Neil Ramirez Acquired; Matt Garza Deal Now Complete

There were quite a number of rumors while the Matt Garza deal was being completed, that Neil Ramirez would be either included in it, or would be the player to be named later.

Friday, Ramirez became that PTBNL:

#Cubs claim RHP Neil Ramirez off waivers from Texas. That completes Garza deal. He's assigned to Tennessee

— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) August 23, 2013

Ramirez was the Rangers' first-round pick (44th overall) in 2007, so this is his sixth year in the minor leagues. He's pitched parts of two seasons at Triple-A (total of 33 starts in 2011 and 2012), but otherwise has peaked at Double-A, where he has spent all of this year. There have been some injury issues reported with Ramirez, but he must be healthy enough for Theo and Jed to claim him and complete the Garza trade.

This year at Double-A Frisco, Ramirez has a 3.84 ERA and 1.155 WHIP in 21 starts covering 103 innings (that's not great; it's less than five innings per start). He's walked 42 and struck out 127 this season.

So the overall return for Garza is Ramirez, Mike Olt, Justin Grimm and C.J. Edwards.

Discuss, etc.