Rockies Sign Erasmo Ramirez To Minor League Deal
The Rockies have signed veteran righty Erasmo Ramirez to a minor league contract, as announced by his now-former Mexican League club, los Algodoneros del Unión Laguna. He’ll presumably start his Rockies tenure with their Triple-A club in Albuquerque. Ramirez is represented by NPG Sports.
Ramirez opened the season in Mexico and was hit hard, surrendering 11 runs on 17 hits and a pair of walks with nine punchouts in a dozen innings. Poor small-sample results notwithstanding, the Rockies were clearly intrigued by Ramirez’s stuff. He’ll hope to pitch his way into what would be a 15th season with some big league experience.
The Nicaraguan-born Ramirez debuted with the Mariners back in 2012. He’s pitched for seven teams — Mariners, Rays, Nationals, Tigers, Twins, Mets, Red Sox — most recently suiting up for Minnesota late last season. Ramirez tossed 11 innings as a Twin and held opponents to three runs (2.45 ERA) on 10 hits and a pair of walks with five strikeouts.
Ramirez has never been a hard thrower, but a heater that averaged 92-94 mph earlier in his career sat 90.4 mph with Minnesota in 2025. In 860 career innings, he has a 4.34 earned run average with an 18% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 43.8% grounder rate. He’s worked as both a starter and reliever and stands as a possible swingman option for a Rockies staff that ranks 25th in the majors with a 4.59 ERA.
Nick Martini, Jacob Barnes Sign With Mexican League Teams
A pair of players who were in the big leagues last season signed with Mexican League teams. Reliever Jacob Barnes joined the Algodoneros de Unión Laguna yesterday, while outfielder Nick Martini signed with the Piratas de Campeche tonight.
Barnes, who recently turned 36, has made 334 career appearances while pitching in the big leagues in 10 straight years. The righty was in the Opening Day bullpen for the eventual American League champion Blue Jays last year. Barnes made six early-season appearances, allowing nine runs (eight earned) through eight innings. The Jays outrighted him off the 40-man roster in late April, bringing him back on a minor league contract.
That didn’t go well, as Barnes allowed nearly seven earned runs per nine over 25 Triple-A innings. Toronto released him in August. Barnes has a mid-90s fastball and was a serviceable middle reliever for the Nationals in 2024, when he worked to a 4.36 ERA across 66 innings. He’ll be teammates with swingman Erasmo Ramírez and infielder Emmanuel Rivera, each of whom also logged MLB time last season and signed with the Algodoneros in the middle of April.
Martini, a lefty-hitting outfielder, played in 43 games for the Rockies last season. He was on the MLB roster for the first two months. Martini hit .225/.288/.294 over 111 plate appearances and was designated for assignment at the end of May. He landed with the A’s on a minor league deal, hitting .259/.383/.434 over four months at Triple-A Las Vegas without getting another MLB opportunity.
A veteran of parts of six seasons, Martini has shown strong on-base skills throughout his minor league career. He doesn’t have much defensive value, but his career .248/.328/.382 slash at the MLB level isn’t far below average. He’s a .290/.397/.451 hitter in nearly 3000 Triple-A plate appearances.
Erasmo Ramirez Plans To Pitch Next Season
Veteran swingman Erasmo Ramirez wants to pitch in 2026, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune. The right-hander tossed 11 innings for the Twins last season. Nightengale relays that Ramirez is training as a starter.
Minnesota marked the seventh stop in Ramirez’s 14-year career. The 34-year-old was called up from Triple-A St. Paul in August after the Twins’ bullpen was gutted at the trade deadline. Ramirez notched a two-out save in his first game with the club. He posted a 2.45 ERA across nine outings and closed his Minnesota tenure with five straight scoreless appearances. Ramirez was designated for assignment in late August. He elected free agency shortly after the season ended.
Ramirez has plenty of starting experience, with 96 MLB starts under his belt. It’s been a while since he’s worked extensively in that capacity, though. Ramirez made a career-high 27 starts with Tampa Bay in 2015. After pitching almost exclusively as a reliever in 2016, he made 19 starts in 2017 between the Rays and Mariners. A shoulder strain cost Ramirez the majority of the first half of 2018, but he returned to make 10 starts with Seattle.
Boston grabbed Ramirez on a minor league deal ahead of the 2019 season. He’s been mostly a reliever since then. Ramirez has made 144 big-league appearances over the past seven seasons, and only four of them have been starts.
Ramirez has a 4.34 ERA over 860 MLB innings. He entered the league with a fastball sitting in the low-90s, and he’s unsurprisingly lost a few ticks over the years. Ramirez has gone mostly cutter/sinker this decade, but he hasn’t been afraid to expand his arsenal. He threw seven different pitches as recently as 2023. He’s since ditched the slider and sweeper, relying on his curveball as his lone breaking ball the past two seasons.
As an aging soft-tosser relying on veteran guile, Ramirez is likely best suited for a swingman role, covering multiple innings as needed. His last two MLB starts came during his second stint with the Rays in 2023. While neither outing reached four innings, both of them were on short rest and resulted in Tampa Bay wins. That kind of flexibility could have value for a team in need of reliable innings.
Photo courtesy of Matt Krohn, Imagn Images
Seven Players Elect Free Agency
Now that the season is over, we’ll start seeing several players choose to become minor league free agents. Major League free agents (i.e. players with six-plus years of big league service time) will hit the open market five days after the end of the World Series, but eligible minor leaguers can already start electing free agency.
To qualify, these players must have been all outrighted off their team’s 40-man rosters during the 2025 season without being added back. These players also must have multiple career outrights on their resume, and/or at least three years of Major League service time.
We’ll offer periodic updates over the coming weeks about many other players hitting the market in this fashion. These free agent decisions are all listed on the official MLB.com or MILB.com transactions pages, for further reference.
Infielders
- Abraham Toro (Red Sox)
- Donovan Walton (Phillies)
Outfielders
- Bryan De La Cruz (Yankees)
- Leody Taveras (Mariners)
Pitchers
- Carlos Hernandez (Guardians)
- Erasmo Ramirez (Twins)
- Devin Sweet (Phillies)
Twins Outright Erasmo Ramirez
Aug. 27: Ramírez has accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic.
Aug. 26: The Twins have sent long reliever Erasmo Ramírez outright to Triple-A St. Paul, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Minnesota designated the veteran righty for assignment on Sunday when they called up Taj Bradley. Ramírez has more than enough service time to elect free agency but could prefer to accept the Triple-A stint as depth for a young Minnesota pitching staff.
Ramírez was called up at the beginning of August to backfill the bullpen after the Twins’ deadline sell-off. He pitched nine times, tossing 11 innings with three earned runs allowed. Ramírez only punched out five of 42 batters faced. He missed bats on 7% of his offerings while averaging 89 MPH on his cutter.
The 35-year-old Ramírez has carved out a lengthy career based on his plus control and ability to absorb plenty of innings out of the bullpen. He spent the first three months of this season on the minor league injured list. Ramírez surrendered 10 earned runs with 15 strikeouts and four walks in 15 Triple-A frames before being called up. If he accepts the outright, he’ll remain on hand in St. Paul for a month. He’ll be a free agent at the beginning of the offseason.
Twins Promote Taj Bradley, Designate Erasmo Ramirez
The Twins announced that right-hander Taj Bradley has been called up from Triple-A St. Paul, and will start today’s game against the White Sox. In the corresponding roster move, Minnesota designated right-hander Erasmo Ramirez for assignment.
Though many of the Twins’ trade deadline moves were about cutting salary or moving impending free agents, the one-for-one deal that sent Griffin Jax to the Rays for Bradley was more of a pure baseball move. Tampa Bay wanted to upgrade its bullpen with a controllable reliever, and Bradley (once a highly-touted pitching prospect) has yet to much deliver on that promise over three Major League seasons. This made Bradley expendable in the Rays’ eyes, and the Twins jumped in to land a 24-year-old starter that may well benefit from a change of scenery.
Bradley has a 4.70 ERA over 354 career innings in the Show, along with an 8.6% walk rate and a 25% strikeout rate. That latter number is a concern since Bradley’s K% this season is only 20.2% over 111 1/3 innings, which contributed to his 4.61 ERA. Home runs have been an issue for Bradley during his brief career, and while he has improved on that front overall in 2025, the Rays’ temporary move to Steinbrenner Field didn’t help — Bradley had a 5.43 ERA and nine homers allowed in 56 1/3 innings at the Stein, as opposed a much more palatable 3.76 ERA and four homers allowed in 55 away innings.
Minnesota’s plan with both Bradley and fellow deadline acquisition Mick Abel was to start both pitchers in Triple-A for tune-up purposes, rather than immediately insert them into the big league rotation. In Abel’s case, he looked really sharp in St. Paul but then struggled in his Twins debut yesterday, allowing six runs in a three-inning start against Chicago. Bradley has a 7.53 ERA in 14 1/3 innings for St. Paul, as he pitched really well in his first two outings before being hit hard in his latter two starts. With the Twins out of the playoff race, Bradley and Abel figure to get regular starts the rest of the way as the team evaluates them as rotation pieces for 2026 and beyond.
Ramirez signed a minor league deal with Minnesota last winter, but shoulder problems kept him from any game action until June 20, as part of a rehab assignment with the Twins’ rookie ball affiliate. He went on to post a 6.55 ERA in 11 Triple-A innings before his contract was selected to the Twins’ active roster on August 1, as Minnesota had tons of roster spots to fill in the wake of its deadline fire sale.
This return to the Show made it seven different teams over 14 Major League seasons for Ramirez, who posted an impressive 2.45 ERA in 11 innings and nine appearances with the Twins. Within the small sample size, Ramirez delivered his usual strong walk rate, though an 11.9% strikeout rate was low even by the righty’s standards of not missing many bats, and a .242 BABIP helped Ramirez limit the damage.
Bottom-line ERA notwithstanding, it always seemed like Ramirez was a spare part on the Twins’ pitching staff, and he’ll now return to DFA limbo. Another team might consider claiming Ramirez if they need to cover some innings in the bullpen, but assuming he clears waivers, Ramirez can elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A. The 35-year-old might well choose to move on in search of another late-season deal elsewhere, or play out the string in the Twins organization.
Twins Select Jose Urena, Erasmo Ramirez
The Twins announced Friday that they’ve selected the contracts of veteran right-handers Jose Urena and Erasmo Ramirez from Triple-A St. Paul. They’ve also recalled six minor leaguers from St. Paul: infielder/outfielder Austin Martin, infielder Edouard Julien, infielder Ryan Fitzgerald, righty Pierson Ohl, righty Travis Adams and newly acquired outfielder Alan Roden.
The staggering slate of eight newly added minor leaguers is reflective of the roster-gutting fire sale on which Minnesota surprisingly embarked in the 24 hours leading up to this season’s trade deadline. As the Pohlad family looks to sell the franchise, Minnesota traded not only rentals Harrison Bader, Chris Paddack, Willi Castro, Danny Coulombe and Ty France, but also controllable pitchers Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart and — most shockingly of all — shortstop Carlos Correa.
Urena, 33, is a veteran of 11 major league seasons. The Twins will be his fourth team of the 2025 season alone and his tenth overall. He’s pitched 18 1/3 MLB frames this year and yielded a 5.40 earned run average. Urena tossed 13 1/3 innings with the Twins’ top affiliate prior to his promotion and allowed six runs (4.05 ERA) on 13 hits and 10 walks with 13 strikeouts.
Early in his career, Urena was a solid mid-rotation arm for the Marlins. From 2017-18, he started 59 games (plus six relief outings) and totaled 343 2/3 frames with a 3.90 ERA. Though Urena throws hard, he’s never been a big strikeout arm, but he typically posts above-average ground-ball rates and has a league-average walk rate in his career.
Since that solid run with Miami, Urena has become a swingman who’s bounced all over the league. He’s posted an ERA north of 5.00 in six of his past seven major league seasons, though the lanky right-hander did turn in a sharp 3.80 ERA in 109 innings with the Rangers last year. He’ll add some length to the bullpen and give the Twins a rotation option, too, depending on how they want to shape a pitching staff that was decimated by this week’s barrage of trades.
Ramirez, 35, will head to the majors for what’ll be a 14th season. He’s previously suited up for six other clubs. Ramirez was a starter for the Rays and Mariners early in his career but has been in a swingman role since the 2019 season. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins over the winter but spent the first several months of the year on the minor league injured list due to a shoulder injury.
Ramirez was reinstated in late June and has pitched a total of 15 minor league innings. He’s sitting on an ugly 6.50 ERA in that time but has fanned 22.4% of his opponents against a 6% walk rate and 52.2% grounder rate. Ramirez posted a 4.35 ERA in 20 2/3 innings with the Nationals last year — a mark that’s a near mirror image of his career 4.37 earned run average. However, most of his best work came from 2012-17. He’s pitched 257 innings dating back to 2018 and turned in a 4.76 ERA. He’ll soak up innings as a long relief option for however long he’s with the big league club.
Erasmo Ramirez To “Miss Significant Time” Due To Shoulder Injuries
Twins right-hander Erasmo Ramirez has tears in his teres minor and lat muscles, team trainer Nick Paparesta told reporters (including La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune). It appears as though Ramirez is facing a long absence, as Paparesta said it will be multiple weeks before the veteran pitcher is even re-examined for a status check.
Ramirez has been a member of the Twins organization for less than a month, after he signed a minor league contract with the club back on February 15. Ramirez threw in just one Spring Training game, and that now looks like it’ll be his only game action for quite some time, dealing a severe blow to the righty entering what would be his 14th Major League season.
It isn’t known if surgery might be a consideration, or if such steps won’t be known until after Ramirez is re-examined. Ramirez has been relatively durable during his long career, though he missed over four months of the 2018 season dealing with a couple of shoulder-related problems.
Ramirez has pitched for six different teams over his career, working as a starter, swingman, and now as a multi-inning reliever. The majority of Ramirez’s career has been spent with the Mariners and Rays, as two separate stints with each of those two teams have accounted for 691 2/3 of his 849 career innings. Ramirez is coming off his second stint in Tampa Bay, and he posted a 4.35 ERA over 20 2/3 innings for the Rays at the big league level last season.
Twins Sign Erasmo Ramirez To Minor League Deal
The Twins have signed right-hander Erasmo Ramirez to a minor league contract, the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale reports. Ramirez’s deal includes an invitation to Minnesota’s big league spring camp.
Ramirez has played for six different teams at the MLB level over his 12 seasons in the Show, with two different stints with the Rays accounting for 377 1/3 of his 849 career innings. The second of those stints ended when Ramirez elected free agency last October, following a season that saw him post a 4.35 ERA over 20 2/3 innings. Tampa Bay twice designated Ramirez for assignment and outrighted him off its 40-man roster over the course of the 2024 campaign, with Ramirez both times choosing to remain in the organization rather than testing free agency.
A starter and a swingman earlier in his career, the 34-year-old Ramirez has now settled into a role as a multi-inning reliever, though with plenty of ups and downs in his performance. He seemingly got his career back on track with a 2.92 ERA in 86 1/3 innings with the Nationals in 2022, only to follow that year up with an ugly 6.41 ERA in 60 1/3 frames with Washington and Tampa in 2023. His 2024 numbers represent something of a middle ground between those previous two seasons, but Ramirez benefited from a tiny .136 BABIP, and he allowed five homers in that small sample size of 20 2/3 innings.
Ramirez brings plenty of experience and innings-eating capability to the table, so he could be a useful pitcher for the Twins to keep around as a Triple-A depth option. The Twins have a fair number of in-house bullpen options ahead of him on the depth chart, however, and Ramirez could possibly exercise his contract’s opt-out clause before Opening Day if he doesn’t feel he’ll get a clear opportunity for playing time in Minnesota.
Nine Players Elect Free Agency
As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.
Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.
Catchers
- Rob Brantly (Rays)
Infielders
- Nick Maton (Orioles)
- Zach Remillard (White Sox)
Pitchers
- Diego Castillo (Twins)
- Yonny Chirinos (Marlins)
- Chris Devenski (Mariners)
- Jonathan Hernandez (Mariners)
- Erasmo Ramirez (Rays)
- Josh Rogers (Rockies)