Hanley Ramirez has a March 24 opt-out date in his minor league contract with the Indians, tweets Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal. They’ve been trying to get the veteran slugger as many at-bats as possible in a short period of time in order to make their best judgment on whether he can help the club. If Ramirez were to make the roster, he’d serve as a pure designated hitter, thus pushing Carlos Santana into regular first-base duty and moving Jake Bauers into the outfield with more regularity. Entering play Wednesday, Ramirez was 7-for-28 with a pair of doubles, a walk and five strikeouts through 29 official plate appearances thus far in Cactus League play (not including any work he’s received in minor league and intrasquad games).
Some additional chatter from the AL Central…
- Outfielder Eddie Rosario tells Dan Hayes of The Athletic that he’s open to signing a long-term deal with the Twins (subscription link). The interest is mutual, Hayes adds, though to this point there’s been no meaningful progress in talks. Rosario has solidified himself as a quality regular over the past two seasons, hitting a combined .289/.326/.493 with 51 homers, 64 doubles, four triples and 17 steals. He’ll earn $4.19MM in 2019 after reaching arbitration for the first time and won’t be a free agent until after the 2021 season. Rosario will play the upcoming season at age 27 and would’ve been eligible for free agency entering his age-30 season. Agreeing on how many free-agent years to buy out and placing an annual value on those seasons will be the main talking point in negotiations, as both the Twins and Rosario’s representatives have a pretty clear idea of what he can plausibly earn in his final two arbitration years.
- The loss of Michael Fulmer to Tommy John surgery has opened up a potential path to the Majors for Tigers right-hander Spencer Turnbull, writes Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. Detroit skipper Ron Gardenhire has previously advocated for Turnbull as a viable rotation candidate, Fenech notes, and the 26-year-old righty could find himself vying with southpaw Daniel Norris for a rotation spot early in the season. The 2014 second-rounder made his MLB debut in 2018, and though he was tagged for 11 runs in 16 1/3 innings, Turnbull only yielded 17 hits and four walks to go along with 15 strikeouts. This spring, Turnbull has held opponents to three runs on 13 hits and a pair of walks with 15 strikeouts in 15 innings. The Tigers also have Matthew Boyd, Jordan Zimmermann, Tyson Ross and Matt Moore lined up for rotation jobs, and it’s possible that Norris (or perhaps Turnbull) opens the year in a multi-inning relief role.
HanRam in the news again. This guy just doesn’t go away.
He’s only 35. I think he has a good season or two (good meaning above average) left in him if he sticks somewhere
If he doesn’t go to prison
Why would he go to prison? Because that one guy threw out his name to try and get the heat off of himself?
And had his number, kind of hard to explain why a drug dealer would FaceTime you unless you’re really tight.
His last good season was met with a PED suspension.
Hanley has never been suspended for PED use.
You’re thinking of Trout, Halos. Wait, I get my white people mixed up.
“He’s only 35”
I think he has some left in the tank too.
He might go away, if he continues to stink in spring training like he has been.
Stats arent bad
I’ve been watching the games he’s played in. Weak hits, can’t even reach the warning track. Tonight he hit a grounder to 3B, guy botched it and it rolled away, then the SS run it down and still threw him out at first. Pitiful.
He looked good in the at bats I saw him have against the Dodgers.
Then you have really low standards.
Please send Norris to Toledo and see if he can remain healthy and get back in the habit of starting every 5 games. He needs to build his confidence back up and the Toledo rotation would be better that a relief role that is hit and miss imo. Plus Turnbull looked great today and earned that 5th spot!
Yeah. He’s in need of some low pressure situations to regain confidence.
I’d like to them to give Turnbull a chance. What’s there additionally to lose when they’re targeted for another 90+ loss season. Take a look at a few youngsters like him, Funkhouser, Burrows, etc. early on to see who to slot into #5 in the rotation…..include Norris in that bunch if he proves himself at Toledo. I’d also say try again with Hardy. He did a surprisingly solid job spot starting last season.
Spencer Turnbull earned a rotation spot. The battle for a 5th SP should be between Daniel Norris and Tyson Ross. Is Ross even a MLB class pitcher?
Ross has looked better every time out. Norris hasnt stayed heathy as a starter. Time to see if he works better in the bullpen.
ALERT: Regular season started! 5:36am (6:36pm local) Opening day time. How crazy is that? Seattle won 9-7.
Game 2 is being played in 2 hours.
Give us a live pitch-by-pitch update, xabes. Tell me every time a player gets 0.1 WAR.
ALERT: we all have smartphones and get updates on this if we want. Thanks tho
Thanks for the update! No one else has the ability to find this info other than your greatness.
Please make Rosario a Twins lifer! The guy is fun to watch. I hope he gets more time in RF this year so I can see him throwing out fools who think 3rd base is available.