The Guardians have acquired reliever Yohan Ramirez from the Mariners in exchange for cash, according to announcements from both teams. Cleveland placed James Karinchak on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding 40-man roster move.
Seattle designated Ramirez for assignment last week. Rather than wait for the 27-year-old to land on waivers, the Guardians jumped the line by sending cash to the M’s. Ramirez still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so he’ll add a bullpen depth option with some roster flexibility to the organization.
Originally an Astros’ farmhand, Ramirez landed in Seattle via the 2019 Rule 5 draft. He stuck on the active roster for the shortened 2020 season, tossing 20 2/3 innings of primarily low-leverage work. The right-hander posted a 2.61 ERA as a rookie, but he walked an untenable 21.3% of batters faced. Ramirez averaged nearly 96 MPH on his fastball and struck out 27.7% of batters faced, though, and the M’s were impressed enough to keep him around in hopes he could emerge as a long-term middle innings option.
That didn’t wind up coming to fruition, even as Ramirez made marginal improvements from a control perspective. Home runs became a particular problem, as he was tagged for nearly two homers per nine innings over 25 appearances in 2021. He’s allowed another trio of longballs in 8 1/3 innings early this season, and the M’s decided to reallocate his spot on the 40-man roster.
That Ramirez can bounce between Cleveland and Triple-A Columbus is no doubt of some appeal to the Guardians front office. His career 13.6% swinging strike percentage is above-average, and he’s induced infield fly balls at a rate nearly double the league mark. That was enough promise for Cleveland to add him to the bullpen depth chart.
Karinchak hasn’t pitched this season. He opened the year on the IL due to a lower back strain, and today’s transfer means he won’t return until the first week of June at the earliest. A specific timetable for his recovery isn’t clear, although it’s not likely Karinchak would’ve been in position to return by the end of this month anyhow given that he’s yet to embark on a minor league rehab assignment.
The 26-year-old made his MLB debut at the end of the 2019 season and looked like a late-game stopper the following year. The righty struck out a laughable 48.6% of opponents in 27 innings that year en route to a 2.67 ERA. He did show some strike-throwing issues, though, and his walk concerns became more pronounced when his strikeout rate fell to a mortal (although still excellent) 33.2% last season. Karinchak pitched to a 4.07 ERA in 55 1/3 frames in 2021.
The day isn’t complete without a Mariners trade.
Yeah, but its supposed to with the Giants….
Okay then, I forgot what I was going to say…
Oh, now I remember, a relative of Lindsay Yohan?
What is a guardian
Symbol of the Woke culture.
Guardian is the newly acquired team name for the team formally known as the Indians. I wish they didn’t change the name but they did, and there’s nothing I can personally do to change it. So while I usually still call them the indians most of the time, I also started to call them a nickname based off the guardians team name. I call them the bird-dogs which means to watch someone or something closely which is exactly what a guardian does. Hope that helps.
The Bird Dogs would be a cool team name
“What is a guardian”
This is:
https://bit.ly/3NdTDFa
So’s this:
https://bit.ly/39sHMor
Grow up, buttercup.
I like it as well. Start calling them that if you’re not a fan of the guardians name, that’s what I do. Just yesterday my wife asked “what time are the bird-dogs on today” and all I could do was smile lol
Trader Jerry
You don’t mess with the Yohan.
Another Montero or Middleton rebound reliever? After leaving Sea.
What? Lol. Middleton has been way worse with Arizona than Seattle. ERA is basically identical but he’s now averaging 5 HR/9 and his FIP is 7.47 which is 3 points higher than last year.
*SPIDERS
Karinchak’s looked like garbage since the sticky stuff was outlawed. His 2021 stats in the aggregate don’t tell the story.
He gave up too many dingers (9), but 78 Ks and only 35 hits in 55 1/3 innings isn’t too bad.
Most of those good stats came before the Spider Tack ban, if memory serves.
But just the hood ones, not the bad ones. All Ks were before the crackdown and all hits were after the crackdown.
Good ones
Wait a minute. The team formerly known as the Indians had cash to send to another team? This has to be a lie.
You mean after giving $141M to Jose Ramirez?
Maybe they sent just $1… to make it all legal, ya know…
Same old drivel every single Cleveland article. Bunch of empty team name posts with nothing of substance. awesome.