2015 Player Projection: Cesar Ramos

Look, ma! The Angels finally got themselves a left-handed reliever. Cesar Ramos was picked up to try and fill the LOOGY void in the bullpen for the Halos. Can he finally give that spot some stability and production?

What happened in 2014?
Cesar Ramos had what could generously be described as a pedestrian season in Tampa. It could be not so generously described as a terrible season seeing how he finished as a sub-replacement level pitcher. That might not be all his fault as the Rays didn’t use Ramos as a left-handed specialist reliever like some might’ve expected them to.

Ramos got seven starts during the year and they didn’t go well at all as he posted a 5.04 ERA in those starts. Those seven starts also were a major drain on his walk and home run numbers. Even then, Ramos still faced a pretty high proportion number of right-handed bats. That is at least some kind of indicator that he really wasn’t as bad as his numbers suggest, or at least he wasn’t bad when he was used optimally, which rarely happened in 2014.

[table id=86 /] *The MWAH projections are simply my best guess based off my own personal opinion and research (my wOBA calculation is approximate because my math skills are only “meh”)

What do the projections think he will do in 2015?
The projections either just don’t like Ramos or don’t trust that he’ll be used efficiently because his projections are pretty bad. The walks are down, but the strikeouts remain down and the homers remain up in all of the systems. CAIRO is the only system that actually foresees Ramos being a positive value player. That’s not exactly inspiring a lot of hope.

Does the Monkey agree or disagree?
I guess I have more faith in Ramos than others, but I also have very little faith in my projection, if that makes any sense. I just don’t know who Cesar Ramos really is. I mean, I literally know who he is, but I don’t know much about him as a player because why would I know all that much about Cesar Ramos.

What I do know about Ramos is that he’s better in relief and better against lefties. Those are both roles the Angels figure to maximize with him, so it should bring some improvement to his numbers. That’s really all I’ve got to go on.

THREE OPEN QUESTIONS FOR CESAR RAMOS IN 2015
1) Why did the Angels trade for Cesar Ramos?
They traded for Ramos because they needed a lefty and because they have an annual obligation to acquire a Rays reliever. This seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. But why the acquired Ramos specifically remains unclear.

If they really wanted a LOOGY, Ramos is a curious choice. He’s good against lefties in his career with a .279 wOBA allowed, but that isn’t a great number. There are other left-handed relievers who are much better against left-handed hitters. What Ramos does have going for him that those other guys don’t is that Ramos can hold his own against righties with a .310 wOBA allowed. That’s also not great, but it also isn’t bad enough that Scioscia is going to have to sprint to the mound any time Ramos might potentially face a righty… though it would be funny to see Scioscia try and sprint to the mound.

Ramos also has experience in the rotation, so he has length in his arm, which makes him even more versatile, something Dipoto has always valued in a reliever. So I guess even though the team wants to use Ramos as a specialist, they like that he might have other functions if need be. I just don’t know if it is worth it if that versatility means he won’t be a very good specialist.

2) Is there something the Angels see in Ramos the rest of us don’t?
That’s always possible, I guess. In fact, I literally will guess. Again, I know very little about Cesar Ramos, but looking at his profile, I see a reliever with a four-pitch mix. That tells me that he either has four pitches that are all no better than average or he hasn’t fully figured out how to tailor his game to a relief role.

My suspicion is the former is true of Ramos, but let’s entertain the latter. Ramos did start using his slider quite a bit more last season, over twice as much as he previously did. This is encouraging because it is a pitch that he generates a lot of grounders and whiffs with. Perhaps the Halos see this and see a guy that they can unlock by having him ditch his changeup and maximize his ability to throw his slider by matching him up against lefties more. In so doing, they might actually turn Ramos into a true death-on-lefties LOOGY.

3) Do the Angels actually need a left-handed specialist?
In the era of bullpen specialization, it almost seems blasphemous to suggest that they don’t really need a lefty, but hear me out. Last season, the Halos had minimal lefty help. It was pretty much a little bit of Hector Santiago, some crappy innings from Joe Thatcher and an abortion of a stint from Nick Maronde. Despite that, the Halos had the fifth-lowest wOBA allowed against lefties by a bullpen. They were twelfth in FIP against lefties and sixth in strikeout rate. They weren’t struggling, folks.

A lot of that comes from Fernando Salas and his reverse platoon splits. The same goes for Huston Street and Jason Grilli, but Grilli isn’t around anymore. So, yeah, I guess there is a bit of a drop off there, but they also didn’t have Grilli or Street for all of last season and fared just fine.

That being said, I get the desire to have a LOOGY when your division is loaded with guys like Robinson Cano, Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo, Josh Reddick and Kyle Seager. There are going to be very critical high leverage situations that could decide the division, so you want to make sure you have all options on the table. I still wonder if they wouldn’t be better off going with a plainly better pitcher rather than a middling LOOGY, but at least they have options.

The Final Word (and GIF)
“LOOGY”

The Angels want a LOOGY and have been unable to find a quality LOOGY for years. They need a good one, a deadly one. One might even say a magical LOOGY. Cesar “Back and to the Left” Ramos is our only hope.