Erasmo Ramirez

Ramirez signed a minor-league deal with Boston this offseason with an invitation to spring training. Ramirez is coming off a terrible run of luck with the long ball allowing 36 home runs in 177 innings of work the past two seasons (1.8 HR/9). He still maintains a decent strikeout rate and a low walk rate, but the home runs have been an absolute killer and the main culprit of his 4.93 ERA in that time. Seattle miscast him as a starter and perhaps Boston will allow him to work in the bullpen where his stuff plays up more. A look at his numbers in relief from 2016 and 2017 show him holding hitters to a .245 average, a .307 OBP and a 1.3 HR/9. Boston does not need him in the rotation, but they could use Ramirez as Tampa Bay used him and bolster the middle innings.

Ramirez returned to the organization that signed him as an international free agent when the Rays sent him back to the Mariners for reliever Steve Cishek in July. An organizational need for starting pitching due to a slew of injuries put Ramirez in the team's rotation plans over the final two months, and he pitched well, churning out a 3.92 ERA and 1.16 WHIP over 11 starts. Home runs continue to be Ramirez's biggest issue, as he allowed 22 in 131.1 combined innings with Tampa Bay and Seattle (1.51 HR/9). Ramirez started to utilize a cutter for the first time last season, a pitch that held opposing hitters to a .217 average with a .383 slugging percentage, and yielded fewer homers than his two-seamer and changeup despite similar use. If he appears to have a rotation spot coming out of spring training, Ramirez still offers endgame appeal thanks to his refined arsenal and low walk rate.

Ramirez experienced an uneven 2016 campaign, amassing a career-high 11 losses in the process. He made only one spot start all season despite talk coming out of spring training that he'd serve as an occasional fifth member of the rotation, instead tallying 63 relief appearances. The 26-year-old generated 15 holds, but his K/9 (6.25) saw a drop for a second consecutive season. However, Ramirez was still able to be largely effective in stranding runners, with his 80.7 left-on-base percentage ranking as the highest of his career. Given his ability to gobble up innings, Ramirez's role would presumably be fairly secure coming into 2017, were he not up for arbitration. With the possibility that the five-year veteran could be awarded approximately $4 million as a result of that process, he could well be jettisoned in an effort to free up salary. Landing in a role similar to last year's wouldn't carry much value in the majority of formats.

It’s hard for a season to start off much worse. Ramirez entered his first game in a long relief stint during a planned bullpen game for Tampa Bay. He lasted just two innings after allowing seven earned runs. Five days later he got a start, but it was in Toronto and went about as well as you’d expect: eight earned runs in 3.1 innings. Little did anyone know that those two outings would represent 22 percent of his season earned runs as he pitched very well the rest of the way. He was a swingman until mid-May when he joined the rotation permanently and posted a 3.13 ERA for 144 innings. The Rays had a management plan for Ramirez wherein they were content with five, even four innings, if that’s all he had that day. When he’s rolling, he gets that third-time-through, but they didn’t force it. He’s always had a plus changeup that often plays at a plus-plus level and offers strikeout upside going forward. At just 26, he’s still learning. Buy.

Whatever hope the Mariners had of Ramirez returning to his control-artist ways of 2012 died early last season. By April's end, he was back in the minors after five starts that resulted in 11 walks in 24 innings (4.1 BB/9) and a 6.75 ERA. From there, he yo-yoed between Seattle and Triple-A Tacoma, providing a warm body when the Mariners needed an extra starter. Even when he got good results, he still walked too many. It's an inexplicable fall for Ramirez, who had a 1.8 BB/9 and a 4.0 K:BB in 2012 but could not find the plate the last two years. He'll likely spend most of this season at Triple-A and will only be allowed near the Seattle rotation if there's an emergency. Perhaps he could pitch long relief if needed, but if he ends up in the rotation out of spring, then the Mariners either were devastated by injuries or they did something very, very wrong in free agency.

A spring triceps strain put Ramirez's 2013 season on a bad course from the get-go. After lengthy rehab, Ramirez finally joined the Mariners in mid-July. Results were mixed the rest of the way. Most disturbing was uncharacteristic wildness that pushed his walk rate from 1.9 BB/9 in 2012 to 3.2 last season. He'll compete in spring training for a rotation spot again, but his chances of earning a starting job likely depend more on what the Mariners do in the offseason. That said, if Ramirez stays healthy, regains his once-excellent control and gets a season's worth of starts, he could be a profitable fantasy pitcher.

Ramirez made a few pitstops last year -- Seattle bullpen, Triple-A, DL -- but when he finally got into the Mariners rotation, he did more than enough to justify a spot in the rotation for this season. In eight starts for the Mariners, Ramirez struck out 41 and walked seven unintentionally. A groundball pitcher, Ramirez has superb control, posting a 1.83 BB/9 last season. He's not overpowering with a low-90s fastball, but he still struck out a healthy 7.85/9 as a starter. Barring a spring training collapse, expect him to be in the rotation when the season starts.

Ramirez might not be an elite prospect along the lines of the organization's other top young pitchers, but he's not far off the pace. Considered undersized at 5-foot-11, Ramirez thrives with standout control and command. Not only is he stingy with free passes -- he posted a 1.88 BB/9IP across two minor-league stops last season -- he keeps the ball down, generating plenty of groundballs (1.86 GO/AO at Triple-A Tacoma last year). Ramirez doesn't project as an ace, but with his skills he could certainly prove a serviceable starter at the big-league level.