First baseman Roberto Ramos is returning to the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization for a second season, reports Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. After earning $500K in 2020, he’ll earn $800K of guarantees in 2021, with another $200K worth of incentives. The team has announced the deal.
Those unfamiliar with Ramos may want to take note of his name, as it’s quite possible it could come up in future offseasons. Despite a very productive age-24 season with the Rockies’ Triple-A club in 2019 (.309/.400/.580, 30 homers, 27 doubles), Colorado let Ramos go to pursue his initial KBO opportunity last winter. Ramos had a rookie season for the ages in the KBO, hitting .278/.362/.592 with a franchise-record 38 home runs, 17 doubles and two triples.
Ramos will turn 26 years old next week, so he’s firmly in the midst of his prime years. With a repeat performance in the KBO in 2021 — particularly if he can cut down on his 27.5 percent strikeout rate — it’s possible that he could draw interest from MLB clubs on a guaranteed deal.
This path has been of increasing popularity for minor league players in recent years, as MLB clubs have shown a willingness to offer guaranteed deals — often multi-year pacts — in order to bring breakout players back over from the KBO or Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Such deals can be of extra incentive to the player if they contain clauses which allow them to become free agents at contract’s end despite being shy of six years of service, as we’ve seen on multiple occasions. Even if Ramos takes a step back in 2021, he’ll have pocketed about $1.5MM for a two-year span in which he’d have been earning at a fraction of that rate in Triple-A.
dang, could’ve been an interesting add for a team this year.
Dang?
that power plays. i think he’d be an exciting player in the Majors.
Eh, not really. 1B/DH types are not valued at all in MLB, which is why the Rockies did him a solid by releasing him to go to Korea in the first place. He’d be one in an ocean of sluggers with no defensive value hanging around AAA and MLB, and wouldn’t play much. He’s better off being a superstar over there.
Ramos wasn’t the only first base option Colorado let go without a look. Brian Mundell was another. Then there are the players they let go cheap without a consistent look, such as Tauchman and Murphy, and the players currently getting snubbed, such as Rodgers and Daza.
This is one poorly run organization. They could have fielded a semi-interesting team while attempting to rebuild, but until now, they’ve squandered their opportunities and it may be too late. It will be tough to move Arenado or Blackmon, and Story won’t likely net much of a return with Lindor available via trade and several other options available via free agency.
to be fair, Mundell might have gotten a shot this year if he didnt retire.
To be fair would mean having been given a shot, rather than trying to stick around to be snubbed in a pandemic that resulted in no minor-league season.
That most certainly weighed into his decision to retire. Both were worthy of an opportunity in 2019.
hey, if it was my choice he would have started the season in the Majors with the numbers he put up, but if i remember he was put on the restricted list before the season even got underway. if it was Opening Day roster or bust and he didnt show well enough in summer camp then its on him to some degree for not at least being a bit patient.
Again, I’m talking about 2019.
Both were gone before the 2020 season.
Brian Mundell? Dude retired. He knew he wasn’t going to make it.
Brilliant.
The fact that so many of these former MLB minor leaguers are resigning in Korea should tell you something. That there isn’t a lot of interest from MLB teams. You can probably subtract .200+ from a Korean League OPS to get some idea of how they would play in MLB.
Or maybe they are smart and are taking the guaranteed money and playing time versus riding a bus or sitting at home if minor league baseball doesn’t return this season
Ramos numbers do look very impressive. I am guessing some teams wanted to sign him to a minor league contract but he decided to take the guaranteed money.
This could be an interesting and increasing dynamic for minor leaguers going forward in similar situations to Ramos. Like based on his 2019 minor league showing you could easily make the case that he deserved to be called up to the majors. But he wasn’t and as a result in the ensuing off-season he left for the KBO. This then means the Rockies now lost control over him (I understand they had to give permission for him so sign with the KBO team so technically they could have said no — but as of right now I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an MLB team blocking a players desire to go to Japan/Korea) — so anyway. Ramos was a AAA player who one could argue deserved to be called up to the majors — instead he goes to KBO and Rockies lose control over him. If/when he returns stateside he’s free to sign with any team. If he winds up being a star (or even just a solid starter) — the Rockies essentially lost all of their cheap controllable years over him because (1) they didn’t give him a shot in the majors and (2) minor league players make pathetically low salaries — which I’m sure was a major motivating factor in Ramos taking the $500K with the KBO vs making $50K had he remained in the minors. So… what’s my point? If this starts to become a bigger trend… teams are going to start losing more and more affordable control over possible ML players by waiting too long to call them up and because of how much more $ they can make abroad. If enough players start going this route (which if you were a minor league and could — why not make the extra $1M buck while you wait for a ML opportunity) they’re going to have to start paying these guys more $ in AAA to entice them not to leave for Asia. Idk maybe it’s far too small of a number of players who will actually go this route… but I’ve got to say… it seems like an incredibly appealing route for any player who could do it! So the potential for a broader issue is definitely there.
In a nutshell, Korea has become AAAA; NPB, a league of Pittsburghs.