James Ramsey and Zach Walters traded to Dodgers for cash considerations

Cleveland Indians prospects James Ramsey and Zach Walters have been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for cash considerations, the team confirmed via Twitter earlier today. Both players were designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Marlon Byrd and Joba Chamberlain prior to the start of the season.

The Indians acquired Zach Walters at the 2014 trade deadline in exchange for a rapidly declining Asdrubal Cabrera. There was hope that Walters could be a utility infielder with pop for the Tribe, but it never panned out. Other than a brief period of time shortly after being acquired when he looked like he could hit home runs (including homering in three straight games), Walters has failed to put together solid at-bats at the major league level. He has a career .182/.233/.394 slash in 176 career plate appearances.

There was a point in time when it looked like James Ramsey playing in the Tribe outfield was inevitable. Tyler Naquin was taking his time getting to the majors, no other outfield prospects were close, and the Indians had a hole in right field. Unfortunately for James, he struggled last season in Triple-A and never got the call. Instead, Lonnie Chisenhall emerged as a legitimate right fielder (for the time being, anyway), Tyler Naquin played well enough this year in spring training to win a starting job, and Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier are just a year or two away. Ramsey just missed his one shot to stick on the roster and that is all it took for him to become expendable.

The Indians acquired Ramsey on the same day as Walters, July 30, 2014, in a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals for Justin Masterson. At the time, Ramsey was the Cardinals No. 6 overall prospect and he was dealt primarily due to a surge of outfield talent in higher levels of the St. Louis organization.

Cash Considerations will likely start in Double-A for the Indians.