The San Diego Padres have agreed to terms on a one-year deal with veteran infielder Alexei Ramirez, according to a report from MLB Network's Jon Heyman on Thursday afternoon.
At this time, a salary guarantee is yet to be made. Once that has become confirmed, approval of a physical examination will take place before he is officially welcomed in a press conference at Petco Park.
The news comes just a day after news broke that the club had closed in on their final two possibilities for the shortstop position, with another free agent in Ian Desmond having been the other name in conversation.
Ramirez has spent the entirety of his major league career with the Chicago White Sox which started back in 2008. Ramirez had defected Cuba and was eligible to sign with an MLB team as the process continues to run that way to this day, as we recently saw RHP Yaisel Sierra agree to a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ramirez has been nothing but reliable during his major league career, that includes as a defender and in the batters box. He doesn't wow you with any particular tool, but he is as solid as it gets in the middle of the diamond.
When Ramirez officially steps foot in the batters box as a member of the San Diego Padres, Ramirez will be making his 5,000th career plate appearance.
Over the course of the 2015 season, Ramirez hit with a slashline of .249/.285/.642 alongside 10 home runs and 62 RBI's in 583 total plate appearances. Over that span, he played in 154 games.
Ramirez, 34, is rated as a below average offensive player. For his career, Ramirez has a career OPS+ of 91, with 100 being league average. He's had a couple seasons where he won a Silver Slugger, but Ramirez is usually pretty average as he's never hit .300 and doesn't get on base at a high rate.
Coming off a season where they vastly underachieved, the Padres are trying to turn things around and signing a reliable shortstop in Ramirez is a good sign.