Has Hanley Ramirez Played His Last Game As A Dodger?

Is This The End For Hanley in a Dodger Uniform?

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

So here’s to an offseason full of hot stove responses after what happened last night. There will be a lot of questions regarding the future of the organization, as numerous positions need to be filled for next season. A quick rundown gives us this:

Setup Man

Middle Relief (x2 or x3)

Catcher

Back Of The Rotation

and of course…

Shortstop.

I’m specifically writing about this topic the day after the Dodgers were knocked out because a bunch Dodger writers analysis gave pretty much the exact same response in regards to Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez.

Hanley Ramirez has played his last game in a Dodgers uniform.

— Ryan Walton (@RyanWaltonVBN) October 8, 2014

I think he’s gone RT @liamdodger there’s no way we re sign Hanley right?

— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) October 8, 2014

Stephen is even skeptical that they give Ramirez the qualifying offer. A quote from the article:

The other question is whether or not the Dodgers would make the qualifying offer to Ramirez. It seems like a no-brainer, because even if Ramirez accepts, having him back on a one-year deal is the best possible scenario for the team. I’m just not convinced the team thinks it is as crystal clear.

I hope I’m wrong.

I hope so too, plus then there’s Mark Saxon who states:

The Dodgers have only one marquee free agent coming up and it’s pretty apparent they’re not going to bring back Hanley Ramirez

Which is troubling. When most beat writers either think he’s gone and/or think that the team has no willingness to bring him back, mirroring what the general sentiment is, you can understand why it’s a bit worrisome. That Stephen scenario particularly scares me because if they don’t even want to give him a qualifying offer that he will surely turn down, it gives you an idea of what the team thinks of him.

The scary thing is the alternatives. If you think Hanley is injury prone, you should meet Jed Lowrie who can’t stay healthy, is only 4 months younger than Hanley, the definition of an average hitter, and can’t play shortstop. I don’t understand why anyone would like J.J. Hardy, a 32 year old shortstop who just put up a .682 OPS (in Camden!), a 90 wRC+ while still maintaining a career high Batting Average On Balls Put In Play, 40 points above his normal mark. His power dropped 66 points, his plate appearances have declined steadily over the last 3 seasons, I am not optimistic, but if he is the next Dodger shortstop i’ll be sure to look in depth at why it was such a terrible move.

Other than that it’s pretty much Stephen Drew and Asdrubal Cabrera, and I don’t think anybody actually wants them to play shortstop come April for the Dodgers.

In other words, if the Dodgers actually think that bringing back Hanley would be a terrible idea, like these 3 beat writers truly believe, I don’t know if I can stand to see who’s starting there opening day, because replacing a 135 weighted runs created + (35% above the league average) is going to be a tall task, even if we hated the defense he played.