Jose Ramirez injury a big blow

Cleveland Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez has a fracture of his hamate bone in his right hand, which will end his season.

After a big swing and miss during Saturday’s victory over the Royals, Jose Ramirez’ season appears to be over. Ramirez suffered a right hamate bone fracture and it will require surgery. Surgery which will take place Monday in New York. The recovery time for an injury like this typically lasts longer than the Indians have games remaining on their schedule. What this means is that the 2019 regular season appears over for Jose Ramirez.

This is a huge blow for at team still looking up in the standings.

Jose Ramirez has not had his best season this year but has turned things around of late and has been extremely productive. Losing a bat that can do what Jose’s bat can is brutal for the Tribe. Not many teams can survive losing this type of bat in their lineup. This includes the Indians. After the trade to acquire Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes the lineup did get longer. However subtracting a bat from the equation does pose a problem. The offense will not be quite the same without Jose Ramirez.

Cleveland called up Yu Chang from AAA Columbus to start Sunday’s game and see some time at third during Ramirez’ absence. Although it does appear that a platoon may be in order with Chang and veteran Mike Freeman. Freeman did come in later in the game to pinch hit for Chang when a righty was on the mound. Freeman is better against right handed pitching than Chang is and vice versa. Chang’s track record in Columbus this year shows he is better against left handers. While it not be an even platoon, either way it appears both players will get their chance to fill in at third.

Cleveland does not need Chang or Freeman to be Jose Ramirez. Cleveland just needs them to show some sort of competency with a bat in their hands so a very productive bat is not replaced with an automatic out in the lineup. If the Tribe can get that from Chang and Freeman things may not be so bad. If things do not work out it could become a very frustrating ending to a season that saw a team rebound from a very lackluster start.