Perhaps you thought Hanley Ramirez's fantasy stock hit rock bottom on April 24, when an 0-for-4 performance left him with a slash line of .182/.299/.242. At the time, it was his fourth consecutive 0-fer. He had only two multi-hit games to his credit, and he hadn't yet homered.
Over the subsequent four weeks, however, Ramirez managed to raise his average over 40 points, stealing six bases and hitting four bombs. Things were clearly improving. (OK, maybe not the ground ball rate, which is still a career-high 55.1 percent. But everything else was trending the right direction). Then came this disturbing news, via the Palm Beach Post:
[Ramirez] was pulled from Sunday's game in the second inning and said the back pain got so bad that he had to stand during most of the team's flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix.
"I feel it doing anything. I can't even put my shoes on. To get up from bed I have to take 10, 15 seconds. I have to do everything slow," Ramirez said. "That's the worst pain I've ever had in my life, in my career."
He said the back stiffness has bothered him "about a month" and now is affecting his upper left leg. "I'm getting tingles in my leg. That's not a good sign," he said.
No, leg tingles do not seem like a good sign, at least under normal circumstances. Expect an MRI, perhaps followed by Ramirez's first DL visit. Not good. Emilio Bonifacio played short for the Marlins on Monday, going 2-for-3 with two walks and a run scored. Nice results, but Bonifacio's only great skill is speed. He's not an acceptable Ramirez replacement. No one is, really.
So this, it appears, is the low point for Hanley's stock. His season line is just .210/.306/.309, he can't sit on planes, he's tingly. Bad news all around.
The most popular fantasy adds at his position on Tuesday have been Erick Aybar and Yunel Escobar, but those two were already long gone in deeper formats. This is a brutal spot to fill at mid-season (which, of course, is part of the reason that you drafted Hanley so early in March). Even Darwin Barney ? no power, little speed ? is 62 percent owned. If Ramirez indeed hits the DL, most of you will need to roll the dice with someone like Jeff Keppinger, Sean Rodriguez, Ryan Theriot, Jason Bartlett or Brendan Ryan, then hope for a not-too-disastrous stretch.
Has anyone bought shares of Ramirez this week? If so, what was the price, and what's your format? Let's get a price check. He's an obvious target in head-to-head, where September's production is so much more important than June's. But in roto it's a different discussion.
I recently added Bonifacio in an NL-only league, and lemme just tell you, it felt awful. If you've had a similar experience, please share...
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Photo via US Presswire
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