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Via Bruce Levine: The Yankees are one of several teams with interest in White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez. The Mets and Dodgers are also involved. Levine speculates the White Sox will want young power pitching in return, specifically right-handers. He says the Mets have been the most aggressive, and not just this offseason. They’ve been after Ramirez for the last year.
Ramirez, 33, hit .273/.305/.408 (97 wRC+) with 15 homers and his usually low strikeout rate (12.3%) this past season, making it his best offensive season in several years. His defense, which usually rates very highly, was below average in 2014 according to the various stats. Ramirez is very durable (exactly 158 games in four straight years) and he’s owed $10M in 2015 with a $10M option for 2016, so he’s reasonably priced as well. I’d prefer a younger shortstop, but Ramirez wouldn’t be a bad stopgap by any means. The only question is whether the ChiSox like New York’s young arms enough.