Why the Seattle Mariners Should Trade for Jose Ramirez

A Pitching Heavy Return for Cleveland

Jose Ramirez is an absolute superstar in Major League Baseball. He is coming off of a 6.3 WAR season, according to Fangraphs, and has also had a WAR above 3.5 every season since 2016. This includes a little bit of a down year in 2019, as well as a shortened season last year. Ramirez is not only an offensive star having had an OPS of .893 last season, but is also a good defender too; he had 7 outs above average last year according to Baseball Savant, which was better than stud Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford.

For Cleveland, they get a future shortstop or third baseman in Noelvi Marte who projects to be a Manny Machado-type player. They also get three future rotation options with Hancock, Williamson, and Phillips. Hancock is coming off of a short season, but was the 6th overall pick in 2020 and has four good pitches. Williamson got to Double A last year and was dominant while he was there. Phillips, the #8 prospect in the Mariners’ system, also has promise as a 20-year-old right-hander.

This is a way for the Mariners to get Ramirez, as Cleveland would gain 3 potential rotation arms who would be cheap and controllable players for a long time. Cleveland is a low-payroll team that does not like to spend money, and can trade Ramirez to get a haul of pitching pieces to build their team for the future.