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Agent says Angels interested in 3B Aramis Ramirez

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Asked earlier in November about free-agent third baseman Aramis Ramirez, General Manager Jerry Dipoto said the Angels’ interest level in the slugger was ‘lower, but I never close the door on anyone.’ That door, according to Ramirez’s agent, is apparently wide open.

Paul Kinzer said Monday that the Angels are one of ‘four or five teams’ that has ‘serious’ interest in Ramirez, a 14-year veteran who could give the Angels something they have lacked for almost a decade: a legitimate power threat at third base.

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Ramirez, 33, hit .306 with a .361 on-base percentage, .510 slugging percentage, 26 home runs and 93 runs batted in for the Chicago Cubs last season. He has a career .284 average and .342 on-base percentage with 315 homers and 1,122 RBIs.

The Angels expressed interest in Ramirez last July, but Ramirez declined to waive his no-trade clause and finished out the season with the Cubs. Kinzer said Ramirez, who has spent his entire career in Pittsburgh and Chicago, would be ‘open’ to playing on the West Coast.

Ramirez is expect to command a deal of two or three years with an average salary in the $14-million-a-year range. Kinzer expects negotiations to heat up this week, and Ramirez, who has also drawn interest from the Detroit Tigers, could make a decision at next week’s winter meetings in Dallas.

The Angels remain interested in another Kinzer client, reliever Matt Capps. They have also expressed interest in relievers Heath Bell, Francisco Cordero, Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink.

They remain very much interested in free-agent starter C.J. Wilson, who had dinner with Dipoto and Manager Mike Scioscia last week, and have been linked in recent trade rumors for catchers Ryan Hanigan(Cincinnati) and Chris Iannetta (Colorado) and starter Jeremy Guthrie (Baltimore).

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