For the past week, the Chicago White Sox made no secret that they wanted Manny Ramirez to be their DH for the remainder of the season.
After some waiver formalities and some back and forth, yesterday they finally made it happen.
The White Sox acquired Ramirez yesterday on a straight waiver claim from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The White Sox will pay the remaining $3.8 million left on Manny’s contract.
I absolutely love this move by the White Sox. Do I think it’s too little, too late? Yes, I do, but getting Manny for the final 25 or so games is absolutely worth the risk.
White Sox DHs were hitting a combined .241/.310/.405 with 16 HRs this season. Mark Kotsay was good in college, but that’s about it, Andruw Jones isn’t a spring chicken anymore, and Carlos Quentin is hitting just .202 as a DH this season. Let’s just say Kotsay, Jones, and Quentin don’t represent the Three Faces of Fear.
Ramirez might be a buffoon at times and is clearly past his prime, but he can outproduce those three with his eyes closed. While Ramirez is having a down year by his standards, he still had a .311/.405/.510 hitting line in 66 games with the Dodgers.
Ramirez was so great in his prime that even when he has a .915 OPS, he is considered to be having a down year.
The question with Ramirez is will he be motivated to play? I really believe that answer to be yes. I think that Dodger love affair ended last year and he was tired of LA. I think Ramirez comes to Chicago motivated by a pennant race and is ready to rake for a month to get one last shot at a payday.
Ramirez will join the White Sox in Cleveland tonight as they take on the Indians.
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