Rays Exercise Carl Crawford's Option; Decline Gregg Zaun and Brian Shouse's; Claim Ramon A. Ramirez Off Waivers from Reds
Nothing unexpected on the options part. Although it will be interesting to see if they attempt to re-sign Zaun.
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Ramirez is a 27-year-old righty with the locks of Lincecum from the Cincinnati organization and 39.3 career innings in the Majors. That's a pretty small sample size to draw from, but during his time he posted a 4.6 FIP and 5.1 tRA. His home run per fly ball percentage is awfully high for a reliever (just over 11%) but those things fluctuate so much on a year-to-year basis for a reliever it's hard to know whether it will be an issue heading forward. He's done some starting and pen work throughout his career.
His fastball is the pitch he uses the most and it sits around 90 miles per hour. He backs that up with a change-up that sits seven-to-eight clicks lower and also has a slider. Again, a small sample to work with, but he showed a good tendency to miss bats with a 76.5 Contact% (average is about 81%) and avoid walks. His strikeout totals before hitting Triple-A were ridiculous, but in 127.3 innings as a starter/reliever, his Triple-A K/9 dropped to 5.51 this year.
Interestingly, he's thrown a little over 3,200 pitches at Triple-A since 2007 and his swinging strike rates were pretty impressive. Assuming this guy's change is legitimate - and it appears so - this could be more than simply fooling less talented batters, but as mentioned his whiff rates with the Reds was pretty solid too. He has one option year remaining and will probably shuffle between Durham and Tampa at least a time or two throughout the season.
His middle name begins with an A. So there's that.
Whiff rates from last year with the pitch totals thrown in (SSS):
| Pitch | Thrown | Whiffs | Whiff% |
| CH | 59 | 13 | 22 |
| FF | 116 | 8 | 6.9 |
| SL | 5 | 1 | 20 |
And now for his 2008 numbers (mostly as a starter), SSS again:
| Pitch | Thrown | Whiffs | Whiff% |
| CH | 187 | 26 | 13.9 |
| FA | 208 | 14 | 6.73 |
| SL | 18 | 2 | 11.1 |
That change might be something, huh?
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CC is the man
So glad to hear that…CC in blue for at least another year.
Hard to gauge Ramirez based on the SSS at the Major level.
Didn’t cost us anything more than the waiver claim fee so anything from him would be something.
RPs are so unpredictable. It’s better to just stockpile a bunch and see which ones work. Chavez and Ramirez are both under team control for years just incase they turn out to be something.
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by Tommy Rancel on Nov 9, 2009 4:03 PM EST via mobile reply actions
The names aren't headline grabbers
But clearly the process is to take low risk chances on some younger arms in hopes they develop under the Rays watch. Both have options (or an option), both have years of team control, both have potential and both are cheap. High strikeout guys with decent stuff and HR/FB issues are so “in” this offseason.
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by Tommy Rancel on Nov 9, 2009 4:11 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Ramirez has actually been a starter more than a reliever
Made 11 relief appearances for the big league club last year. 20 of his 31 09 AAA appearances were starts. He made 4 big league starts in 2008.
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Given the average FB velocity
And what looks like a decent change up (sss) he is probably better off as an RP or that’s at least what I’m assuming the team is thinking. He was also used a RP for Venezuela in the WBC
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by Tommy Rancel on Nov 9, 2009 4:19 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Sure, I'm sure they are thinking relief, given the logjam of starting pitching
Just hopeful his #’s will improve with a full time move to the pen like most pitchers.
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Might be a coincidence, but
new Director of Pro Scouting, and new DRB favorite, Matt Arnold served in the Reds front office prior to joining the Rays. Maybe he knows something we don’t.
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by Tommy Rancel on Nov 9, 2009 4:23 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Well, those look nice.
FB- 63% of time for reference. Fastball has been his best pitch int he majors per linear weights. (2.21 w/FBc). Wonder if that goes for a bunch of called strikes a la JP Howell.
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2008
P Thrown Called K Called%
CH 187 22 11.8
FA 208 33 15.9
SL 18 4 22.2
by R.J. Anderson on Nov 9, 2009 4:44 PM EST up reply actions
I like the idea of some younger arms in the mix with injured retreads
Shouse, Isringhuasen, Percy, Bradford was a bit too much of the hurt old guy routine for me last year.
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Ramirez Reds 09 Prospect Rankings
Sickels 11
redsminorleagues 17
Redreporter COmmunity Ranking: 15
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seems like the change is really a weapon
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by Tommy Rancel on Nov 9, 2009 6:02 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Next up: Sign Kiko and Wagner
Maybe re sign Zaun on the cheap or make our signings Kiko and Barajas?
1. James Shields 2. Wade Davis 3. Matt Garza 4. David Price 5. Jeff Niemann
Sadness sets in as I realize that the team has decided to roll the dice with Navarro next year. :(
I can't wait until we trade him for a reliever.
Hopefully the dice aren't made of ham sandwich and Navi doesn't try to eat them.
I can't wait until we trade him for a reliever.
Zombie nation may be dead but I think we can get Barajas
then non tender Navi, not make him a pricey back up
1. James Shields 2. Wade Davis 3. Matt Garza 4. David Price 5. Jeff Niemann
I wouldn't bet on Zombie nation being dead or that Navi will be rolling/eating dice next year.
It’s way too early in the game to think Navi is untouchable, as Friedman said that declining Zaun’s option is “by no means indicative of our future plans, we’re just not ready in the beginning of November to commit to what we’re going to do”. I still think they’re focused on finding a long-term answer at catcher that’s not yet part of the organization.
There are no free agent options, and there are no legitimate trade senarios where the Rays can offer equal talent and get a catcher from another system in return.
A catcher would have to be a throw-in for a bigger trade; and the only other position right now they could legitimately upgrade through trade is a first baseman. Now you’re talking about relatively large deals which are too difficult to project. I don’t think you see the Rays getting a long-term solution at catcher this offseason, because I don’t think there is one to be found.
I can't wait until we trade him for a reliever.
That's what makes the offseason so great, the excitement of the unknown.
While you may very well be right, we’ll just have to wait and see how things unfold.
Thank God the Reds have an expert who can tell us about Ramon Ramirez
TheRedsExpert wrote:
Enjoy Ramirez. He has a lot of potential
11/9/2009 6:15:54 PM
I can't wait until we trade him for a reliever.
That MLB Postseason sidebar from 2008 is like SBNation herpes
Vroom vroom party starter
www.raysprospects.com
Can they attempt to resign Zaun if they want to?
I thought you couldn’t sign a nontendered player until after the season starts? The rule used to be May 1, but I think it’s April 1 now. Still, if they weren’t going to pick up a below market option, why would they risk offering arbitration?
I could be wrong, but I think this means Zaun is out as an option for next year.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
no i think the rules now are you can sign them whenever
Vikings 4 the superbowl
So you think they'll offer him arbitration
when if he accepts, he’s likely to get paid more than he would have been had the team exercised the option?
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
I don't think this rule applies to when you decline an option.
I’d have to look it up though.
Friedman’s comments make it sound like it doesn’t.
by R.J. Anderson on Nov 10, 2009 3:38 PM EST up reply actions
It's quite possible that I'm misremembering the rule change
and that they just eliminated the resigning restriction completely.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

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