Marlins' Hanley Ramirez Wants Out Of South Beach; Where Will He Go?

By: Tyler Ward

With the acquisition of shortstop Jose Reyes, the Marlins considered themselves to have one of the best infields in professional baseball.

Except there's one problem... One of the key components of that "dream infield", Hanley Ramirez, wants to be dealt because he'd have to switch from shortstop to third base to accompany Ramirez. And he doesn't want to do that even though Jeffrey Loria has made the team exponentially better, including moving the team to brand new ballpark.

Although his stats declined drastically last season, he is still one of the best up-and-coming players in baseball. And the Marlins realize that and they know they could get a lot in return for him if Ramirez gets his wish.

However ESPN's Buster Olney reported yesterday, "If Ramirez wanted to be traded, the Marlins probably couldn't get a lot for him, because of his price tag and the growing questions about his play."

I couldn't disagree with Olney more. Ramirez is still a great player, despite his bad season last year. Every player seems to have one of those seasons in which they struggle, but then they somehow return to their true form the following season. And I expect Ramirez to do that for the upcoming 2012 season. And not to mention, Ramirez is still young (27 years old) with many years of great baseball in front of him.

A lot of teams will be in a bidding war for Ramirez's services even though he had an off-year last season. I can guarantee that much.

Ramirez is a six-year pro and has been an All-Star in three of those seasons. Over his young career, he has batted a healthy .306. His career numbers include a .306 batting average, 134 home runs, 434 runs batted in and 216 stolen bases.

However, if a team chooses to deal for Ramirez, it will come at a hefty price after he signed a six-year extension with Miami in May 2008, worth approximately $70 million.

He is still under contract with the Marlins for the next three seasons and the team currently owes him $47 million until 2014.

Ramirez had also told the Marlins that he'd move to third base under one condition: the team restructures his contract and benefit him more for doing something that he doesn't want to do. His agent has since refuted this report, but there is still a good possibility that it is true since Ramirez has seen disgruntled since the acquisition of Reyes.

This apparently made owner Jeffrey Loria and Co. distraught and they instantly declined Ramirez's proposal. This could also potentially be the biggest reason that the Marlins part ways with the three-time All-Star.

To his resume, Ramirez has won a batting title with a .342 average and has had career-highs of 33 home runs, 51 steals and a .954 OPS.

Ramirez is a talent that will not go un-noticed. But of course, this could all be a ploy by the Marlins' front office, as to just make headlines and stir things up within the organization. However, this could be real and Ramirez could get dealt. We will find out in the coming weeks as to what happens with the Marlins.

Here are some possible suitors for Ramirez with some combinations of deals the Marlins could go for:

* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to Washington Nationals for 3B Ryan Zimmerman

* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to Boston Red Sox for SS Jed Lowrie, RP Daniel Bard, P Felix Doubront and RF Che-Hsuan Lin

* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to New York Mets for 3B David Wright

* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez and CF Chris Coghlan to Kansas City Royals for LF Alex Gordon, 3B Mike Moustakas and SP Jeff Francis

* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to Milwaukee Brewers for 3B Casey McGehee, P Tyler Thornburg and 2B Scooter Gennett

* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to Cleveland Indians for 3B Lonnie Chisenhall, P Justin Masterson and C Lou Marson

* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez to Chicago White Sox for 3B Brent Morel, P John Danks, and P Matt Thornton

* Marlins trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez and P Leo Nunez to Atlanta Braves for CF Michael Bourn, 3B Brandon Hicks and P Jair Jurrjens

Chipper Jones Likely Out For Season

By: Stephen Patterson

The Atlanta Braves will have to make their late season run for the postseason without Chipper Jones, who learned earlier today that he tore his ACL in his left knee in Tuesday night's game against Houston. Jones and the team appeared optimistic about the knee yesterday, but MRI results today appear to have killed any optimism between the two parties. If Jones has surgery to repair the ligament, which it is expected he will undergo the procedure, it would likely mean the end of his season, and potentially his career. 

Earlier this season, Jones said he would contemplate retirement after beginning the year struggling as he did in 2009. It's hard to imagine one of the greatest players in Braves' history going out on such a painful note. But even if Jones wants to come back and play another season, it will be extremely difficult for him to come back from a second major knee injury so late in his career. At 38, it is hard to imagine he would be able to return to his previous form, or anywhere near it, if he were to attempt to return next season.

There is no timetable on the amount of time it would take for Jones to heal if he undergoes surgery, as doctors don't want to make an assumption until they start the procedure and see how bad the damage is. Usually, in the best case scenarios, people heal from the surgery in about six months, which would mean Chipper's season would certainly be over, regardless of his teams' success in the postseason.

The Braves currently hold a 2 1/2 game lead over the Phillies for the AL East division crown, but they will need to find a replacement for Jones offensively and defensively if they want to hold that lead. While many people have been impressed with Brooks Conrad, who will take over for Jones for the immediate future, he has never been asked to play such a large role for the team. I expect the team will attempt to make a move through waivers to replace some of the production the former six-time All-Star provided for the Braves this season. If they can't make a move and Conrad struggles, expect the defending NL champs to make a serious run at stealing the division back from Atlanta.

Blue Jays Trade Alex Gonzalez To Braves

By: Tyler Ward

Toronto and Atlanta exchanged shortstops today, with promising player Yunel Escobar heading to the Blue Jays and Alex Gonzalez going to the Braves. Toronto also sent pitcher Tim Collins and shortstop Tyler Pastornicky to Atlanta, while receiving pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes.

The centerpiece of the deal revolves around Gonzalez, who has hit 17 home runs with 50 RBI for the Blue Jays this year. Currently, he is tied for fifth place in the American League with 43 extra base hits. He provides instant offense to the NL East-leading Braves, whose top home run hitter is Troy Glaus with 14 longballs. He is also known to be an excellent fielder, tallying a 97.1% fielding percentage in a little over 12 seasons.

Atlanta's GM, Frank Wren, said of Gonzalez, "He's an outstanding defensive shortstop and he's having a very good offensive season. We think he can improve our run production. He immediately leads our team in home runs."

Gonzalez, 33, is on track to set career highs in almost every statistical category. Through the All-Star break, he is only seven home runs away from breaking his single season home run mark (23; 2004) and thirty RBI away from breaking that mark (79; 2004).  This will be his fifth team since coming to the major leagues in 1998. He has had stints with Florida, Boston, Cincinnati, Toronto, and now Atlanta. 

The Braves also received two prospects in the deal, Tim Collins and Tyler Pastornicky. For Toronto's Double-A affiliate, New Hampshire, Collins has a 1-0 record with a 2.51 ERA and nine saves in 35 games. For Class A Dundelin, Pastornicky was batting .258 with 35 RBI, 16 doubles, and 24 stolen bases in 77 games for them. Toronto's GM Frank Wren reported that both players will be sent down to Double-A Mississippi.

For Toronto's side of the trade, they receive shortstop Yunel Escobar and pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes. Escobar was taken 75th overall by Atlanta in 2005 and slowly became one of their best farm system players. The Braves' decision to get rid of Escobar was surprising, as many scouts and analysts praised him last season and considered him a top 10 shortstop talent in the entire sport.

The 27-year old is in the prime of his career, even though he is in a bit of a slump. He has hit .238 this season with zero home runs and 19 RBI. Last year, he had a career year, hitting 14 home runs with 76 RBI.

The Blue Jays' GM, Alex Anthopoulos, thinks that Escobar will have some type of resurgence following the All-Star break. "We feel that Yunel Escobar will absolutely turn it around," Anthopoulos said. "There's certainly an element of risk there, but we feel he has a very good opportunity to turn it around. I think if Yunel Escobar was doing what he did in the past, he's not available to us and this trade does not present itself."

The addition of Jo-Jo Reyes was practically a throw-in, as he has not proved much in his MLB career. Since being called up by Atlanta in 2007, Reyes has compiled a 5-15 record, with zero wins coming the last two seasons. He also has a career ERA of 6.40. The Braves' Kris Medlen has made a solid push to be in the starting rotation, with Kenshin Kawakami (1-9) being placed in the bullpen. This further led to the demise of Reyes' time in Atlanta. The Blue Jays announced that they have optioned Reyes to Double-A New Hampshire.

The Braves are on top of their division right now, leading the New York Mets by 4 games (last year's NL champion, Philadelphia Phillies are 4.5 games behind Atlanta). 

The Blue Jays are currently one game under .500, but are also 12 games behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees.

Halladay Throws Another Complete Game

By: Tyler Ward

Phillies pitcher, Roy Halladay, threw his major league-leading 7th complete game this season. The Phillies won the game against the Braves, 3-1. Greg Dobbs hit a two-run home run to give Halladay some run support. In Halladay's seven losses this season, he has only received a total of 12 runs for support. The Phillies have had to battle a recent injury bug, with the go-ahead home run hitter tonight, Dobbs, recently called up from Triple A. Chase Utley and Placido Polanco have been put on the disabled list.

Halladay is 10-7 this year and threw his second straight complete game. He struck out seven batters, while only giving up five hits. Derek Lowe, who is 9-7 this year, took the loss in tonight's game. Halladay was on target tonight, facing only 31 batters. Only two of those batters had a plate appearance lasting more than five pitches. Braves hitters were 0 for 8, while striking out five times when Halladay's pitches were low in the zone.

The losing pitcher, Lowe, pitched seven strong innings, only giving up six hits with two earned runs. He had a quality outing, but like Halladay recently, he was not given any run support to commend his great pitching efforts. He did, however, throw 108 pitches, when Halladay threw a lowly 93. This is also Lowe's 123rd loss since being called up by the Red Sox in 1997.

The Phillies needed this win tonight, as they are 17-23 in their last 40 games. The Braves are now four games ahead of Philadelphia in the NL East after the loss.

Chipper Jones hit his sixth home run of the year tonight, smashing the first pitch he saw into the seats in the first inning. Halladay got run help in the sixth inning when Dobbs hit a two-run home run to drive in Jayson Werth. Juan Castro hit an RBI single in the 8th, also driving in Werth.

With the Phillies playing their 81st game tonight, they are now halfway through the season. They have posted a record of 43-38, which was also their same record last year when they made the World Series. But, the Phillies are also four games behind right now, when they were two games ahead of their opponents last season.