For the past few years Alexei Ramirez has been one of the most frustrating and entertaining young players to watch. A Cuban defector, Ramirez profiled as a plus defender and plus bat at shortstop and second base, both premium positions. When he first made his introduction to White Sox fans, Ramirez played a strong defensive second base while Orlando Cabrera held down the shortstop position. After Cabrera's less than graceful exit from the ranks of the South Siders before the 2009 season, Alexei assumed ownership of the shortstop position and had one of the most frustrating seasons we've seen as it set the trends of performance that we'd continue to see from him throughout his tenure: namely inconsistency.
Offensively, Alexei is notorious for an incredibly poor start in April and May, linked to his background and the fact that he's never had to live or play in cold weather before. Once the temperatures inch back into the 70s, his bat heats up and he becomes an entirely different player. Defensively he is well known for his ability to both make flashy, difficult plays while failing to complete some of the more routine, boring tasks handed to him.
The most important factor in extending Alexei might concern the state of major-league shortstops in general. The position is one of the thinnest - if not the thinnest - positions in the major leagues as there are very few "bat plus glove" shortstops in the league. In almost every other case, unless the player is developed internally or the club can afford to pay top dollar the smaller or mid-market teams will pay for a "glove", or defensively strong, shortstop such as JJ Hardy, Brendan Ryan or Ryan Theriot. Alexei averages out to being a plus glove and bat shortstop, not quite in the same league as Troy Tulowitzky or Hanley Ramirez but definitely within the top 5 in the bigs.
If Dave Cameron from Fangraphs is correct, the average team will pay $1 per win over replacement. According to fangraphs, Alexei has been worth 6.9 wins above replacement for his career, which translates to the idea that if he was being paid what he was worth he would've made a little over $30 million - and he's only earned $4 over that time period. In average, Alexei's contract offers the White Sox a guarantee of 2 years further control over a strong player, with an option for a 5th year at a market value that is very team friendly. Definitely worth the shot.
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