The Yankees Should Sign Hanley Ramirez
With Aaron Judge being sidelined for the next month or so, the Yankees are in a tricky spot with their roster. For the foreseeable future, Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, and Giancarlo Stanton will man the three outfield spots. Playing Giancarlo in the field everyday will open up the DH spot. Ideally that would have gone to Gary Sanchez, but he’s out for a month as well. Clint Frazier would be a great person for the job, as he’d be able to give some of the outfielders days off here and there, but he’s still recovering from his recent concussion episode and no one knows when he’ll be back. With Billy McKinney being trade in the J.A. Happ deal, that leaves the Yankees with minimal options.
Tyler Wade has been recalled with Judge going on the DL. Shane Robinson will serve, for this second, as the fourth outfielder. The thing with Shane Robinson is that he could be the most overmatched hitter I’ve ever seen in the sport of baseball. Neil Walker is looking like the everyday DH. That’s also a problem. The Yankees probably have to make some sort of move to add a serviceable hitter to the lineup. There a few options out there, but one that is not being talked about enough is Hanley Ramirez.
How diabolical would signing Hanley Ramirez to be the everyday DH be? I mean seeing him in pinstripes would break Red Sox fans souls next week. It would crush Carrabis, Feits, and Coley to the core. Aside from being a spite move, this would make a lot of sense baseball-wise. Hanley would bring a perfect power bat as the DH and would never be asked to play the field. He’d also come dirt cheap I would imagine. The one problem is I’m not sure if Hanley wants to play baseball anymore. That would seem like a big roadblock. If we’re looking for a stopgap power hitter to add to the lineup, Hanley fits the bill pretty well.
Other options that are being considered are Curtis Granderson, Andrew McCutchen, and Jose Martinez. Of those three, I would love to get my hands on Martinez. The Cards are a middle of the road .500 team and at this point it wouldn’t shock me if the Reds overtook them for 4th place in the NL Central. Martinez can hit the baseball, but is a terrible fielder, therefore the Cardinals have not played him a lot lately. Martinez is hitting a team high batting average of .295 with 13 homers and 57 RBIs. He’d be a perfect DH until Judge got back. If not Hanley, I want Jose Martinez.
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We talked about the Judge injury and everything that plays into that on today’s emergency episode of The Short Porch.