Aramis Ramirez to the Disabled List

It is funny how fast things can change over the course of one year. If you remember last year when the Cubs placed Aramis Ramirez on the Disabled list, everyone in Chicago was on a panic watch and worrying how the Cubs would stay afloat without their slugging third basemen. However, things have drastically changed this year , as over the past couple of weeks many fans and even writers have been calling for the Cubs to place the struggling Ramirez on the Disabled list, after he has been struggling with a right thumb injury for the past two weeks now. And, going to the disabled list was considered to be a last option for Ramirez and the Cubs.

But as things appear, it looks like Aramis Ramirez will in fact be placed on the 15 day disabled list tomorrow. After he received his second straight game off as the Cubs continued to look for ways to have Ramirez play through the injury, but found no such scenario.

As I’ve said in the past putting Ramirez on the disabled may actually prove to help the Cubs instead of hurt them. Because, at this point in the season many would argue that the Cubs would be better served to give Ramirez some time off and let others fill in at third. The move will also help Ramirez as he can now clear his mind of baseball for two weeks or so, and hopefully he can come back with a clean slate and start hitting again.

As for the corresponding roster move, the Cubs are expected to select the contract of 1B/3B Chad Tracy, who was sent down in early May to make room for rookie Starlin Castro. Tracy hit .273/.333/.318  in 24 plate appearances with the Cubs before he was sent down. However in triple A-Iowa, Tracy was on fire by hitting .396 with 5 home runs and 18 RBI’s.