The Brewers reportedly met with the veteran catcher at the Winter Meetings Hisashi Iwakuma Jersey , but would he be able to stay healthy if they were to sign him?"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Brewers Rumors and SpeculationConversation StartersWPA Game RecapsTransactionsLatest NewsMLB Trade RumorsStatistical AnalysisBrewers Rumors and SpeculationMilwaukee Brewers Free Agent Targets: Wilson RamosNew,16commentsThe Brewers reportedly met with the veteran catcher at the Winter Meetings, but would he be able to stay healthy if they were to sign him?ByJaymes L@JaymesLDec 15, 2018, 11:00am CSTShareTweetShareShareMilwaukee Brewers Free Agent Targets: Wilson RamosBill Streicher-USA TODAY SportsThe Milwaukee Brewers had a mostly quiet week at the Winter Meetings. That wasn’t unexpected, given David Stearns’ tendency to look for bargain deals when he can. He himself admitted that he likes laying in the weeds until there’s an opportunity to make a deal.That didn’t stop the club from having a face-to-face meeting with catcher Wilson Ramos during the meetings, though, as they look for an offensive upgrade behind the plate without having to pay a premium in prospects (for J.T. Realmuto) or money and draft picks (for Yasmani Grandal).Ramos appears to be the target of choice for other teams that are thinking in a similar way, including the Oakland A’s, Minnesota Twins and New York Mets. Both the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels have also been linked to him. After returning to All-Star form in the 2018 season, there will likely be enough competition for Ramos to potentially drive his price up beyond what the Brewers could be comfortable paying. MLB Trade Rumors is projecting Ramos to land a 3-year, $36 million contract this winter.This is the 31-year-old’s chance to land the significant payday of which he was robbed following the 2016 season, when he looked to be on his way to becoming one of the top prizes on the free agent market that winter. He was hitting .307/.354/.496 for the Nationals that year, with an .850 OPS powered by solid on-base skills and a career-high 22 home runs and 25 doubles. He was looking at the possibility of a monster 5-year deal and possibly $100 million+ before he tore his ACL in the final week of the regular season.That forced him to take a discount 2-year, $12.5 million deal from the Tampa Bay Rays, a contract that only paid him $4 million in the first year while he spent the first half of the season rehabbing the knee. Once he returned in June of 2017, he struggled to shake off the rust a bit, ending the year with a .260/.290/.447 line while seeing his defensive abilities understandably slip.He rebounded in the second year of the deal this past season, though Ken Griffey Jersey , once he was finally fully healthy. He hit .297/.346/.488 in 78 games with the Rays, earning his second career All-Star appearance. It was widely speculated at the time of his signing with Tampa that the Rays would try to trade him at the deadline of the second year of the contract, due to the backloaded nature of the deal paying him $8.5 million this past year. Despite his status as an impending free agent, the Rays were hoping to snag a quality prospect or two.However, Ramos again got hurt, injuring his hamstring the weekend after the All-Star break. That put him on the disabled list for the rest of July, and he was still on the DL on deadline day, forcing the Rays to take just a player to be named later in return when they sent him to Philadelphia.Ramos returned in August, but only played in 33 games for the Phillies in the second half while also missing a handful of games here and there due to other injuries. When he was in the lineup for Philadephia, he did hit exceptionally well, putting up a .337/.396/.483 line in that brief stint, but the 101 plate appearances weren’t enough to keep the Phillies in the NL Wild Card picture.If you sensed a bit of a theme in the past few years, you probably aren’t alone. If you were to boil Ramos’ career to this point down into a few words, it would likely be “great, injury-prone bat.”Therein lies the risk for any team looking to sign Ramos this winter, and especially so for a team like the Brewers, who seem to be limiting themselves to an Opening Day payroll in the $110-115 million range: do you guarantee three years and $12 million (or more) per year to a 31-year-old catcher who’s twice torn his right ACL and has had hamstring problems when the knee isn’t bothering him? Does he make much sense for a National League team that can’t use him at DH to help keep his legs fresh, or move him there permanently halfway through the deal if it becomes clear he can’t catch anymore?Even if Ramos were to stay healthy during a significant commitment by the Brewers, Stearns would have to weigh whether the offensive benefits outweigh what they would be losing defensively.Ramos has seen a dip in his abilities as a pitch framer in each of the past two seasons. Whether that was a side effect of an aging catcher whose knees aren’t feeling like they used to or just a result of switching organizations http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , Ramos rates behind the likes of Manny Pina and Erik Kratz in framing even when he’s at his best. For a staff like Milwaukee’s, which doesn’t have many guys who can blow hitters away with pure power, pitch framing has been a big reason for why they’ve been able to beat expectations. Swapping out Pina or Kratz for Ramos may only cost a handful of strikes here or there, but those add up over the course of a season — especially if those happen during key moments in games where a strike can be the difference between getting out of a jam or allowing several runs.Baseball Prospectus metrics credit Pina with 4.8 framing runs in 2018, while Kratz was credited with 9.9 framing runs. Ramos barely graded out as above average this past season, at 0.3. When looking at the overall defense of all three using the catcher-adjusted version of Fielding Runs Above Average, Kratz (11.1) and Pina (6.3) well outpaced Ramos (0.9) in 2018.While that’s still perfectly average behind the plate, the year and a half since Ramos’ most recent knee injury is still a far cry from where he was before it, when he had an FRAA Adj. of 11.4. It’s the fact that Pina and Kratz were so good in 2018 that brings up the real possibility of making the Brewers’ defense worse with his addition.Considering the Brewers’ emphasis on run prevention, that’s not nothing. But it’s entirely possible that could be offset with his offensive production. In the grand scheme of things, average defense and above-average offense may end up grading out ahead of above-average defense and below-average offense, and adding Ramos to a batting order that includes Lorenzo Cain, Christian Yelich, Jesus Aguilar and Travis Shaw would go a long way in reducing the amount of easy outs in the lineup.Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference and Baseball Prospectus There weren’t a whole lot of positives for the Red Sox on Saturday"The Red Sox were at home on Saturday to take on the Orioles with a lineup full of regulars, including J.D. Martinez in the slugger’s first game of the spring. Things were shaping up for it to be a good day in Fort Myers. Of course, you never know what will happen on any given day with any baseball team, and that is doubly true for a spring training game. So, despite all of the relative excitement, the Red Sox got crushed. There were a few positives on the day http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , but they were admittedly few and far between.Xander Bogaerts goes deepThe Red Sox offense was, for the most part, incredibly quiet on Saturday. They managed just one run on the day, and it came thanks to the shortstop. In the fourth inning Xander Bogaerts came up with the bases empty. He got a fastball up in the zone, and like so many times in 2018 he drove it way out to left field for a solo homer. The big swing was his first home run of the spring. Granted, it’s only been three games. Bogaerts is heading into a big season in his career as he’s set to perhaps headline the free agent class in baseball next winter, or at least be near the top of the market. Coming off a breakout year, he is looking at a major payday if he’s able to repeat what he did in 2018.Other than Bogaerts, the other standout for the Red Sox was Mookie Betts, and even he wasn’t that much of a standout. The 2018 AL MVP had been struggling in a very small sample to start his 2019, still looking for his first hit heading into Saturday’s game. He didn’t have a home run or even an extra base hit, but Betts got off the schneid with a base hit. He also drew a walk in the game. Clearly, there’s no reason to worry about Betts regardless of what happens in the spring, but it’s still better to see him get on base compared to the alternative.Travis Lakins pitches wellAs with the offense, the pitching featured more bad than good. The most high-profile positive among the pitching staff on Saturday was Travis Lakins. The righty tossed a scoreless inning with a strikeout while also allowing a single. He now has five scoreless innings in three outings to start the spring. Lakins is one of the more exciting relievers on the 40-man roster, having dominated in the role after converting early in 2018. He’s all but certain to start the coming year in Triple-A, but with a strong performance he’ll get a chance to not only be part of Boston’s bullpen but also to pitch his way into an important role. Building some confidence in the spring certainly can’t hurt.The Red Sox also got strong outings from Adam Lau and Brian Ellington. Each tossed a scoreless inning with the former striking out three with one walk and the latter striking out two. Lau spent all of 2018 in Portland, showing solid strikeout stuff but suffering through inconsistent command. Ellington, meanwhile Nelson Cruz Jersey , is a former Marlins lefty who has big stuff but has suffered through major control issues. If Ellington can somehow figure it out with his walks, he can be a weapon for the Red Sox after signing a minor-league deal this past winter.Other NotesJ.D. Martinez made his debut in this game, as noted above, but he couldn’t get going. The slugger went 0-2 on the day.Jackie Bradley Jr., Brock Holt and Bobby Dalbec were all hitless in this game as well. All three of those guys had gotten off to hot starts this spring, so it will be interesting to see how each responds to their first truly rough game of 2019. Also among the hitless on the afternoon was Christian V谩zquez, who is still looking for his first hit of the spring. The catcher has had ten plate appearances this spring without even reaching base. We’re not going to take too much away from this kind of rough start, but with V谩zquez being part of the only real position battle in Red Sox camp his performance is going to be more closely evaluated than basically anyone else.Colten Brewer got the start in this one, and the righty has been gaining a lot of steam in terms of hype leading up to the start of camp. We have been part of that building intrigue, but he’s struggled a bit to kick off 2019. The righty couldn’t find the zone on Saturday, walking three batters in an inning-plus of work. He was charged with two runs (one earned) and also allowed a pair of singles.Also struggling in this game were a pair of minor leaguers in Dedgar Jimenez and Kutter Crawford. The former allowed two runs on five hits in two innings, while the latter allowed four runs on six hit in 1 1鈦? innings. Jimenez had a big year a couple of seasons ago before the upper minors caught up to his relative lack of stuff. Crawford, meanwhile, is coming off a breakout 2018 and is looking to avoid a similar fate as Jimenez.BOX