It was in the first inning of tonight’s game with the Royals that Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez swung and missed on a high fastball from pitcher Glenn Sparkman. That, in and of itself, wouldn’t be news–except for the fact that Ramirez signaled for trainers following his swing and was promptly removed from the contest.
Shortly thereafter, the Columbus Clippers–the Indians Triple-A affiliate– removed infielder Yu Chang from their lineup in a game against the Toledo Mud Hens. If you’re reading tea leaves, the conjunction of these two events would seem to be related, and a tweet from MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince confirms that Chang will be called up in the event of an IL placement for Ramirez (link). Castrovince goes on to reveal that Ramirez underwent an MRI on his right wrist tonight, but that it doesn’t appear as if the team will issue a “substantial” update this evening. Meanwhile, Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal heard from manager Terry Francona tonight that Ramirez has been dealing with wrist discomfort for “a while” (link).
A sustained absence for Ramirez would seem to spell some level of doom for the Tribe. After back-to-back poor halves to close last season and open this one, Ramirez has reemerged this summer as an offensive beast. His .327 batting average, 13 home runs, and 6 steals through 40 second-half games have gone a long way toward maintaining the team’s position atop the AL Wild Card race–despite a 3-7 record in their last 10 games entering play Saturday. At time of posting, the Indians sit in a three-way tie with the Tampa Bay Rays and the surging Oakland Athletics in a battle for the postseason’s two final play-in spots.
Hopefully not major.
Sincerely.
Twins fans.
Wrist injuries are NEVER good for a hitter!! It can completely sap them of their power, and just makes hitting in general uncomfortable..
The only hitter I’ve ever seen still maintain some level of success with a wrist injury is Freddie Freeman. Even still, with that being said, he clearly wasn’t the same force at the plate, and it resulted in him becoming just a slightly better than league average hitter..
Definitely wish Ramirez the best of luck, but it really sucks he was turning it back on as of late. Finally, right when he gets his stroke back, and gets back to being his old self, now this…Terrible news for Indians fans, because their solid run has coincided directly with Ramirez’s hot bat../:
Looks like the Indians are falling apart down the stretch. They already handed out 2 free wins to the Mets and got to watch their opposition celebrate like they won a WS.
Troll.
The Indians did not hand the Mets 2 wins this week?
It’s the “falling apart down the stretch” part of your comment. Injuries are part of the game and they’ve had them all season long and still rumbled on despite the internet GMs now saying they should have every injured player prior to being hurt.
I don’t now. . Scary thought on the wrist because your power to
The ball is there good luck ouch Holy big loss
Did you type this on a toaster?
Or while sitting onastick
i said it before and I’ll reiterate. They should have reloaded this off-season. Ramirez, Kluber, Carrasco (Good luck to him on his illness and I didn’t see that coming or anything but thought k and c should go definitely), Lindor, and Bauer. They could have received 2-3 mlb ready sp’ers, a bp piece or two, infielders a couple top prospects and possibly enough left to get Scherzer. It sounds far fetched but they’d have the money and the Nats should be receiving high-end talent before the cracks/injuries start.
You wanted them to trade their entire roster and then immediately go after Max? What?
Uptown BJ, can you tell me tonight’s lottery numbers or do you just look at life in hindsight with the would’ve could’ve should’ve s? Making all of those moves in the off-season would’ve been utterly idiotic.
They should have traded every good established player they have and then tie up their entire payroll in a single starting pitcher for his age 34-36 years? Yeah, that’s a sure path to success.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the Indians are working their way towards a Tampa Bay type of business model where they dump players before they have to pay them any money. The old trick of buying up a players arbitration years for less than they might have paid them in exchange for guaranteed money no longer works, thanks to player agents advising their clients not to accept contracts like that anymore. Next to go: Francisco Lindor.
They got Ramirez and Carrasco to sign for team friendly deals ahead of time. As for Lindor, there is no way he would re-up no matter if he was wearing the Tribe jersey or that of ~26 other teams.
Yu Chang wins.
The only comment that makes sense on this thread
Fight.