Edwar Ramirez had a short stop with the Rangers before being traded to the Oakland A’s for an infielder Gregorio Petit.

During the off season the Rangers traded away Kevin Millwood to the Orioles to free up payroll space in order to fulfill the needs of the 25 man roster.  They went out and signed Kahlil Greene with the understanding that he would be their utility infielder.

The rotation, the bullpen and the outfield have all looked great during spring training.  The only need for the Rangers is infield help.  The catcher position is included in this need for infield help, in which the Rangers in order to plug a  hole traded for Matt Treanor.  The need for infield help was understood even more when Greene did not report to spring training due to a relapse of his social anxiety disorder.

Then Ian Kinsler sprained his right ankle and has not appeared in games in over ten days.  Kinsler should be in the starting line-up on April 5th against the Blue Jays, although nobody knows how far he can go into a game and how he should do once he does get back into game action.  So the Rangers needed some sort of back up for the infield.

Today the Rangers traded Edwar Ramirez whom they acquired from Yankees two weeks ago, to the Oakland Athletics’s for Gregorio Petit.  Gregorio Petit  has limited time in the majors, although he does have experience at second base and short stop.  Manager Ron Washington has always stated that whoever assumes the backup infielder position should and will be able to play shortstop.  The Rangers have given in house candidates Joaquin Arias and Esteban German the opportunity to step up and take the back up infield spot, although if they were to falter, Petit could step up and take the position.

Trading Ramirez must have tough for the Rangers to stomach considering his high upside, although that was made easier considering the bullpen and rotation strength.  The Rangers have a great farm system and this shows in the pitching strength.  So the Rangers had to trade something they did not need for something they did need, the Athletics’s also gained some insurance for their bullpen in Ramirez.

In baseball news the postseason schedule has been shortened to have less off days.  There were complaints that there were too many off days during the postseason.  In the span of a 183 days teams play 162 games during the regular season.  Then the postseason comes around and you play only 8 games in 20 days.  The rhythm of the season is thrown off with the excess off days.  The Yankees benefited from the excessive off days by only have a 3 man rotation throughout the entire postseason last year to eventually win the world series.