The Rays were victorious in their arbitration hearing against Harold Ramírez, as first reported by The Associated Press. The DH/corner outfielder will be paid $3.8MM for the upcoming season. His camp had filed at $4.3MM.
Ramírez has been an effective rotational bat for Tampa Bay over the last two seasons. Acquired from the Cubs just before Opening Day in 2022, he hit .300/.343/.404 in his first year with the Rays. The righty hitter turned in an even better .313/.353/.460 slash with a career-best 12 home runs across 434 trips to the plate last season. He owns a .306/.348/.432 in a little under 900 plate appearances with Tampa Bay.
The 29-year-old isn’t a great defensive outfielder and saw the majority of his time at designated hitter a year ago. His lack of defensive value and slightly increasing salaries led Tampa Bay to float his name on the trade market earlier in the offseason. Nothing has come together to this point. Locking in his salary could make a trade moderately more appealing if the Rays continue to field offers during Spring Training, yet it’s also possible he sticks in Tampa Bay for a third season.
Ramírez has between four and five years of MLB service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration again next winter and is on track for free agency after the 2025 campaign, at which point he’ll be 31 years old. This is the second straight year in which Ramírez and the Rays went to a hearing. His camp won a $2.2MM salary (against a $1.9MM team figure) last offseason. They’re on the other end this time around. As the AP notes, the three players who went to a hearing this year after winning in arbitration last offseason — Ramírez, Jason Adam and Luis Arraez — all lost this winter.
Of the 13 hearings thus far, arbitrators have sided with the players on seven. Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm and Marlins closer Tanner Scott have the two cases yet to be resolved.
Rays do a great job getting juice out of a half-squeezed lemon
You have to admire a coaching staff for that though. Whatever they are doing, is working during the season. Then when a player from the Rays becomes available, they look like a AAA depth piece after joining their new team. For decades the Rays have been near or in postseason play. So fans envy their ability to get the most out of the players before their value drops.
Definitely
Wtf
Howd this guy lose out with numbers like that and such a small salary figure
Even at 4.3 its still the best value contract in the game.
Arbitrator needs to give his head a shake
Half of a million dollars is still a half of a million dollars…
He has 4 years of experience. He gets compared to players with 4 years of experience. Notice that Alec Bohm, who has almost the same time in the majors, is in the same general range.
The Bohm ruling is going to be huge….
$4M or $3.4M, what makes that particular ruling huge??
One could almost put together a pretty good team with the position players the cubs have traded away in the past 10 years
Amazing that Arraez wins back-to-back batting titles with 2 different teams in 2 different leagues yet loses his arbitration hearing.
Ramirez is an interesting bat but is a true DH which is not good considering he’s never hit more than 12 Home Runs in a season
It’s because arbitration predominantly focuses on counting stats, and Arraez is a bit lacking in that department.
He’s one of the best pure hitters in the game, but he’s also not exactly a premier offensive player due to lacking high end power/speed.