By Tim Dierkes | at
Horacio Ramirez has finally hooked on with a team. The Royals signed him to a minor league deal and sent him to extended spring training.
Ramirez, 28, had a run as a mildly useful if oft-injured groundball pitcher before the infamous trade to Seattle for Rafael Soriano.
By Aaron Shinsano | at
At the end of his most recent column Ken Rosenthal posits a nightmare scenario for the Angles, going back to 2001 when the Mariners cracked out to a 20-4 start to seize the AL West crown before May Day. With John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar on the shelf for at least 4-6 weeks, should the Angels be concerned going into 2008? Is a move to pick up an extra starter in order?
The team is looking at filling 14-16 starts. With a surplus of outfielders the Angels are certainly in position to make a move. They could opt for a back of rotation innings eater like the Brewers Chris Capuano or the Reds’ Matt Belisle. Or, the team could really make a splash and dive head first into the Joe Blanton sweepstakes. David Bush might fill out the rotation nicely, through April and beyond.
Another possibility is a move toward the scrap heap, which got a slight upgrade this past week with the addition of Horacio Ramirez. Think Horacio might like a shot at the April 11 contest up at Safeco? How about reuniting brothers Jeff and Jared Weaver for one last sentimental run? And then there’s always the possibility of getting Southern Cali comfort David Wells off the couch for a month or two of solid work.
The LA Times sees General Manager Tony Reagins looking in-house to try and bridge the gap. Lefty Joe Saunders and righty Ervin Santana become your No. 3 and 4 starters, and Dustin Moseley, who made eight starts for the team in 2007, becomes your No. 5. Pencil in young gun Nick Adenhart for an outside shot at getting some innings, if not as a starter possibly as a long-reliever.
Aaron Shinsano writes for East Windup Chronicle.
By Tim Dierkes | at
Rumor guru and baseball insider Ken Rosenthal has a new column at FOX Sports. Let’s discuss.
By Tim Dierkes | at
The Mariners released pitcher Horacio Ramirez, closing the door on the Bill Bavasi blunder. RotoWorld makes a good point – the Mariners wasted $458K by not non-tendering Ramirez back in December. Nice. Meanwhile, Rafael Soriano will close for the Braves for the next couple seasons.
Ramirez, a 28 year-old southpaw, brings nothing to the table at this point aside from his groundball rate.
By Tim Dierkes | at
Sunday morning minor rumor collection…
By Tim Dierkes | at
There are a couple of opinions I’m forming that I’m kind of afraid to admit. They don’t seem to be on bound with most of what I’ve read, though a few might agree. Might as well ’fess up.
The first one is that the Mariners didn’t get ripped off on the Horacio Ramirez for Rafael Soriano trade. This opinion began forming before I read about Soriano looking like a lost puppy on the mound and topping out at 91.
There’s been a lot of Horacio-bashing, and obviously the thought of a soft-tossing bottom-rotation guy doesn’t excite the way a flamethrowing setup man does. But some points on Ramirez first. He’s left-handed and he just turned 27. He gets groundballs 54% of the time. A concussion, hamstring strain, and torn finger ligament marred his ’06 season. He’ll give up a ton of hits, but could be good for 32-33 starts, tons of grounders for Lopez and Betancourt, and decent control. I could see a 4.50 ERA from him in 200 innings next season. He’s got three years before free agency; league average pitchers make a lot more than $3MM these days. League average guys could cost $10MM in 2008.
I can see how this trade still favors the Braves but it doesn’t seem like a huge rip-off to me. The bummer is that Bavasi could’ve gotten more for Soriano.
On the other hand, I’m not impressed by the Jason Schmidt signing. At least here I have some good backup. I ran my own projection for Schmidt the other day, and arrived at a 3.95 ERA in 198 innings. The ZiPS projection system at Baseball Think Factory came to a very similar conclusion. Schmidt’s not an ace anymore, and paying $16MM for the 36 year-old version could be ugly. I don’t think the Dodgers made a mistake here; they can afford Schmidt and he makes them a better club next year. I’m just not calling this a bargain or the deal of the winter or something.
By Tim Dierkes | at
David O’Brien’s latest for the AJC confirms that the Braves have traded starter Horacio Ramirez to the Mariners for Rafael Soriano. Unless I’m missing something, John Schuerholz pillaged and maybe even plundered Bill Bavasi.
Additionally, the Braves have withdrawn their offer of Adam LaRoche for Mike Gonzalez. That makes sense given the completion of the Soriano deal. O’Brien opines that Atlanta could re-engage the Angels, hoping to acquire some combination of Chone Figgins, Casey Kotchman, and a pitcher.
Gonzalez has been cleverly subtracted from the Pirates’ front page, with Ian Snell replacing him.
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