Tampa Bay Rays Could Trade Erasmo Ramirez

By Noriel See, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, March 23, 2017

The Tampa Bay Rays have really been busy trading away their pitchers in the past few months. They moved Matt Moore to the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline last August, and Drew Smyly was traded to the Seattle Mariners as well in January. Well, it seems that the Rays might unload one more pitcher.

FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal has reported that the Rays "could trade from pitching depth" and he said Erasmo Ramirez was the most likely one to go.

Last week, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times also said Ramirez can be an interesting option for teams looking for a starter. The pitcher is signed to a one-year, $3.13-million deal and he is under team control through 2019 via arbitration. He should be an attractive trade bait for the Rays.

Since the Rays already have a lot of pitchers on their roster, a lot of observers believe that it is a good idea to trade Ramirez, so they can free up a roster spot.

"Trading Ramirez would make a lot of sense for the Rays, who have a full rotation and a number of younger arms en route — including top prospects Brent Honeywell and Jose De Leon. A Ramirez trade would also net the Rays something while freeing a roster spot for a non-roster pitcher — be it Shawn Tolleson or Tommy Hunter. Chase Whitley, acquired off waivers from the Yankees in 2015, could slot into Ramirez's multi-inning role," CBS Sports' R.J. Anderson said in his report.

Althea Pashman of Rays fan site Rays Colored Glasses has even suggested trading Ramirez to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for shortstop Nick Ahmed. Pashman said he can either start or come out of the bullpen for the Diamondbacks.

Ramirez does have experience starting and he should draw some interest from teams looking to add depth to their pitcher rotation.