The Tampa Bay Rays appear to have filled one of the holes in their starting rotation by trading pitcher Mike Montgomery to the Seattle Mariners for young right-handed starting pitcher Erasmo Ramirez.
Ramirez has spent parts of each of the last three seasons in the big leagues with the Mariners. In 2014, he appeared in 17 games (14 starts) and posted a 5.26 ERA with 60 strikeouts and 34 walks in 75.1 innings. His FIP was 5.38 suggesting the ERA was a good indicator of how well he actually pitched.
Montgomery was part of the package that came to the Rays in the James Shields-Wade Davis-Wil Myers trade following the 2012 season.
Ramirez is 24 and won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2017 season and free agency until after the 2019 season.
Ramirez has shown much better control in the minors. In 15 appearances (14 starts) at triple-A last year, he struck out 67 and walked just 13 in 86.1 innings.
In 2014, he tended to be more of a flyball pitcher, something the Rays have targeted in recent years. However, it is not clear if that was a 1-year fluke or an effort to change as he was more of a groundball pitcher earlier in his career.
He throws a good mix of piches including two different fastballs, a slider, a curve, and a change-up, with the 2-seem fastball and change-up being his primary weapons.
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Terrible trade if he pitches his normal level. Not that Montgomery was anything special, but Cash/Hickey were finally realizing his role as bullpen lefty. Team acts like they need pitching when two starters are back in two weeks. Teaford and Andriese could have easily covered those two games. Instead, Erasmo will start two games, then get demoted and will likely get claimed on waivers (he's out of options), so we'll have traded Montgomery for two weeks of Erasmo. Unless Hickey works his voodoo magic, this deal won't be a winner.
Montgomery's growth was completely stymied once he arrived at the higher minors and he's not overly young. Erasmo is young and has a ton of team control. Your assessment is off-base. You're acting as if all 5 of the Rays starters are locks when really there is room at the back of the rotation for a guy like Erasmo.
When they don't need him to start, they'll use him in long relief. No way they try to get him through waivers.
Let's just hope it's not because of a bigger issue with one of the "two starters back in two weeks"... Knocking on wood as we speak!
Exactly what I was thinking...
I think we are starting to see a trend here from Matt silverman. He will trade the High ceilings guys for guys a wIith high floors and not as high ceilings. Myers sousza is a perfect example. If it were my guess, Silverman had a hand in the Price/ Smyly franklin deal.
The Rays need someone to fill the role of long reliever/ mop up guy/ spot starter and Ramirez seems to fit the bill. Working with Hickey should help get his control back if that's possible and Romero and Teaford are still possible longer term lefty starters as needed.
Ramirez has always been thought of as a young player with a high upside. In many ways, he's been thought of in Drew Smyly terms. Hickey seemed to have a positive influence on Smyly last season. If that continues and if he can have the same impact on Ramirez, we'll be very fortunate and a happy fanbase.