Cesar Ramos Demoted, Jay Buente Called Up

by Steve Slowinski on Jul 26, 2011 7:57 PM EDT

The Rays optioned struggling LHP Cesar Ramos to Triple-A Durham, and have recalled RHP Jay Buente, whom they had acquired from the Marlins in late June.

"Struggling" is probably putting it mildly. Ramos currently has a 4.22 ERA on the year, but when you look at his peripherals, it gets real ugly. In 32 innings, he's struck out 21 batters and walked 19. And even though he was initially brought onto the team as a LOOGY (Lefty One Out Guy), he isn't even being effective against lefties, posting a 4.72 FIP against lefties and a 5.24 FIP against righties. He's just been plain bad out there.

Instead, the Rays have decided to take a flyer on yet another bullpen arm, this time calling up Jay Buente. Buente was signed by the Rays earlier this season after he was released by the Marlins, and he's put up decent numbers in Triple-A. His ERA was high there, but he was striking out a fair number of batters (8.3 K/9) and limiting walks (3.0 BB/9), so he's got to be worth a flyer. He can't do much worse than many of our other bullpen arms right now, eh?

And so, the revolving bullpen continues. Hopefully one of these guys will stick and be effective. Personally, I hope we get to see Dane De La Rosa again sometime soon.

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And then there was one

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by sternfan1 on Jul 26, 2011 8:00 PM EDT reply actions

funny it's the one that didn't make the team out of camp.

by Peter Piontek on Jul 26, 2011 8:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Thank God

by FLsteelhead on Jul 26, 2011 8:04 PM EDT reply actions

Buente sucks

great

A-rod's salary? 30 Million, Evan Longoria's? 1M, god i love life as a rays fan

by RaysOfHope on Jul 26, 2011 8:15 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

yeah he pretty much does.

by Peter Piontek on Jul 26, 2011 8:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Give him a chance, Cesar cant find the strike zone

War Eagle

by Warde on Jul 26, 2011 9:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Jay Buente Pitches

Nothing that exciting. Ignore the wonky spread of pitch classification and just consider this a fastball around 90, a splitter (I think – does someone know what he calls it?) in the low 80s, and a curve in the mid to upper 70s that he’s rarely used in his cups of coffee.

On the bright side, this is the repertoire of a reliever if I’ve ever seen one, so feel free to take all his bad starter numbers with a huge grain of salt.

by Whelk on Jul 27, 2011 12:01 AM EDT up reply actions

And now that I've seen him throw two pitches to Crisp . . .

That splitter actually is quite nice. A bit more intrigued now that I’m seeing that drop live.

by Whelk on Jul 27, 2011 12:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Mentioned earlier today

5 4 pitch unintentional walks in the last month.

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by FreeZorilla on Jul 26, 2011 8:15 PM EDT reply actions

What Rays reliever ISN'T walking batters in July

I put the screw IN THE TUNA!

by Transplanted on Jul 26, 2011 8:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Yea, definitely not excited about Buente

Too bad De La Rosa can’t be brought back up yet.

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by FreeZorilla on Jul 26, 2011 8:15 PM EDT reply actions

That was my exact thought too.

Too early to bring him back up again. But then it’s also possibly just bad planning on the Rays’ part…if they knew they were close to sending Ramos down…oh, I don’t feel like figuring the whole timeline out in my head. Ahh well.

I love Casey Fossum. Now try and take me seriously. -- @steveslow

by Steve Slowinski on Jul 26, 2011 8:18 PM EDT up reply actions