The Indians took a massive hit in late August when third baseman Jose Ramirez fractured the hamate bone in his right hand. Now, with the Indians fighting for a wild-card spot in the American League, Ramirez is working toward a regular-season return. There’s at least a possibility he’ll back for the team’s road series against the White Sox next week, Mandy Bell of MLB.com writes. That would give Ramirez a chance to play in the final six games on the Indians’ schedule.
The injury to Ramirez has been part of a long line of health issues for this year’s Indians, who look as if they will fail to take the AL Central for the first time since 2015. Ramirez’s aggregate production hasn’t come close to where it was from 2017-18, which is one reason they’re four games back of the Twins in their division, though he did recover from a brutally slow start this season before landing on the injured list. The 27-year-old switch-hitter owns a .254/.325/.463 line with 20 home runs, 24 stolen bases and 3.0 fWAR in 532 plate appearances, so he has certainly remained a quality player in 2019.
To its credit, Cleveland has more than hung in the AL playoff race sans Ramirez, having gone 13-9 dating back to his Aug. 24 injury. The Indians just defeated the Tigers, so they’ll be tied with the Rays for the AL’s last wild-card spot heading into Friday.
The Ramirez-less Indians have largely turned to Yu Chang at third base with Mike Freeman and Ryan Flaherty also seeing time at the position. Nobody from that trio comes with a ton of upside, though, and with the Indians having lost second baseman Jason Kipnis to a season-ending hamate fracture this week, it’s all the more important for their infield to get Ramirez back as soon as possible.
He looked okay taking grounders before the game tonight. I believe they said he was hitting in the cages, too.
Be nice to get him back.
Just not this year plz Twins need to win right now
The hope is this weekend series against Chicago.
The Indians don’t play the Chicago White Sox this weekend. They play the Phillies in Cleveland in a three game series ending on Sunday.
They will play the White Sox next week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in their penultimate series of the regular season before traveling to our nation’s capital to finish the regular season against the Nationals in September 27, 28, & 29.
Ultimate irony: Yan Gomes hits a game winning home run next week to knock the Indians out of the playoffs.
More ironic is that they wouldn’t be in that position to be eliminated by him if he was still here as the starting catcher. Perez has outperformed him so much they’d already be eliminated.
My bad. Should have said the series after the Phils.
Now they’re saying there’s a possibility of him pinch-hitting this weekend.
Are you planning on beating the Yankees for a change?
This guy was on Fire before he went down
Yes he was despite the fantasy baseball GMs saying he was done, would never find his stroke again, should be optioned or cut as he was Baerga 2.0 and so on…
You tend to get hot when you play the Royals and Tigers constantly for two months.
Or Oriole and Jays…not sure why the Indians and Indians alone keep making these cupcake schedules.
“nobody from the trio comes with a ton of upside”
Mike Freeman is no Jose Ramirez, but he’s batting .276 and contributes when he’s in the lineup. seems like a little bit of a stretch to say there is no upside
Yea Freeman has been holding it down
I didn’t say “no upside.” I said “not a ton of upside.” There’s a difference.
Agreed. There is a difference between no upside and a lack of a ton of upside, indeed.
What matters more than what degree of upside going forward, regardless of whether or not upside can be accurately measured, is who can produce enough to contribute to a sufficient number of wins in to lead the Indians into the postseason.
If the Tribe plays October baseball, who can continue to contribute to advancing?
The big unknown, among other factors, is even if Jose returns, along with a theoretical projected superior upside than those who have been his substitutes, will he actually be productive enough to contribute in ways that make a positive impact?
In some past postseasons, some players returning to the Tribe following significant in-season Injuries not played up to par and have damaged Cleveland’s chances of a championship.
I find it weird you included Yu Chang in the grouping of “not a ton of upside.” He is the Indians 11th ranked prospect according to mlb’s rankings. He was apparently a hot commodity during the last few trading periods. He may still be young and hasn’t done much offensively, but I think the potential is still there.
Does Chang have a ton of upside at this very moment, when the Indians are fighting for a playoff spot? He’s hitting .193/.292/.298. The point is Ramirez is far more preferable to the guys the Indians have plugged in during his absence. They’d have a better chance to get to the postseason with Ramirez.