Jose Ramirez is inching back toward the Guardians’ lineup, but Cleveland isn’t ready to put him back in just yet.
Ramirez said he is getting “very close” after breaking the hamate bone in his left hand on June 13, an injury that happened when he fouled off a pitch. He had surgery and hasn’t played since. Even now, he says the hand still isn’t all the way there.
“I still feel it when I swing the bat,” said Ramirez. “But I’ll be back very soon, very soon.
“I want to play. I know they need me.”
Manager Stephen Vogt put it plainly: the third baseman is still in the middle of the recovery process, not at the finish line.
“We’re day-to-day with Jose,” said Vogt. “This is a recovery day for him. Tomorrow will be another workday.
"He’s feeling better. He’s feeling better each day."
The timeline is lining up with the original expectation. When Ramirez had surgery, the estimate was a five-to-seven-week absence. Vogt noted that “Tomorrow, I believe is five weeks since surgery,” adding, “So, we’re just getting to the front side of that five-to-seven-week window.”
Ramirez’s absence has been part of a rough stretch for Cleveland, which is 13-15 with him and Angel Martinez on the injured list. At the time he went down, Ramirez was hitting .239 with 64 hits in 268 at-bats, along with 42 runs, 18 doubles, 10 homers, 33 RBI and 24 steals in 26 attempts. It hasn’t been his sharpest season, but the seven-time All-Star still leads the Guardians in runs and doubles and is tied for second on the club in home runs.
Martinez remains out too, though there is movement there. He is scheduled to play his third rehab game Tuesday at Double-A Akron. Chase DeLauter, who also went down on June 13, is already back in the lineup after recovering from a hairline fracture of his right ribcage.
The Guardians have missed Martinez’s bat as well. He and DeLauter are tied for the team lead with 11 homers, and Martinez’s 33 RBI are tied for third on the club.
In Other News...
Guardians Trade Deadline Pressure Just Spiked After Brutal Outfield Update
The Guardians outfield depth took another hit this week when CJ Kayfus, once viewed as a useful internal option, was sidelined after an ankle procedure. Kayfus had been a key minor-league fallback for Cleveland, the kind of player a front office likes to have nearby when the big-league roster starts to thin out, and his absence leaves the organization with one less straightforward answer as the season moves deeper into summer.
For a club that has already had to keep shuffling pieces around the outfield, the timing makes the trade deadline feel a little more urgent. Cleveland has been monitoring the market for help, and losing Kayfus from the mix only sharpens the pressure to find another bat and glove combination that can steady the group before the deadline passes. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians May Have Finally Found Their Right-Handed Bat Fix
The Guardians search for a right-handed bat has been a familiar subplot, and it has only grown louder as the front office looks for ways to balance a lineup that can still feel too left-handed at times. One possible answer would come from Cincinnati, where a versatile hitter with enough defensive value to move around the diamond has started to look like the kind of player Cleveland could actually use, not just admire from afar.
The fit is obvious enough to make the idea linger: a bat with some pop, a glove that offers options, and a profile that could slide into the roster without forcing a complete rewrite. The harder part is the price, and that is where the conversation turns to whether the Reds would ask for more than Cleveland wants to give, even with the Guardians farm system offering the sort of minor league depth that usually gets other teams attention. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians May Have Quietly Let Another Promising Outfield Bat Slip Away
A once-promising outfield bat from the Guardians system is getting another look elsewhere after Cleveland moved on and the player resurfaced with Philadelphia. The switch came after a season that never really got on track because of a shoulder injury, a setback that interrupted the kind of development that had made him an intriguing name in the organization not long ago.
Now in High-A with Jersey Shore, he is trying to rebuild momentum in a new setting while the Guardians are left to wonder what might have been. Cleveland had seen enough promise in earlier seasons to keep him on the radar, so his departure fits the familiar pattern of a prospect slipping through the cracks just as a path to the majors starts to open. [Read more 🡒]