Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Pirates, Ramos, PEAs?
Despite big year, Nationals haven’t talked contract extension with Wilson Ramos
JORGE CASTILLO / WASHINGTON POST
PHOENIX — Late Tuesday night, after his Nationals throttled the Diamondbacks for the second time in a row, Dusty Baker showered Wilson Ramos with praise. He called the all-star catcher “a godsend.” He said he couldn’t imagine not having the Venezuelan on the team because he’s “figured it out” in his sixth season and has helped carry the first-place club offensively alongside Daniel Murphy while other players have performed below expectations.
Then the manager, unsolicited, addressed Ramos’s future with the Nationals, which is currently slated to be up in the air this offseason when he becomes a free agent.
“I’m hoping that we try to do something with Ramos here,” Baker said. “I’m hoping we do something with big Ramos here to retain him soon.”
Because of his timely breakout season, the 28-year-old Ramos will be one of the top players on the free-agent market — if he hits the market. And there is no indication so far that he won’t. Ramos said Wednesday the the team has not approached him or his agent about a contract extension.
“They have told me absolutely nothing still,” said Ramos, who was acquired as part of a package from the Twins in exchange for Matt Capps in 2010. “I’d like [to have my future here], but those are decisions they make … They haven’t made any calls or communicated with us. We’re still waiting.”
more at the link above
[ Ed. Note: Ramos has been mentioned frequently in discussions of catchers that the Braves might have interest in this off-season. It’s very surprising to me to see this report – I had actually expected that Ramos and his agent (SFX) might have declared “we’re going to free agency at this point”, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The Nats depth chart has Ramos and and Pedro Severino on it (a 23 year old whose profile photo makes him look more like 40). But Severino has played exceedingly sparingly – just 15 plate appearances in 5 games over the past two years in the majors, and his minor league career shows him to be a very light hitter (.240 with a .627 OPS).
Ramos turns 29 next week and Severino is their #16 prospect – the only glimmer of replacing Ramos from within.
This is starting to sound both like an opportunity to make a steal from the Braves point of view in addition to a possible colossal failure on the part of the Nationals. Worth watching. ]
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