Larry Brown Sports

Hanley Ramirez may have been a problem in Miami, but he was not the problem. If he was truly a malcontent in the clubhouse and was hurting the team off the field, the Marlins did the right thing by getting rid of him.

On Thursday, Marlins team president David Samson told MLB.com the following when asked why Ramirez was traded to the Dodgers.

“We just realized we couldn’t win with him,” Samson said. “It was that simple.”

When asked about Samson’s comment, Hanley made a pretty good point.

“Now are they winning without me?” he asked according to the LA Times. “I don’t think it’s one guy. If it was me, you know, OK. I had a lot of good memories there. They gave me the opportunity to play in the big leagues.”

Ramirez had his fair share of high points and low points in Florida, but he wasn’t the sole reason for either winning or losing. The Marlins had a winning percentage of .464 before trading Hanley this season. Without him, they have a record of 18-28 — or a .383 winning percentage. Trading their star infielder may have been necessary for Miami, but at the moment it appears to be more of a lose with me or lose without my type of situation.

H/T Hardball Talk
Photo credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Hanley Ramirez ticked off A.J. Burnett when he showboated after hitting a home run on Thursday, and Ozzie Guillen isn’t surprised by his former player’s antics.

“That’s Hanley,” Guillen said of Ramirez, according to The Miami Herald. “[If] Hanley hit a home run down by 30 runs, he would pimp it. That’s the way he is.

“There’s so much [garbage],” Guillen said. “Somebody hits a home run, they put on a show. Somebody strikes out, they put on a show. That’s the way the game is right now.”

Though Guillen isn’t a fan of the celebrations, he can’t really complain.

“I cannot say [anything] because my players do a stupid show,” Guillen said. “They’re a last-place team. They score one run and they [act] like we score 100.”

Though Hanley’s home run on Thursday was crucial because it gave the Dodgers the lead, we wouldn’t put it past him to celebrate up or down by 15. The guy has been guilty of plenty of stupid behavior in the past. This is only part of it.

Between the Marlins’ lo viste, the Brewers’ beast mode, and the Rangers’ antlers, many teams are participating in this trend of celebrating hits. I don’t mind it too much if it’s between teammates, but if you’re directing it at the pitcher the way Hanley did, then it’s disrespectful and a problem.

Hanley Ramirez and A.J. Burnett got into it during Thursday’s Dodgers-Pirates game after Burnett felt Ramirez showed him up following a home run.

Ramirez hit a two-run homer (the 150th of his career) off Burnett in the bottom of the fourth to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. As he was rounding second base, he appeared to put his hands to his eyes in the shape of glasses, upsetting Burnett. The gesture seems to be a ripoff of the “lo viste” gesture developed by the Marlins, for whom Ramirez played before being traded to the Dodgers. “Lo viste” is the players’ way of saying “did you see that?” in Spanish, though it’s unclear exactly what Ramirez intends his new gesture to mean. Regardless, Burnett felt Ramirez was showing him up.

Later in the game after the Pirates had reclaimed the lead, Burnett struck Ramirez out and stared him down. He also clearly yelled, “Sit down!”

“If you’re going to hit a homer, act like you’ve hit one before,” Burnett told reporters after the game according to the Associated Press. “The first batter, (James) Loney, hit one, was very professional about it. Ran hard the whole way. I just thought he did a little something at second base. I could be wrong. It was the heat of the moment.”

As for the “sit down” comment, Burnett said he was just excited to get a hitter out that sent one a long way off of him the last time up. Obviously, there was more to it than that. It’s hard to not side with Burnett on this one. Hanley clearly made the gesture in his direction, which is a classless move. Moments like those are the reason many of Ramirez’s former teammates weren’t sad to see him leave Miami.

The Marlins first season under Ozzie Guillen has been a disappointment. After building a brand new ballpark and making some significant splashes in free agency during the offseason, nobody expect Miami to turn into sellers at the trade deadline. Now that they have, it makes sense that Hanley Ramirez was the first to go. His career with the Marlins has been a frustrating roller coaster both on the field and off of it. While some of Hanley’s former teammates — including Jose Reyes — said they were sad to see him go, others are reportedly relieved.

According to the Miami Herald, one anonoymous player said a number of people in the organization were happy when Ramirez was traded to the Dodgers.

“There were a lot of smiles,” the player said. “They created a monster from a very good baseball player — gave him so much slack to do whatever the (expletive) he wanted because he was performing.

“You can push some things aside when you’re hitting .340 with 40 home runs. You say ‘He’s a (jerk), but I can deal with it. … But when you’re not playing and you’re trying to be that same (jerk), it starts rubbing people the wrong way.”

Read The Rest of the Story…

If you couldn’t tell that the new Dodgers owners aren’t frugal by the amount of money they bid for team, then the move they made late Tuesday night certainly sealed it. The Dodgers acquired Hanley Ramirez and Randy Choate from the Marlins for Nathan Eovaldi and Scott McGough in a four-player deal. The trade does not involve any cash, so that means the Dodgers will pay Hanley Ramirez the rest of the $15 million he’s owed this season and the $31.5 million he’s owed the next two seasons.

This type of move would have been unfathomable under the previous ownership group which would never have budged from its payroll ceiling if it meant skipping a thousand-dollar dinner or hundred-dollar haircut.

Though I love what this move says about the new owners’ willingness to spend money to improve the team, I’m not a big fan of it baseball-wise.

Hanley Ramirez is batting .179 this month and his OPS has been under .700 since June. I think he’s a flaky player and not the superstar he appeared to be from 2007-2009. Maybe a change in scenery and a new team will help him get back to crushing the ball and spark a turnaround, but I’m not too optimistic.

If the Dodgers wanted a third baseman, they would have been better served trading for Kevin Youkilis instead of letting the White Sox get him. I even think Chase Headley or Aramis Ramirez would have helped the team more.

The Dodgers are losing Nathan Eovaldi in the deal. He’s a former 8th-round draft pick who made six starts last season and 10 this season. The guy is a flame thrower and routinely sits in the mid-90s, so he has strong strikeout potential. The downside with him is that he throws too many pitches like Chad Billingsley who never overcame the problem. Of course, if Eovaldi turns out to be as effective as Billingsley, the Marlins will probably be thrilled. The other player in the deal is Scott McGough, a former Oregon pitcher who was drafted by the Dodgers last year. He’s only 22 and playing in single-A, so it’s too early to tell what he can do.

Love the new owners’ mentality, but would have preferred a different deal.

Hanley Ramirez won a batting title not long ago and was one of the top players in baseball. Since then, his play has dropped off and he’s had poor production.

The Marlins reportedly are willing to trade him, and they want players in return rather than just a team willing to take on the $31.5 million he’s over for the next two seasons.

Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald reports that the asking price for Ramirez “is not ridiculous.” He says the A’s and Red Sox (which traded him to the Marlins in 2005) are interested. USA Today says the Blue Jays are also interested.

The Marlins got more than their money’s worth out of Hanley considering his most productive seasons from 2007-2009 came at a price of less than $7 million. They had no way of knowing he would fall off and become average after signing a five-year $70 million deal in 2008.

Ramirez seems to be maturing after being a clubhouse problem as recently as last year, but if I were the Marlins, I wouldn’t hesitate to trade him. I have serious doubts that he’ll be worth the salary he’s scheduled to earn over the next two seasons, regardless of what team he’s playing for.

It also looks like Hanley’s wish to become the new “Mr. Marlin” won’t come true.

A little less than two weeks ago, Hanley Ramirez suffered a very idiotic injury when he punched a cooling fan in the Marlins dugout and cut his hand open. Unfortunately, it was a lapse in judgment that he is still paying for. According to the Palm Beach Post, Ramirez was held out of the lineup on Friday night against Pittsburgh because of an infection he has developed in the same hand.

Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen says the hand became infected because Hanley forgot to take his antibiotics. Now he is hoping someone will watch his third baseman like a child.

“It’s pretty infected,” Guillen said. “I was kind of worried about it. Hopefully the doctor will find exactly what he needs and make sure baby Hanley takes (it). I will every night ‘open your mouth’ and put it in his mouth.”

Naturally, Guillen called Ramirez a “baby” in a joking manner. Still, he sounded surprised that an adult would need to be reminded to take an important medication.

“How do you forget to take a pill that the doctors (tell you) to take?” Guillen asked.

As his recent comments about Chicago reminded us, Ozzie always has something to say about everything and it isn’t always nice. That being said, it’s easy to understand why this particular injury is so frustrating for him. One of the Marlins’ best players was already banged up because he couldn’t control his temper, and the injury is still a problem because he forgot to take his medication. Those aren’t the types of problems you expect to face when dealing with adults.

H/T LBS contributor Aaron Frishman
Photo credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE