August 26: The Rays made it official today, announcing that they have selected Ramírez to the roster, with Lopez optioned as the corresponding move.
August 25: The Rays plan to select veteran right-hander Erasmo Ramírez from the Triple-A Durham Bulls, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 Houston. He will join the team on Monday, in time for the first game of a three-game set against the Mariners. The Rays already have an open spot on the 40-man, although they will need to make room for Ramírez on the active roster.
Ramírez, 34, is a 13-year MLB veteran who has pitched for six different clubs since making his debut in 2012. Funnily enough, he spent the first seven years of his professional career (and his first three years in the majors) with the Mariners – the team he will likely face in his next big league outing. Ramírez spent the 2012-14 seasons with Seattle before the Mariners traded him to the Rays in March 2015. Two and a half years later, Tampa Bay flipped him back to Seattle at the 2017 trade deadline. He would remain with the M’s through the 2018 campaign.
After that, Ramírez spent time with the Red Sox, Mets, Tigers, and Nationals before finding his way back to the Rays in 2023. He re-signed with the club on a minor league deal this past offseason, and he has already spent one brief stint in the majors in 2024, pitching 16 innings with a 4.50 ERA and 5.22 SIERA. The Rays DFA’d him in May, but he accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, where he has a 3.02 ERA over 47 2/3 frames.
Ramírez won’t be a high-leverage arm for the Rays, but he can be a valuable innings eater out of the bullpen. He threw 146 2/3 MLB innings from 2022 to ’23, and he regularly goes multiple innings in an outing. Tampa Bay’s relief corps ranks third in the majors in innings pitched since the All-Star break, so they could surely use the extra help. They may have the second-lowest bullpen ERA (2.29) and SIERA (3.11) in that time, but a fresh arm to help shoulder the workload is never a bad thing. The Rays optioned bulk reliever Joel Kuhnel to allow for Jacob Lopez to make a spot start today, so Kuhnel cannot be recalled for at least 15 days unless he is the 27th man for a doubleheader or replacing a pitcher on the IL. Presumably, Lopez will return to Triple-A, despite his strong performance today (5 IP, 1 ER), and Ramírez will take his spot on the 26-man roster.