Kevin Cash Talks 20-Game Winner
May 13th, 2016
Manager Kevin Cash talks about his surprising golden arm
Erasmo Ramirez … 20-game winner?
Why not dream?
Usually, the possibility of a reliever winning 20 would seem silly to Joe. After all, we’re talking about a bullpen arm, not Clayton freakin’ Kershaw.
But if Erasmo-mentum extends deep into the summer, if the Rays’ starter-turned-reliever continues his magic and wicked pace, the question may not draw chuckles in the future.
On Tuesday, Steve Duemig asked manager Kevin Cash on WDAE-AM 620 about Ramirez being a 20-game winner. The query was more of a tongue-in-cheek conversation starter, but the response from the skipper was interesting:
“Sign me up,” Cash said. “Man, he has been outstanding. We’re so fortunate to have him in that role. I tell you what, we’ve talked a lot about Erasmo, and we should. But you think about the versatility. I don’t know how many starting pitchers in baseball can just stop starting and go to the bullpen and have the impact. This is a pretty talented guy. He’s got a very resilient arm. He bounces back quick.”
Entering Tuesday, Ramirez was 6-1 with a 1.32 ERA in 14 appearances (one start). That’s impressive stuff no matter how you slice his performance.
The only thing worrying Joe is that Ramirez’s workload could drag him down late in the season. Before Tuesday, he had thrown 27 1/3 innings. We saw how bullpen arms were fried for the closing stretch in 2015, and it’s possible the same thing might happen to Ramirez this time around.
Joe hopes Cash finds a way to keep Ramirez fresh.
May 13th, 2016 at 4:44 pm
I was wrong on Erasmo. He came over in a trade and promptly added gasoline to the fire on any save or hold situation he had. It was very bad for the 1st month. VERY bad. Then our pitching maestro, Jim Hickey, got a hold of him. Turns out he was trying to nibble around the edges of the plate. Hickey told him to challenge the hitter by concentrating on throwing strikes and using his change up more often. Then, PRESTO, Cy Young Erasmo. What a great story and how valuable he has been. Kudos Erasmo.
May 13th, 2016 at 4:45 pm
It’s sad and pathetic that with all the moves in the offseason and all the hype in spring training that the teams only positive is a relief pitcher that should be in the five man rotation ( is the team at the point in their schedule to have five pitchers or we still only doing the four pitcher crap, joke). Bad front office moves and bad managing, this why this team will be only good as. 500 or worse.