… And it was fired from Aramis Ramirez’s figurative pistol. The Chicago Cubs at least gave their fans a tiny amount of joy last night as they won the last game of the season at Wrigley Field, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 7-1. With a 6-game road trip remaining for the Cubs, they’re currently tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates for 4th place and they also have a chance to derail the St. Louis Cardinals’ last second playoff hopes starting tomorrow night at Busch Stadium.
But beyond that relative, honorable mention joy, the Cubs are once again in a familiar place, wondering what the hell comes next. Ramirez, who could be playing for a playoff contender right now, chose to stand strong with his no-trade clause in July and August because he wanted to sign an extension with the Cubs. Unfortunately, he knows now that he’s not in the Cubs’ plans.
Ramirez said “the chances to come back here don’t look pretty good right now,” and that he believed it would come to this after Hendry was fired.
“It looked that way, because of the situation in the front office,” he said. “I knew (staying) wasn’t a good (possibility) because we don’t have a GM, and we haven’t heard from (the Cubs) the whole time. I knew nothing was going to come of it.”
(Via the Chicago Tribune)
This would be a case of your standard baseball breakup, except that Ramirez knew before the July 31 trade deadline that he wasn’t in the plans. At that time there were teams interested in trading for Ramirez, who could have added a hot bat and solid glove at third base for a playoff team on the bubble (notably the Anaheim Angels and their ripe farm system). But Ramirez said no, and now he won’t even accept the mutual option for $16 million if the Cubs chose to pull the trigger, because he wants more years and more money.
In happier news, at least Ryne Sandberg is doing well.