The Cubs acquired outfielder Harold Ramirez from the Guardians for cash considerations Monday. The move brings the team’s 40-man roster to 38.
Ramirez, 27, hit .268 with 21 doubles, seven home runs and 41 RBI. His addition gives the Cubs outfield depth and a strong right-handed option off the bench.
Ramirez has crushed lefties in parts of three major-league seasons. He’s a career .275 hitter against southpaws and slashed .288/.333/.441 with two homers and 12 RBI against them last season.
The Cubs were light on outfielders entering the offseason. Ramirez joins Ian Happ, Rafael Ortega, Jason Heyward and Greg Deichmann in the mix for 2022.
Depending on what other moves the Cubs make in the outfield, Ramirez could be a nice platoon piece with Ortega in center field. Ortega had a strong season for the Cubs in ’21 but was much stronger against right-handed pitching (.900 OPS) than left-handed (.421 OPS).
The Cubs have more moves to make. While the additions of lefty starter Wade Miley and Ramirez fill needs, they’ll have to do much more to move the needle toward contending.
“You want to make sure you’re spending intelligently,” president Jed Hoyer said this month. “We have some resources to spend, in part because we don’t have a lot of players we had before and those guys were taking up a lot of payroll space. But we need to use that [cap space] in a really smart way.
“Ultimately, we are really focused on how we build the next great Cubs team. So we’re gonna try to spend as intelligently as possible, but it is really nice to have that flexibility to enter these conversations, knowing that we do have financial flexibility.”
