Tigers nearing $2 million deal with veteran catcher Wilson Ramos

Chris McCosky
The Detroit News

Detroit – The Tigers Tuesday night were closing in on a deal with veteran catcher Wilson Ramos.

The deal, first reported by WOW Deportes and confirmed by The News, will be for one year and $2 million upon completion of medicals.

Ramos, 33, has a .274/.321/.434 slash-line over his 11-year career, with 128 home runs and 514 RBIs. Though he bats right-handed, he’s been a productive hitter against right-handed pitching over his career (.264/.310/.417 with a .729 OPS).

FILE - In this Aug. 17, 2020, file photo, New York Mets' Wilson Ramos walks to the dugout after batting during a baseball game against the Miami Marlins in Miami.

The Tigers have hit right-handed pitching worse than any team in the American League the last two seasons. 

Earlier Tuesday, manager AJ Hinch had hinted that a deal for a catcher could be close.

“In a perfect case, there’s still a guy out there who can help us,” he said. “Whether the market produces that or whether that’s how we chose to spend our dollars, that’s up in the air. But at that position, the more the merrier.”

Though he had a quiet offensive season for the Mets last year, Ramos hit 15 home runs and had a wRC-plus (weighted runs created) of 132 for the Rays and Phillies in 2018 and he hit 14 homers with a 105 wRC-plus in 2019.

The Mets declined a $10 million option for 2021 and paid him a $1.5 million buyout, making him a free agent.

His best years were with the Nationals, from 2010-2016. He was an All-Star in 2016. He made a second All-Star appearance in 2018.

His defense has been in decline, at least according to the metrics, since 2015. He was worth a minus-17 defensive runs saved in 2019-2020. Over his career, he’s thrown out 27 percent of would-be base stealers.

Back in 2011, Ramos was kidnapped and held for ransom in his native Venezuela. He was rescued, unharmed, after 50 hours of captivity.

Ramos will compete with Grayson Greiner and Jake Rogers for the starting role.

Twitter@cmccosky