Billy Beane Talks Manny Ramirez
By Editorial Staff
Manny Ramirez is eligible to rejoin the Oakland Athletics on May 30 after he’s served his 50-game suspension. A’s general manager Billy Beane recently laid out the path Ramirez will travel through the minors before he makes his Oakland debut.
While appearing on 95.7 The Game this weekend, Beane said that Ramirez is expected to start his minor league rehab assignment “at the highest level”. This means that Ramirez is going to join the A’s Triple-A affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats, likely sometime this week.
The River Cats are on the road starting May 17 through the 24th, a trip taking them to Albuquerque and Texas. Sacramento will then return home on the 25th of May, playing two series that will last through June 1.
Ramirez is expected to rejoin the A’s on or soon after he becomes eligible, May 30. Beane is hoping that Ramirez can face off against the best competition possible, thus starting him off at the Triple-A level. It is Beane’s intention to have Ramirez play at least a few games in the minors in order to have him hopefully “pick up where he left off in spring”.
Once Ramirez does rejoin the A’s and return to the majors, he is expected to fill the role of designated hitter. A’s manager Bob Melvin has already told reporters that DH has been Manny’s role and that’s what the A’s “envision him doing” once he’s officially with the club.
So far this season, Seth Smith and Jonny Gomes have handled DH duties for the A’s. Though Smith currently leads the team in on base percentage (.394) and Gomes ranks second in OPS (.866), A’s designated hitters have only hit at a clip of .226/.345/.347 on the year. Beane, Melvin and company are hoping Ramirez can help cure some of this power outage.
Beane is expecting Ramirez to have a positive impact on the A’s lineup, especially rookie center fielder Yoenis Cespedes. Oakland’s bats can use all the positive impact they can get at this point, as the group currently ranks near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories.
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