Losers of eight straight prior to their extra-inning win against the lowly Houston Astros on Wednesday, the Seattle Mariners have decided enough is enough with their early-season struggles. Not only did Seattle demote starting pitcher Erasmo Ramirez back to the minors, it sent the 23-year-old back to Single-A ball.
You heard that right. From starting in the bigs to hauling his bags around Clinton, Iowa as a member of the LumberKings. The “official” reason for Ramirez’s demotion all the way down to Single-A ball is that it will enable him to rejoin the Mariners rotation after they skip him due to two off-days in a five-day period.
Erasmo Ramirez will be able to pitch in High Desert and stay on schedule to rejoin rotation after M's have 2 offdays in next 5 days.
— Greg Johns (@GregJohnsMLB) April 24, 2014
Nice PR spin there by Seattle. Ramirez has given up 18 earned runs, including a league-high six homers, in just 24 innings this season. He’s also yielded 27 hits and walked 11 batters for an astronomical 1.583 WHIP in five starts. It doesn’t take a statistician to come to the conclusion that those numbers are the reason why Ramirez was demoted.
It still remains to be seen why Seattle decided to take the extra step of skipping two minor league levels in the demotion process. It could very well be exactly what it indicated publicly…to bring Ramirez back in a week or so.
As it is, Seattle came into 2014 with high expectations. Losing eight games in a row, including five to the Miami Marlins and Astros, isn’t exactly providing much confidence that this team is ready to contend with the big boys in the American League West.
Photo: Tim Heitman, USA Today