After being aquired from the Minnesota Twins for Matt Capps on June 29th, Wilson Ramos has done exactly what everyone hoped in AAA Syracuse. He's hit .317 with the Chiefs as their starting catcher. He's proven to be a worthy deadline pickup. Yet another gem transaction created by Mike Rizzo.
Ramos may not have to wait long before he gets his chance. The Nats called up Ramos today, and he'll be with the team tonight in Atlanta while Wil Nieves takes a few days off to be with his wife who is expecting a child any day now. Capitol Baseball wishes our best to the Nieves family.
The question begs to be asked though. If Ramos lights it up with the big club this week (should he get any time to play), would the Nats send him down? The answer is almost certainly yes. Nieves has been the teams trusty, albeit underachieving offensively, back up with the perpetually hurt Jesus Flores probably never coming back to the bigs. In a lost season, the front office seems to feel that they owe Nieves this time, since he almost certainly will be in Syracuse next year if he stays with the organization.
Hopefully in the next few days we'll get a chance to see Ramos in action in the bigs. It seems unlikely, though, that Ramos would catch Jason Marquis on Friday with the way he's been struggling. This may be one of Marquis' last chances to prove he's worth the $15 million the Nats are paying him. He certainly won't catch Strasburg on Saturday; that's Pudge's job.
The likeliest scenario has Ramos getting some action on Sunday in the 1:35 get away game in Philly, giving Pudge his usual Sunday afternoon game off. However, it's well documented that John Lannan, who is scheduled to start Thursday, prefers to throw to Nieves. With Nieves gone, Ramos could earn the spot here so Pudge doesn't have to throw 4 consecutive days with his recurring back problem. Still, this scenario seems unlikely after Pudge's ejection on Tuesday before he caught a single pitch, but they may stick with his usual rest, giving him an extra day off this week.
We'll find out soon enough, but my gut tells me that the Nats are itching to get Ramos some playing time. We will just have to wait in anticipation...
You're no doubt right that Nieves will not get sent down when he comes back from paternity leave for a whole host of reasons. September 1st is only two weeks away. If Ramos has to spend another week or so in Syracuse it isn't a big deal, especially since he would probably only start a game or two during that time anyway.
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