Status of Alex Ramirez Next Season

I believe Alex Jr. pitched for a third of an inning for the farm team last year for an ERA of 54, so yes, he is not the best pitcher in the world to put it mildly. He is, however, a very nice guy after having met him a number of times. It does appear that his contract was simply a make weight in contract negotiations when, if I remember correctly, Rakuten were offering more money than Yakult. His salary is not large at all (around the 4 million yen a year mark). I imagine Alex Sr. just wanted to keep his son near to him and busy while he was living in Japan and Yakult were happy to keep him happy.

As for Alex. Sr. being renewed next year, have you seen his numbers this year? Yes, he's getting on a bit, but as of today he's leading the CL in hits, 2nd to Aoki in average, and has his usual good haul of RBIs. As for his power numbers, he's always been around a 30 HR a year guy (with the exception of 2003 when he hit 40) so he's on course for that same level, at least this year. Plus he's always a slow starter home run wise and then warms up as the season progresses, and he seems to be warming up of late, hitting home runs for fun this last week.

I will admit, I did wonder about what would happen to him next year at the beginning of this season, but given the season he's having, it's a no-brainer about whether or not they should re-sign him (though Yakult's front office is often found lacking in the brains department). Players like him are difficult to find - solid playing ability, an integral part of the team both on and of the field, a settling/positive influence on new foreign players coming on to the team (see Riggs and Guiel), and a big personality (I'd wager most people think firstly of Furuta, followed by Ramirez when they think of the Swallows). In short he'd be nigh on impossible to replace.

As you can gather, I would hope (and indeed expect) him to be resigned next year, regardless of whether Alex Jr. is kept on by the team.

- I find it hard to believe Alex would put such a clause in his contract and stay with the team after his kid gets ditched.

All that and I forgot to address this point, I mainly addressed his re-signing from the Swallows' perspective.

I feel he will stay with the team regardless of his son's status. He's on far too good a thing with the Swallows to let his son's situation get in the way. Three years ago his son was probably an unknown quantity for Yakult so they allowed him a minor league contract as it was for so little money that it wouldn't hurt them to try him out. This year it's quite obvious to all that Jr. is not gonna make it as a big league pitcher so they will have every right to cut his contract.

Of course, he can alway pay his son the 4 million yen salary out of his own vast salary so that Jr. always has a bit of pocket money.

His stats don't look weak now, after going 13 for 19 with 9 runs, 4 homers, and 11 RBIs in his last 4 games. He's definitely on pace to have his standard season after that surge. Before that, though, he was on pace for his first season without reaching 20 homers and 100 RBIs.

I think it would be wise for Yakult to re-sign the guy, because they're a team in dire need of star power, especially with the inevitable retirements of Miyamoto and Furuta in the near future.

Alex seems like the kind of guy who could easily walk away from it all to be with his family, so I'm not too sure what the situation will be like at the end of the year.

- Before that, though, he was on pace for his first season without reaching 20 homers and 100 RBIs.

Agreed, but as I said, his seasons often seem to work this way. I've been worried about his production early on during a few seasons in the past, but he always comes through by season's end. He just takes some time to get going.

Another factor this year could be the added pressure of being the only recognized "slugger" on the team, what with Iwamura gone, Riggs injured, and Guiel going through his transitional period while he gets used to the game over here. Now Guiel seems to have found his feet and other guys are chipping with a few homers (Aoki, Ihara), so maybe it's taken a bit of the pressure off him and he can relax and play his game more. Plus batting out of the number 3 spot seems to have helped, too.

... they're a team in dire need of star power, especially with the inevitable retirements of Miyamoto and Furuta in the near future.

Totally agree. We absolutely need his presence in order to keep some kind of profile/recognition outside of the hardcore yakyu watching fans.

- Alex seems like the kind of guy who could easily walk away from it all to be with his family, ...

I agree with this, too. But let's hope he's enjoying his baseball (which he always certainly looks like he is) enough to continue playing on with the Swallows past this year.