Aramis Ramirez was in full uniform four hours before the game Saturday night against the Washington Nationals. He wasn’t wearing the black top, the favored look of Saturday starter A.J. Burnett. Instead he wore the home whites, for pictures and scoreboard videos, the first orders of business for his reintroduction to the Pirates.
The real task at hand began later, and manager Clint Hurdle threw Ramirez right in, batting him cleanup in his first game since the Pirates traded for Ramirez Thursday. Ramirez, 37, a third baseman, will spend the final two-plus months of his 18-year major league career with the team that signed him out of the Dominican Republic in 1994.
“I was happy,” Ramirez said of learning about the trade. “We were in last place in Milwaukee. All of a sudden, I'm playing here in the wild card with a chance to win the division. I couldn't ask for anything better.”
Ramirez reached the playoffs three times, in 2003, 2007 and 2008, all with the Chicago Cubs. The 2003 Cubs came within a game of winning the National League pennant, but lost the National League Championship Series, a seven-game set that included the Steve Bartman play, to the eventual World Series champion Florida Marlins.
“I think from a personal standpoint I've done everything in this game,” Ramirez said. “I've never won a World Series. I've been in the playoffs three times but I've never won a World Series. It's tough to win but now I have the opportunity to compete.”
Ramirez spent all 18 seasons in the National League Central Division and parts of 13 seasons on the Cubs and Brewers. While batting .290 with a .371 on-base percentage, a .510 slugging percentage and 33 home runs in 172 games against the Pirates, Ramirez also got a chance to watch their ascension to relevance in the past few years.
“They never give up,” he said. “Good pitching, real good pitching. That's why they're winning. That's why they win the last two years and that's why they are where they are this year.”
The rotation and bullpen remain strong, but injuries will keep Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer, the starting tandem on the left side of the infield, out through August. In acquiring Ramirez, the Pirates added a hitter whose cumulative batting average since 2012 — .284 — matches his career mark. He had 11 home runs this season and a .430 slugging percentage but only a .295 on-base percentage after a poor start. In July, though, Ramirez hit .352 with a .422 OBP entering the game Saturday night.
“I’m the manager, he’s on the other team, I keep an eye on where he’s hitting,” Hurdle said. “I keep an eye on when he’s coming up, I’m looking for matchups. I know there’s some vulnerability in certain people that he can take advantage of.”
Ramirez remembers being surprised when general manager Dave Littlefield called him into his office in 2003 and told him he had been traded in a move motivated by finances rather than baseball operations. Rejoining the team that originally gave him an opportunity made him happy. The coaching staff has asked only that he play the way he plays, nothing more, and he isn’t worried about what happens when Harrison gets healthy.
“I don't make the lineup,” he said. “I've been an everyday player my whole career, since I came up, but I'm here to help.”
Hours later, Ramirez walked to the plate in the bottom of the second, dressed in black this time, for his first plate appearance as a Pirates player since he struck out swinging against Houston Astros closer Billy Wagner July 22, 2003 to end a 2-0 shutout. The crowd stood and cheered in appreciation.
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: July 26, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
