The Padres decided Alexei Ramirez as the right person to plug their hole at shortstop, at least for the next year:
Ramirez is coming off his worst year in the majors, but still represents a massive upgrade for San Diego. The 34-year-old hit just .249/.285/.357, with 10 home runs, over 622 plate appearances. Ramirez, who has always graded out as a special defender at short, saw some of his skills erode in that area as well last year.
The fact that Ramirez is considered an upgrade says a lot about both the state of the shortstop position and the Padres’ massive need to fill that hole. The depth chart on the team’s website, which is not official, currently lists Alexi Amarista as the team’s starter at short. Even if Ramirez struggles with the bat, he should be an upgrade over Amarista.
On top of that, the bar for offensive usefulness at the shortstop position is incredibly low right now. Shortstops combined to hit .256/.307/.375 last year, according to FanGraphs. Ramirez was slightly worse in every category, but was also coming off a terrible season. If he can make minor improvements, he should hit like an average shortstop, and has the potential to be above average if 2015 was a statistical blip.
According to FanGraphs, Ramirez was the only WAR negative regular among shortstops in 2015. The Padres also considered Ian Desmond, but I suspect he would have cost them more money and years, and at seasonal age 30 in 2016, they would be paying for a decline. The Padres simply pushed off this decision a year with the cheapest option available.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1nngW3E
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