Edwar Ramirez might be freed
Posted By Eric Schultz
No official confirmation yet, but rumblings on the various message boards that I frequent have said that Edwar spoke to a friend and told him that he will be going to New York, and called up to the Yankees. I don�t know who on the roster he would be replacing, but I do think he can be an asset to the team. I will let you know if this is true, which hopefully it is.
After all, Edwar has a ridiculous 0.67 ERA, 47 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings, a WHIP of 0.83, and a .144 batting average against. It just doesn�t get much more dominant than that, and hopefully, Edwar�s plus-plus changeup will bedevil major league hitters just as it has in the minors, because the Yanks need bullpen help in the worst way.
http://mvn.com/milb-yankees/2007/07/01/ ... -be-freed/
PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE TELL ME THE MESSAGE BOARDS ACTUALLY WORK
Kevin Goldstein's take
Edwar Ramirez, RHP, Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Yankees)
The Yankees signed Ramirez out of the independent leagues last year, and he�s been nothing but a strikeout machine since. The 26-year-old Dominican lasted just six weeks in the Eastern League, striking out 33 in 16.2 innings before moving up to Triple-A, where with five more strikeouts in just two innings on Sunday, he now has 41 more whiffs in 23.2 frames. That's a total of 74 punch outs in 40.1 innings with just 19 hits allowed across two levels. His game is not the pure power dominance one would assume from numbers like that. Tall, exceedingly skinny and full of deception, Ramirez has no more than average velocity, but his changeup, which features outstanding arm action, fade and heavy sinking action, is among the best in the minors. Given that the major-league bullpen that�s been problematic at times, Ramirez deserves a shot.
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Kevin Goldstein also took questions regarding ER
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/chat/ ... chatId=320
Aaron (NYC): Edwar Ramirez - almost 18K/9 in 2007. Real deal or fluke?
Kevin Goldstein: Neither, really. Lots of Edwar questions, so I'm glad he's in today's ten pack. He's not a blow you away kinda reliever but his fastball is at least average, and the changeup is crazy wacky special. I think he'll get big league hitters out.
Andrew (Millburn, NJ): Do you think Edwar Ramirez gets called up soon to help out the bullpen? How does his changeup rate on the 20-80 scale?
Kevin Goldstein: Trying to predict what the Yankees will do can be kind of a dart throwing exercise, but I will say he certainly SHOULD get a chance to help. His changeup is really crazy great -- deception in the delivery, drops off the tables, and even has a little horizontal break. One scout I know put a 70 on it, and another thought "that might be a bit light". Great indy league find by John Coppolella there -- bad news for Yankee fans: the Braves stole him away last fall.
Ivan (New Jersey): Should the Yankees consider putting Hughes in the bullpen to make it at least adequate?
Kevin Goldstein: We've gone over this! EDWAR! Where's the Free Edwar campaign. One of you guys had time -- get on this.
KG forgot to mention he was raw when we got him, more credit goes to Nardi Contreras for fixing him
