting OF slots. This was probably one of the best shots at a big league roster for him. It’s the only team in playoff contention that he has a shot of not only making but playing on the team.
I love how there’s no more downvoting, it was such a stupid idea in the first place lol
Snowflake. People need to be less sensitive.
Lol. If I had the same opinions as you Strike Four, I would be scared of the down votes as well.
The down voting was taking on a mind of its own. People were downvoting based on who was saying something over what was ACTUALLY being said. We all have a difference of opinion and that’s fine.
Until this comment, I didn’t even notice the down vote was gone.
Heck, I was getting downvotes because of the avatar I used to have.
Dustin Peterson should have never been cut by the braves. A top 30 prospect and full of talent, honestly he could have handled RF this year for us instead of signing Markakis. He’s no superstar but he can play. Tigers got a STEAL with this guy as they rebuild. Absolute steal
Tiger fan here. I completely agree. He hit a homer yesterday and took one away with a leaping catch. Not bad for a waiver pickup with 6 years remaining plus two options.
All the more motivation to unload Nicholas Castellanos or make full time DH. He’s in RF to make him more marketable but a detriment to team and other players development
I think 1st base. I like hicks a lot, but I don’t think he’s the answer. Slide Miggy at DH.
“Twins slugger Miguel Sano is still about a week away from having the protective boot from his right foot, writes La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.”
I think you meant to include “removed”… who edits these things? Or do they have an editor/proofreader?
Where’s the dislike button when you need one? Lol
I’d ask for a refund…
Sure its free, and that’s cool. They’ve advertised for editors and such here, and it’s a paid position…
The White Sox just need to have Dunning get the inevitable TJS and stop eating everyone’s time. It’s been on the table now for nearly a year.
Let Dunning have the surgery and hopefully he can get his career restarted. It’ll be shameful to have his talent wasted due to not being healthy.
While you’re at it, can you change the “like” button to “quite rightly”
Sano has to be one of the biggest let downs in recent history. He just refuses to get the message. Ate his way to 300lbs while engaging in seemingly endless sketchy behavior. Now, more irresponsible behavior (seriously slashing his heel somehow during post DWL series partying) after not hitting well in the Dominican Winter League to begin with.
At least the drama he brings is consistent.
Sano might have Delmon Young type career
Sick and tired of Sano’s BS, even ‘if’ he does rebound this year I’d really prefer it if the FO not extend him like they did for Kep and Polanco. Just let him play out his years as a Twin and go from there. Besides, I really doubt he’d wanna stay in Minnesota anyways, he seems like a guy that would much rather want to play for a big market team like where he can eat, party and chase as much women as he wants.
You would be proud. And calling people out, who in your brilliant opinion are “dumb”, accomplishes so much! Good for you! Turning off notifications. Remembering why I avoid these posts full of cowards who think they’d say these things to people’s faces, but in fact never would.
With the Bryce Harper signing, PHI has extra OFs. Perhaps CLE and DET can take advantage.
Get healthy Dunning! Need him, Cease and Lopez for 3/5 of the rotation by 2020, if not late this year.