Ramirez has nearly been perfect
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on May 27, 2008 
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So what are we to make of Edwar Ramirez?
He has appeared in 19 games this season for Scranton and the Yankees. Check out this line:
21.2 innings
9 hits
0 runs
7 walks
28 strikeouts
His major-league line (11 games): 12.2 7 0 0 6 15.
So do the Yankees have a skinny Trevor Hoffman in their midst or this a two-month mirage? It’s hard to say. The more Ramirez pitched last season, the harder he got hit. Opposing hitters learned to sit on his changeup and he ended the season having allowed six homers in 21 innings. He also walked too many hitters.
Edwar sought the advice of Pedro Martinez over the winter and Mariano Rivera this spring. Both told him the same thing: You have to establish your fastball before you can exploit that changeup. Now we’ll see how the hitters make their adjustment.
As the Yankees try and decide who takes what role in the bullpen, Ramirez has to given a shot. In this year of discovery, maybe he’s a gem waiting to be found.
God Bless Bobby Murcer – what a class act!
I agree with you Pete. Edwar deserves a chance to be the 7th or 8th inning guy especially if Hawkins struggles or Farnsworth has one of his blowups.
His story last year was intriguing and then as he got hammered
we kinda were like he’s a’one trick pony”.
But this year months after teams have a book on him and his pitches he is still maintaining this run of his is awesome.
With each solid outing he is proving he is the real solid bullpen option.
Anyone with his K/9 deserves an extended look. While he ended up being awful last season, he still struck out 31 in 21 innings, and if he cut down on the walks, he would do a lot better. He’s also learning how to pitch more this year, establishing the fastball, then going to the change. I see no reason why he can’t be the 8th inning guy if/when Farnsworth blows up.
From the frontpage of nomaas.org:
“05.26.2008 What’s right with Edwar?
NoMaas’ Dr. Dale Beaverman:
Edwar Ramirez so far this year in 12.2 innings pitched, has struck out 15 and walked 6 while giving up just 7 hits. His ERA still sits at 0.00. What is most baffling is that Pitchf/x shows that his fastball has nearly doubled it’s movement. There are rumors that he’s learned to throw a cutter. Gameday says he’s throwing a splitter. So what’s really up with Edwar?
It as simple as this: he’s lowered his release point. If you examine the Pitchf/x data closely, you will see that he has very subtly moved a little closer to a 3/4 arm slot. That position change produces a greater horizontal movement. This also explains the approximate one mph drop in his fastball’s velocity. An over the top delivery is a little quicker and is necessary to throw a curve but since that is not in Edwar’s repertoire, he doesn’t need it. The additional movement is more beneficial than the slight increase in velocity. His fastball and change-up still look identical when they leave his hand. This increased horizontal movement combined with better control has simply allowed him to do what we all knew he needed to do in order to succeed – utilize his fastball to set up his change-up. “
edwar is certainly a good player and with a great weapon; but i can’t help but keep on think that Scottie patterson deserves a shot in the majors, he’s not doing too well in the minors right now but i’d really be interested to see how effective the way he throws is.
I tell you, our bullpen this year is the best it’s been in a long time. Farnsworth still has is moments and I don’t trust Hawkins at all, but I think that the other guys we have (and guys we have coming up) are going to make HUGE contributions to the team later this summer (and hopefully October).
I keep telling all the Yankee fans I know: once we get everybody back and healthy, all we have to do is make the postseason because we’re built better for the postseason this year than we’ve been in a long time. Good starting pitching (Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Rasner, Kennedy, Chamberlain, Hughes… take your pick), a strong bullpen, and a deep lineup.
I’m sweating out the next few months, but can’t wait until the fall.
Call up JB COX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have to be honest…….The guy has been making Major League hitters look clueless when he strikes them out.
nomaas.org’s analysis on edwar was choice.
it’s easy to distrust the kid – i don’t know if it’s the glasses, the thin frame, or the fact that he relies on offspeed stuff as his out pitch. but you can’t argue with results.
with melancon and cox moving their way up, the yankees have a very good pen in the making. if only we could ditch hawkins…
CM –
I wouldn’t be too quick to talk about the fall.
Yanks have a steep hill to climb, and along the way, they can no nothing but watch as the Rays, As, Red Sox, Angels, Blue Jays all compete for the same ticket into the postseason. Granted, they can do more than watch, but what have you seen to make you believe that we can take enough games from these teams to make a marked difference in the standings?
I think everyone assumes that the Rays will come back to earth. With their starting pitching, I’m not so sure.
Maybe someone has the official AL starting pitching ranks, but I would guess that Toronto, Tampa, Boston, LAA have a better rotations right now than the NYY. And I don’t make the mistake, either, that Joba is going to be the white knight.
Anyone who has a plus plus pitch like that changeup deserves a shot – he has clearly made a significant adjustment in his pitching this year, and now we have to wait and see how the hitters adjust after looking at film and seeing him live.
I think we’ll find out soon whether this is for real, but you have to give him credit for continuing to work hard and improve. That’s all you can ask.
Hopefully Kennedy can pitch well. It’s not set up well for him. Facing the same team for the second week. Fly ball pitcher in Camden Yards and the weather is warm.
Edwar still walks too many batters. Love the K’s, but 4.5 walks per nine is too many for a pitcher to be given a key (read: 8th inning 1-2 run lead) role.
I’d try with Ohlendorf before Edwar.
I understand that scouts are the professionals and that there must be something I’m missing, but I get frustrated when head-scratching moves are/aren’t made.
e.g. Scott Patterson outpitched everyone in Spring Training and was sent outright to AAA. Why was he even invited to Spring Training if a perfect ERA wasn’t going to get him a Major-League invite?
This type of head-scratching also occurs whenever people make suggestions about the Yankees’ 8th inning hole. I say: Whoever is pitching the best should be placed in the 8th inning. I don’t care if Farnsworth makes too much money to ride the bench. All I know is that whenever he has 2-3 good appearances in a row, there’s always one appearance where the excrement will encounter the rotary cooling device; thus bringing us back to our original thought about how Farnsworth-less he really is.
Conclusion: Go to Edwar until he proves that he can’t be trusted in that situation.
Fredo,
You have a point about the walks, but I don’t know if Ohlendorf would be any better. He seems to either be lights-out or a little-league pitching machine.
Girardi calls him “Eddie.”
The yankees have numerous issues and the bullpen isn’t the biggest. their bullpen is weak and at best very unproven. Farnsworth was alright lately but I have a sneaking suspicion that he’s will revert to Farnsworthless. Edwar has shown promise but unfortunately the test of his mettle will come on the outing after he gets blown out. No time for Veras or Latroy and the lack of a lefty is really perplexing. These bullpen issues may be able to be overlooked if we had a bench, but the Yanks don’t, alot of dead weight and no speed.
The biggest issues facing the Yankees is their starting pitchers…. I also hope the Joba has the same kind os impact he had last year….but really thats asking alot out of someone that young ( like to know if there are high profile cases of a reliever becoming a starter mid season and winning 10 games…oh besides Arron Small?????
Has anyone seen Edwar’s video intro at the Stadium (or on YES, I suppose) when he enters the game? It’s basically Edwar slowly putting on his glasses. Surely the video guy could have come up with something better than putting on his glasses? I can hardly imagine how this transpired at the video shoot:
“Edwar, we want you to do something to instill fear into the hearts of your opponents. What do you have?”
“Well, how about if I put my glasses on very, very slowly?”
“Perfect!”
Edwar deserves a shot because he not only sought advice, but heeded it, is working on it, and being successful with it. If he was the same Edwar as last season, I’d say, proceed with caution. But he, just like Darrell Rasner, has sought to make improvements, has taken the steps to make himself a better pitcher.
Aside from that, ya gotta ride the wave, don’t you?
Pete please don’t Jinx ramirez as you did farnswarth…
I’m in agreement with Doreen with Edwar and Darrell Rasner seeking improvement and with more adjustments Jose Veras could be put in that catagory with more consistent outings. He’s been under Mo’s guidance since spring.
Spring training tryouts aren’t necessarily a chance to make the team. They’re a chance for the manager and brass to watch you compete against major league pitchers. Patterson definitely made an impression, but there was no harm in sending him down with the idea that if he continued to pitch well he’d be back up as needed. He had a bad start in the minors — the same start in the majors and most of the people on this blog would be wondering why he hadn’t been DFA’d.
If Patterson pitches well, he’ll be back. But the Yankees certainly didn’t make a mistake in the way they’re trying to develop him. Similarly, if Ramirez continues to pitch well he’ll get his shot at the 8th inning. But it’s not a disaster if they don’t thrust him into a situation he might not be ready for. From this distance, as fans, it’s impossible to tell whether he’s got the toughness to be in those situations. Better to let him gain more and more confidence and be really ready for those situations than to have him get bombed and find himself back in AAA trying to regain his touch.
Sheesh- Edwar, you’re a major leaguer. take a better pic!
So what are we to make of Edwar Ramirez?
We are to conclude that he is one goofy looking guy!! But he can pitch and that’s all i care about – keep getting outs and throwing up zero’s Edwar.
Can anyone tell when Mo became such a Sage. I’m not aware of any one pitcher who credits Mo with turning their careers around or being the reason they started pitcher well. If he’s such a Sage how come he has not been doing it the past? No disrespect for Mo’s ability as a pitcher (G.O.A.T.) but since when can he coach or teach?? Maybe Pete, you could shed some light on this subject…….
Anyone know how many runners he has inherited and how many scored? Just curious. For some reason I think that should be included with any reliever’s line.
People keep trying to find reasons that Edwar was bad last year and good this year. Really, I think it’s just a matter of confidence. He got off to a bad start with that quadruple-BB+grandslam in his second outing and he never really recovered. He was afraid of using his fastball and his command suffered. Remember, he was a rookie last year. Sometimes, rookies get butterflies.
This year, he may have gotten a bit of advice from Mariano and Pedro, but it’s more of a matter that he has his confidence back and he’s pitching with what made him the Minor League Relief pitcher of the year in 2007. He didn’t suddenly gain this amazing stuff; he had his great stuff last year too, he just got into a rut at the major league level and now he’s recovered.
If anyone knows how to jinx someone… LOL…
I say give Ramirez a shot at that 8th inning slot…someone who has performed as well as he has-albeit a small sample size-must be given the chance…
What choice do we really have at this point? I don’t understand the idea that Farnsworth has been annointed as the go to guy in 8th inning…
From what I’ve seen he’s just too inconsistent…
Now that we’re in the Post “Joba in the pen” phase we have to solve the bullpen question sooner rather than later, and trying out Ramirez in that spot doesn’t seem like a bad bet to me at this point based on the other available options…
Hopefully by the time Joba is ready to start, we will have solved the 8th inning issue…
Awesome picture. If it wasn’t for the Yankee stuff, he’d look like he just graduated high school with a focus in engineering.
Ramirez seems like the one person on the roster who can become the eighth-inning guy.
I’m not sure I trust him with that role yet, though. I’d plug him into a couple more pressure situations to see how he reacts. Clearly, he’s a strikeout pitcher and that’s great. His fastball doesn’t move though, so he has to locate it perfectly.
I like Edwar, and I think he’s a pitcher who has worked hard to improve himself. Farnsworth has the role now, but that’s only because he costs the most money. Luckily, after this year, we’ll be rid of him.
Whoever takes over the 8th is just a placeholder for one of Cox/Robertson/Melancon and,that, is a very good thing.
“Edwar reportedly sought the advice of Pedro Martinez over the winter and Mariano Rivera this spring. Both told him the same thing: You have to establish your fastball before you can exploit that changeup.”
He needed MO and Pedro to tell him that?
I have high hopes for Edwar based on his amazing changeup. I’m hoping he keeps making the adjustments needed to be in the pen for years to come.
But another possible gem in the Yanks system is Chris Britton, and yet they seem to have something against him being in pinstripes. Maybe it’s the whole fat flaps thing. I can definitely see Hawkins and/or Farnsworth getting released late in the season or not making a potential postseason roster in favor of Britton, Edwar, and maybe the returns of Albaladejo and Bruney.
Maybe its his glasses…like Ricky Vaughan in “Major League”. Either he got a new prescription, banged one of his teammates’s wife (ala Roger Dorn), or perhaps he is now listening to “Wild Thing” before each trip to the mound.
One can only guess.
On another note, there really is no one to get all excited about in that bullpen except Mo.
But optimism is a good thing, so cheers to yours Peter.
I’m still far more worried about the rotation.
The Yankees should stop wasting time & a 40-man roster spot right now & either DFA Hawkins right now or trade him back to the Rockies for something since he had success there last year with Colorado. Why should guys such as Edwar, Britton, & Patterson, who have performed what has been asked of them this season, be wasted in the minors?
I know Hawkins is making $3 million this year but you have to ask yourself what is the price for missing the post-season if the dead-weight that’s on the MLB team is going to cost the team big bucks in another way.
Plus, what type of message are you sending to minor leaguers such as Edwar when you send them down while keeping unproductives such as Hawkins & Giambi on the team?
What the Yankees did to Scott Patterson after his near-perfect Spring Training performance this year is absolutely DISGRACEFUL.
I hope this won’t be repeated because the Yankees truly are blessed this year in both the number & quality of relievers available to get the job done.
Edwar was mishandled last year & that’s why his 2007 numbers are what they are.
Remember?
In his debut last year, he struck out the side against Minnesota & Justin Morneau. Fast forward 14 unused days of sitting at the back-end of the bullpen later thanks to Ex-Manager Joe Torre & Edwar’s on the receiving end of a brutal beat down from the LAA.
It’s hard to believe that our bullpen has been the greatest strength of the 2008 team & it just adds more evidence that almost anyone else can manage a bullpen better than last year’s Yankees manager.
“In this year of discovery, maybe he’s a gem waiting to be found.” – very eloquently put, Pete. I hope you are right.
I see someone already posted nomaas’ blurb on him, very interesting stuff. I’m much more encoruaged by this year’s performance than I am by last year’s cause as someone else said, opposing hitters by now already knew what time it was when it came to his fastball. We haven’t seen anybody successfully waiting on his FB this year, so obviously he has figured out how to use it to his advantage to flummox them further. It’s still early and he needs to be tested some more before definitively being given any 8th inning role, but I’m feeling pretty optimistic about his chances for continued success.
At the very least, it’s nice to see him being put in situations where he can succeed. Don’t think I’ll ever get over last year and the resting him for 2 weeks, then bringing him in in the ultimate of no-win situations.
oh, and about Scott Patterson – while I, too, was absolutely floored with shock when he didnt make the team out of ST, and mad about how he was treated, in retrospect it looks like they made the right decision, as he struggled somewhat in AAA for the first couple weeks (don’t know how he’s doing now.) I’m guessing that’s also why they didn’t call him up when relievers (ie Bruney) started going down, b/c they had made it sound like he’d be the first one to get a chance if anything happened.
Although who knows, maybe they are just not going to give him a fair chance…wouldn’t be the first time, Chris Britton anyone?
i wonder how good edwar would be if he weighed over 120 pounds
this kid doesnt have real good stuff…. i think he has had luck….we cant make any conclusions yet, he has only pithced 12.2 innings…. wait til he faces the red sox or the tigers… his ERA will increase til 5 or 6