The Chicago White Sox recalled Bryan Ramos a few days ago. There was talk about how since he just became a U.S. citizen, he would try to get his parents over from Cuba to finally see him play in a big-league game.
Interim manager Grady Sizemore even discussed how he would get Ramos into the lineup with Miguel Vargas and Lenyn Sosa already on the 26-man getting time at third.
Turns out all Ramos was doing was making sure the Sox were not playing a man down until Jacob Amaya could make it to Chicago after he was claimed off of waivers.
As the dust settles on a couple days of Sox roster moves, some things are clearer than they were yesterday. Sox seem to have basically swapped Nick Senzel for Jacob Amaya, with 40-man resident Bryan Ramos brought up for a day so the team wasn’t playing a man down.
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) August 27, 2024
Demoting Ramos so quickly is a bad message to send to the prospects the Sox have drafted or signed.
It sends the message that the White Sox front office is more confident players that other teams have given up can help at the big-league level better than players the club has drafted or signed in the international free-agent market.
It also feels likes the franchise would prefer to give big-league opportunities to players who came from outside the organization rather than players that the club has already made a financial and time investment in.
Source: Bryan Ramos was optioned to Triple-A, Charlotte to make room for Jacob Amaya.
— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) August 27, 2024
Ramos had been recalled on Sunday. White Sox front office giving more opportunities to players who come from outside than those who have developed within.
It is telling the players that the club has nurtured them from the start of their careers is they will be kicked to the side for a player who might be worse.
What makes that thinking dangerous with the Sox preferring the route of going outside the organization to get players to contribute at the MLB level is a lot of those players are guys organizations have given up on.
Amaya has been given up on by two big-league clubs. The Miami Marlins were the first club to give up on him and he came to them through a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Then Houston decided to go in a different direction.
Corey Julks came to the Sox this season via trade with Houston. He started on a heater but has since cooled off considerably. Nick Senzel was once a highly praised prospect who has since bounced around a couple of organizations before coming to the White Sox.
There is nothing wrong with grabbing players off the scrap heap to see if their careers can be salvaged. The problem is the Sox do not have the infrastructure to revive a hitter's career.
You can trust the Sox in that area with say a pitcher as evidenced by Erick Fedde completing his career turnaround in Chicago before he was traded to St. Louis.
Hitting-wise, the White Sox have struggled to develop the hitters they have drafted, so it is foolish to think they can revive Senzel's career when the best hitter the club has recently developed is Andrew Vaughn. Vaughn is nothing more than a replacement-level hitter.
Maybe that is why the front office prefers to go outside the organization.
Still, Ramos was on a heater before he was briefly called up. He showed some potential in his call-up earlier this season. It makes sense to see what he can do at third and move Vargas back over to second while playing Brooks Baldwin at short, especially since this season is completely lost.
Instead, the Sox have Yoan Moncada on a rehab assignment where it looks like he will be taken off the injured list before the season ends. It makes no sense to bring him back up since his option will highly unlikely be picked up next season.
Not understanding that the final month of the season should be used as an extended spring training shows the front office is not taking advantage of the only benefit of this historic losing season.
The club can literally take a look at prospects like Ramos and not worry about the win-loss record since it is so bad.
Director of player development Paul Janish does want Ramos to get 100 games in this year. The team seems committed to playing Vargas at third, but at this point, his defensive position should not matter. Making sure Vargas can hit should.
Ramos can field third base well and seeing if he can be the future there since his issues are not as glaring as Vargas' would be a good use of time. It would be better to see Ramos, Baldwin, and Vargas can be the team's infield for 2025 and beyond.
Also, the Sox have plenty of arms in the minors that would be worth checking out to see if they can be bullpen arms. The Sox keep trotting out bad veteran arms instead. However, they did designate John Brebbia for assignment, but adding Prelander Berroa and Sammy Peralta is not enough. They have already given those two a look and the results have not been great.
It would be smarter to see if guys like Adisyn Coffey, Sean Burke, Jake Eder, or Trey McGough can help out of the pen. Being smart is something the Sox should never be considered.