If the Pittsburgh Pirates are looking to shore up their bullpen, AJ Ramos could be an option if the perpetually rebuilding Miami Marlins look to move some players.
After a whirlwind week that saw the Pittsburgh Pirates sweep a four game series at home against the division leading Milwaukee Brewers, the team is right back in the division race and with a good showing during their west coast road trip, could move into the discussion for one of the Wild Card spots. Because of the recent success, the team will not be looking to move major pieces but instead should look to address areas where the team has under performed. The bullpen should certainly be an area where Neal Huntington looks to improve.
It should come to the surprise of no one that the Miami Marlins, who seemingly host an annual summer sale as if they are a church trying to move baked goods, will be looking to unload some of their players in the next two weeks. One of their players, AJ Ramos, is drawing attention from a few clubs across the league and could be the next player traded by Miami.
Profile and Performance
Drafted by the then Florida Marlins in 2009, Ramos made his big league debut three years later in 2012. The 30 year old was used out of the bullpen as middle relief before assuming the closer’s role in 2015 when he saved 32 games and had an ERA of 2.30. He followed that up with a career high 40 saves in 2016 and an ERA of 2.81, not too far off of his FIP of 2.90. Last year also saw Ramos put up a ridiculous .14 HR/9.
This season Ramos has put up good numbers even though some of the counting statistics do not look good on the surface. For someone deemed a “closer”, he has just 18 saves this season. Obviously with the Marlins sitting with a record of 43-51, he has not exactly had a ton of opportunities to save games, so this should not be a concern, especially since if he were acquired by the Pirates he would be in a seventh or eighth inning role. His ERA sits at 3.96, which is by no means awful, but it is the highest mark of his career. His FIP of 3.85 indicates that he might be a little better than his ERA shows, however. He has also seen his K/9 improve from 10.27 last year to 11.46 this year. His BB/9 has also improved, dropping slightly from 4.92 to 4.84
Career-to-date
mobile app users – tap to enlarge
table courtesy of Baseball Reference
The case for Ramos
- Outside of an ERA that is higher than what is expected out of a ninth inning man, Ramos has good numbers for the most part across the board. He has maintained an impressive K/9 throughout his career and that trend is continuing this year. This would bolster a bullpen that already has a number of hard throwing righties in the mix.
- Per Brooks Baseball, Ramos has a pitch arsenal that spotlights a devastating slider. With a slider that, according to Brooks Baseball, generates more flyball outs compared to the sliders of other pitchers, Ramos would most likely find success at PNC Park. He would be leaving one of the top outfield combinations and moving to a team featuring another one of the league’s best outfields, so the outfield defense would not be an issue for Ramos.
- Ramos has one year of arbitration left as per Baseball Reference.
The case against Ramos
- As we just pointed out, Ramos still has a year of control left, but that actually works against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Having already committed another year at $5.5 million to Daniel Hudson, Huntington may balk at adding another $5 million+ arm to his bullpen.
- On number that is troubling about Ramos is his home run to fly ball ratio, which is 10.5 percent this year. This is a huge jump from the 1.6 percent he put up last year and also represents the highest mark of his career since the 20 percent he compiled in his brief nine and a third innings of his rookie season in 2012. Not only that, but batters are making hard contact on balls in play on 37.1 percent of their hits. This also represents the highest mark in his six year career.
What it might take
With a year of control, the price tag on Ramos could get out of hand. If the Pittsburgh Pirates would try to acquire him, a top-15 prospect at minimum would be required to start with. Ramos did not have the pedigree that Mark Melancon did when he was traded to the Nationals last season, but if we take Melancon at face value as a “closer,” we can expect the Marlins to push for a similar deal as the Pirates got last season.
Though the Marlins likely would not have a need for a major-league or major league ready arm, expect at least one arm going back in return.
Conclusions
If the Marlins go into fall fire sale mode, Ramos will certainly draw a lot of interest. He has been a consistent bullpen option for Miami, even if some of his numbers are slightly elevated this year. The right handed members of the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen for the most part have not been too bad, so acquiring Ramos, especially if he has a high price tag, could deter Huntington from pursuing him. While he would strengthen the bullpen now that the Pirates are back in the playoff discussion, other teams will most likely be willing to part with pieces the Marlins want for the hard throwing reliever.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
