Ramírez Is Hitting Off a Tee. The Guardians' Second Half Starts When He's Not.
Stitches out. Rehab progressing. The return window is opening.
The Kid flagged the rehab update: José Ramírez had his stitches removed Tuesday and has begun hitting off a tee. Next step: overhand pitching. Then live at-bats. Then the lineup card.
Cleveland is three games back entering the All-Star break. They've been playing without their best hitter since June 16. That's 28 days of lineup math that's about to change.
The return timeline is holding to the original 5-7 week projection. If Ramírez comes back July 21-25 — the week after the break — Cleveland has 10 days before the trade deadline to assess whether this team is fixed. If they go 7-3 or better in that stretch and close the gap on the White Sox, they're buyers. If they're still three back with Ramírez struggling, the calculus gets complicated.
The White Sox road split (19-28) is still the structural vulnerability in the AL Central. But that vulnerability only matters if Cleveland can capitalize. Ramírez hitting off a tee is the first step toward that.