Wilson Ramos is in his first year as a Met, having signed a two-year, $19MM contract with the club last offseason. Amidst a disappointing few months in Queens, Ramos acknowledged the possibility this might be his only season in orange and blue. “If they make a decision to trade me, you know, it’s happened before in my career, so it’s not going to surprise me,” Ramos told Newsday’s Kenny DeJohn.
As DeJohn notes, Ramos has seen his playing time dwindle in recent weeks. Ostensibly brought in to be New York’s top backstop, Ramos has started just five of their last nine games, ceding playing time to 25-year-old teammate Tomas Nido. This doesn’t seem to be indicative of any health concerns, as Ramos tells DeJohn he’s surprised at his downtick in playing time.
Indeed, Ramos’ comments are especially noteworthy coming on the heels of reports Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard have developed a better rapport with Nido than with the veteran slugger. A glance at the respective catchers’ defensive metrics might offer an explanation. Baseball Prospectus tabs Nido as a slightly above-average pitch framer and ball blocker, in accord with his strong defensive reputation as a prospect. Ramos, meanwhile, rates near the bottom of the league in both categories. (In fairness to Ramos, he rated as an average defender between 2017-2018, so it’s possible there’s room for improvement).
Regardless of one’s opinion on pitch-framing metrics, that the Mets’ top hitting catcher hasn’t gelled with the club’s top two arms is obviously suboptimal. Ramos did catch deGrom Friday night for the first time in nearly a month, but Syndergaard has been paired with Nido in each of his two starts since the fireballer returned from the IL last week. The Mets, amidst organizational chaos, seem likely to sell off short-term assets anyway, and Ramos’ reported disconnect with the team’s top arms could make a change of scenery best for everyone involved.
Despite his defensive shortcomings, it’s not hard to see Ramos piquing some interest on the trade market, although any prospect return will be marginal and will require the Mets pay down some of the deal. His .275/.350/.413 line, while down from his career-best hitting in 2018, is still plenty formidable for a catcher. Ramos’ 105 wRC+ ranks ninth among catchers with at least 200 plate appearances. Even with midseason catcher trades being difficult to pull off, Ramos’ 121 wRC+ since the start of 2017 will interest some contenders.
Speculatively speaking, an AL club who can rotate Ramos through catcher, first base and DH to keep him healthy and creatively work his bat into the lineup might make the most sense, but it’s not hard to see an NL team viewing Ramos as a sufficient offensive boon to live with mediocre glovework behind the plate. The A’s, Rangers, Rockies and Pirates all remain on the fringes of contention despite lackluster production from their backstops. Texas, in particular, has set itself up to be a modest buyer with its surprising 47-42 record, and GM Jon Daniels noted last month that any acquisition would likely be under team control for 2020, as Ramos is. Pairing Ramos with Jeff Mathis, a gifted defender whose bat has cratered to unplayable levels, could give Texas a much-needed jolt behind the dish.
Regardless of Ramos’ ultimate destination, the Mets’ decision to pursue him last offseason, while understandable at the time, hasn’t gone as planned. While far from the team’s biggest blunder in their series of aggressive moves, the Mets may be left footing some of the bill for their veteran backstop to move elsewhere over the next few weeks.
His defense is so bad he makes me pine for Mackey Sasser
He only became a bad defender when he joined the Mets. With all this about him just not getting along well with the team you really think its unrelated?
Ramos isnt the only one underperforming either. The Mets are a disaster.
Lol please
Oh..good argument. Who can come back from that? Facts vs. “Lol please”.
Hes just lazy behind the dish. Not blocking balls with your body as a catcher has nothing to do with not liking your team. It comes down to pure laziness not to mention he keeps tipping off the pitches to opposing hitters.
“Lol please” is spot on. He is known as an offensive catcher who lacks defense. Yes, his defense has gotten worse, but it was not good to start with. How about facts vs he recently became a bad defender.
The Mets enduring “organization chaos” may be an understatement. This team should’ve waited another year to spend that they did. They should move everyone not named DeGrom, Alonso, McNeil, and Diaz. Cano and Cespedes are sunk cost. Who the hell is leading the pitching staff? Ramos and his decent bat/poor D sitting out games is a sad situation. Like the NY Knicks, this is a club with so much potential in their market.
When you tear down you don’t keep rp’s, pitchers 30 or older (28-29) is really too old imo for a rebuilding team. I really like him but signing two 1st base/dh vets and adding Alonso to the Cano trade might be the best way to go. Alonso should have been up two years ago. I’d have traded Wheeler in the off-season and would have been shopping Thor since then. If they were smart they would have done all that, signed Kimbrel and Keiuchel to just enough to get them and would shop them this year until the deadline next season, sending cash with to increase the return. Think about the return, DeGrom or Thor could have gotten Gore plus. Diaz gets a top 30 prospect plus. Wheeler would have netted some talent but not sure what. Conforto, Nimo, Cespedes and Cano (with money) would have brought back something while saving over a hundred million. Honestly Nimo, and DeGrom/Thor could have gotten alot from the Padres while strengthening the MLB squad.
A team that makes sense that can acquire Ramos is the Athletics A’s.
He’s a great fit there actually. Wouldn’t mind seeing him pair with Chirinos and take White’s spot on the roster in Houston.
Ramos probably is a better defender then he’s looked like this year, but he could be a pretty solid DH too. Astros could still be an option, as is a return to Tampa. Maybe indians too if the Mets are willing to pay off a bit of salery.
I can’t see a fit for Ramos in Cleveland unless there is a seasoning ending injury to Roberto Perez. Perez deserved an All-Star bid this year..
When you can only nail 11% of base stealers, Nido isn’t our future either.
Yeah, but how much of that is on the pitcher?
a lot given they are the ones who want him as their catcher
Most of that (stolen base percentage) is on the Mets’ pitching staff. Apparently major league coaching has nothing to do with improving performance. It’s all about time to the plate. Catchers have no chance of the runner gets 6 streps before release.
Have you seen how Mets pitchers hold runners on. They don’t. Yadier or Pudge
couldn’t throw out runners with that staff, especially Noah & Matz.
After Wilson’s $8.25M 2019 Salary, Mets owe $10.75M through the 2021 Option Buyout. The bat doesn’t justify significant DH opportunities in the AL and as mentioned he’s a subpar pitch framer that doesn’t throw out runners or block balls. Basically, he’s a negative value contract that shows the relative amateurism of the Mets Front Office. Maybe if the Mets eat $5M of the 2020-21 $, the Rays will see an offensive upgrade that could justify a few DH ABs and potentially catch a couple days per week? But again, that’s one of the more analytically driven FOs that won’t overlook pitch framing issues. And any team that’s willing to commit multiple Yrs to Jeff Mathis in FA (Rangers) is so obsessed with framing they can’t be reckoned with given his staggeringly bad offensive output. Getting out from this contract will require eating money and creativity… Maybe package with a couple prospects to the Royals for Maldonado or broach the topic of taking on Ian Kennedy’s deal? Or potentially Angels, in exchange for one of their albatross contracts? What AL team has an overpriced pitcher they’re desperate to discard and a hole at Catcher? Tigers for Jordan Zimmerman (with Tigers eating some $.) What a dismal offseason for BVW. When he couldn’t get Realmuto and wouldn’t pay the price ($ and draft pick) for Grandal, he resorted to offense over any defense, despite the team being built around pitching.
Now, Noah Syndergaard would probably complain throwing to an in his prime Pudge Rodriguez. It’s time for the Mets to admit a change of scenery for Noah is worth re-exploring. But in the end, Ownership must admit the BVW experiment a mistake, and move on.
I think his bat would improve if he was solely a DH. And his production at the plate is still better than a lot of teams current DH. I would trade for him as a DH, maybe a few games a week at catcher.
He might be bad but getting fans excited and the pr alone probably make him worth it so far. Teams that hire a gm and fire find within a year are universally (right or wrong) considered bad organizations. I’m not sure how much he’s done well, but Preller did a similar thing in S.D, and even though I’ve disliked some of his moves (Hosmer) he’s responsible for Tatist for the price of Shields, drafted Gore, and I believe has brought in a lot of international prospects. They had high picka, blew past the allotted amounts at the right time, has his team on track to compete with the richest (Dodgers) team in baseball over the next decade and still remember most on this and other sites calling for his head mainly for trading Kimbrel, which although they haven’t panned out great was a good package. I’d give this guy another season or two before I said much. P.S. Sometimes you’ve got to act like you’re going for it to convince people it’s time to blow it up.
Wilson is singing what he should have since opening day please for the love of God for all that is human I beg you dear Lord above trade me get me the hell out of this swamp!
Mets have craved an offensive catcher for years now and once they have one they want to get rid of him for nothing. I get he’s bad defensively but it’s not like anyone would be able to throw out runners with how bad the staff is at holding on runners and being slower to the plate than cano is to first
Are the Mets still paying Bobby Bonilla?
They sure are. Nearly 2 million this year, I believe.
1.19 million is nearly 2 million?
curious is anyone else having issues reading the comments it is like only half showing on my screen? if there are mispellings please forgive me since i con only see the first 4 or 5 words. Its like the top stories is on the right and the bar it should be on is covering up half the screen. Its only in this article and not any of the others.
You’re not missing anything good.
Ramos is the least of the Mets problems. Too much cheese spent on dead wood. Bullpenners are a funny breed, but everyone expected much better from Diaz and familia. Time to blow it up and start from scratch. But is the guy in charge the guy you want to be in charge?