Hanley Ramirez‘s days as a left fielder — or even an infielder who plays on the left side of the diamond — look to be coming to a close, as he told the Boston media today that he will transition to first base for the 2016 season (via the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman, on Twitter). Ramirez, in fact, said he may play there a bit before the end of the current season. He worked out at the position today and said he’s looking forward to the transition.
While position changes aren’t exactly the normal sort of thing we cover at MLBTR, Ramirez’s new defensive home will have a significant impact on the Red Sox’ roster construction. For one thing, it allows the team to move forward with a future outfield alignment of Jackie Bradley, Mookie Betts and Rusney Castillo. It also lessens the likelihood of the Sox searching for a first baseman this winter, which many had previously believed to be one of the team’s greatest needs behind improving the pitching staff (both in the rotation and in the bullpen).
The move does seem to further diminish the chances that the Red Sox will receive some positive value out of Allen Craig, whom the team acquired in the July 2014 trade that sent John Lackey to the Cardinals. Craig was outrighted off the 40-man roster earlier this season and went unclaimed due to his recent struggles and relatively sizable contract. Since heading to Pawtucket, he’s shown strong on-base skills but little in the way of power, slashing .272/.369/.341 with three homers. Boston still owes him $21MM through the end of the 2017 season.
Also impacted by the switch will be rookie first baseman Travis Shaw, who is currently hitting .329/.376/.600 with six homers in 93 plate appearances. Those numbers don’t line up with the 25-year-old’s minor league track record, but his excellent numbers to date did seem to have him in line to be a candidate for regular duty at first base next season in the absence of a move to solidify first base. Shaw played quite a bit of third base in the minors this season, so he could still be a 25-man roster candidate next Spring in a bench capacity at the very least.
Boston will hope that moving Ramirez from the outfield to first base restores some of the lost production in his bat. The 31-year-old is hitting just .254/.296/.435 on the season, and that overall line conceals how great his struggles have been for much of the year. Ramirez got off to a blistering start, batting .293/.341/.659 with 10 homers in the month of April. Since that time, he’s batted a paltry .244/.284/.376 with nine homers in 82 games. Additionally, he’s been arguably baseball’s worst defender. No qualified fielder at any position has posted a mark worse than Ramirez’s -19 Defensive Runs Saved, and his -16.7 Ultimate Zone Rating is also the worst in baseball (narrowly edging out teammate Pablo Sandoval‘s -16.1).
One can still imagine, of course, scenarios in which new Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski attempts to unload the remaining $68.25MM on Ramirez’s four-year, $88MM contract this winter. Although in order to do so, he’d almost certainly have to take on another undesirable contract, as there figure to be few takers for a player that’s been below replacement level in 2015 and is owed $22.75MM annually through the 2018 season.
This news almost makes up for a quarter of the devastation of the Don Orsillo news.
hahahahahahahahaha
Maybe one quarter of one percent :c
I’ve spent most of the day angry about that. Why would they fire him?
Best defensive OF I’ve seen for the Sox since Yaz-Lynn-Evans. Virtually nothing, except gappers, or bombs will fall in next year. All can fly and all are outstanding fielders. I like this potential OF.
Hanley also has $22M vesting option that barring major injury should vest (1050PA last 2 years)
If his production continues to tail off, they could legitimately bench him by then and not be accused of trying to prevent it from vesting.
I smell failure.
Not a Sox fan but why wouldn’t they move him to 3rd and put Pablo at 1st? Hanley was a terrible SS but still posted better defensive numbers there than Pablo has at 3rd. Any Sox fans have insight??
I can give you insight as a Dodger fan. Hanley’s body has an extreme aversion to dirt. I have seen him dive for a ground ball one time in my life, and it was the WBC. And he dislocated/injured his thumb that one time.
Pablo has been better defensively than Hanley at third for his career, though the sample size for Hanley is much smaller. Also, I don’t think they want to make the 1st base position occupied yet as their closes infield prospect, Sam Travis, should be able to take the position after next year. Hanley probably ends up at DH following next year, whereas Pablo would still be on the field.
You need some insight.
Are we honestly comparing Hanley Ramirez (99 games at 3rd base) to Pablo Sandoval (878 games at 3rd base) defensive numbers? Stop living in the moment, this is Pablo’s worse defensive season to date, are we really going to discount the last 7 seasons? Hanley Ramirez will be terrible at any position.
Hanley is a disaster on the left side of the field(LF,3rd,SS)
In isolation, it makes sense, but it may, in part, a tactic to drive up his value in a potential trade. Needless to say, given his injury history, Boston will carry a backup (beyond Ortiz, of course) and maybe that’s Craig. As to the future defense n the outfield, at the least, it’s addition by subtraction.
At least this should make him less of a liability. Maybe it’ll help his bat by taking away some of the defensive stress.
I wonder what made him change his tune? Maybe Dombrowski got through to him.
He’ll be the DH as soon as Ortiz retires.
H-Ram is lazy, they had to know this when they signed him, did they really expect him to do any extra work to improve his outfield defense?
well looks like the dodgers did the right thing by not trying to resign hanley.
Still more versatile than David Ortiz.
not by much
Agreed – unfortunately for Red Sox fans, he’s only more versatile by default.
He’ll just be a disaster defensively at first base as well.
Hanley for verlander, straight swap.
Interesting idea, but where in the field would Hanley play in Detroit? And Verlander is owed a lot more money than Hanley.
This may be a huge stretch. But what are the thoughts on a bad contract swap for either Votto, Prince, or to a lesser extent, Howard? Dealing off Hanley takes years of commitment away from the other team and gives the Red Sox a competent player at 1b. Hanley for Votto would be a huge win, although I think a B prospect or 2 will have to go with Hanley. Same for Prince. Hanley for Howard is less desirable and does the opposite, however, it shortens the burden by 2 years, and we could make it happen by tossing in a couple players like Cecchini and Coyle for Philly to audition and that would make it a win for both a sides… Shaw/Howard platoon and no more Hanley
Why would the Sox take on more money just to get rid of Hanley?
Because both Prince and Votto can still play. Both of them probably still have another 3-4 years of being useful in the field, and the bats should still be able to play for DH for the life of the contract.
And why would the Rangers trade the leagues leading hitter and their MVP?
Joey Votto? He has Barry Bonds-like OBP numbers over the past two months. Aside from his injury-filled 2014, he has had 5 out of 6 years with nearly 6.0 WAR including an MVP season. Could he be a bad contract in the future? Possibly, but a good batting eye is one of the last things impacted by age. Even if he slows a bit toward the end of his contract, he will still draw a lot of walks. I realize that AL East fans don’t acknowledge any good players outside of their division, but Hanley for Votto would only work if the Sox included Mookie Betts and a maybe another prospect or two.
Why would Philadelphia, who is down to one year and an outrageous buyout, take on Ramirez albatross of a contract, when Howard’s is almost finished?
There’s not going to be another Sox-Dodgers type gift of a swap happening anytime soon to get Boston out of the mess they’re in now. Hold on tight and let your precious prospects blossom into the superstars that they pegged them to be.
If you believe Ramirez will still hit his career average, then this isn’t such a terrible idea. Leave Ramirez in LF and put Cecchini/Ruf at 1B. Maybe Ramirez and Cecchini for Howard and Ruiz to make the money work?
Expensive contract or not, Joey Votto is still a hugely productive player – 5.9 fWAR already this season, and no reason to think he will regress significantly for at least 3 or 4 years. Considering 1 win is worth between 5-7 million on the market, his output lines up with his cost.
Hanley Ramirez is currently a bad player with a bad contract. He has significant negative value, so he wouldn’t get anything positive in return.
So, Ryan Howard does make sense.
Shields would be more in line with contract.
This will hurt their infield defense quite a bit.
The First thing that Hanley needs to do is push himself away from the Dinner table, and take Bubble Butt Panda Bear with him !
No need Man, he’s got that bank now. Guaranteed dollars no matter how much he eats himself into oblivion.
Why try?
Older fans will be able to reminisce about the days of Dick Stuart.
Hanley can and will rake. I think it is a great move. He is fast, just not good at catching the ball going backwards. He won’t have to do that as much playing first. The outfield will be excellent, highlight reels every game.
Raking is a good idea. The infield does need grooming half way through the game. Hopefully he can do it without dropping the tool too often.
The only reasonable solution for Boston is to trade Hanley to an AL team who needs a DH and has an equally horrible salary they’d like to jettison. Hanley at 1B? Ouch. Doctor Strangeglove indeed.
Hanley can’t hit. Even if Sox eat half his salary no one wants a DH who can’t hit.
Step 1) Build a staff of ground ball pitchers. Step 2) Put Hanley Ramirez at first base. Brilliant!!!
Silverman naive if he thinks the big 3 outfielders will all be intact after trades. A trade for Grey would result in Betts or Bradly traded.