There’s “talk in the front office” that new Red Sox baseball chief Dave Dombrowski is trying to move Hanley Ramirez, according to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe. Cafardo adds that the Mariners, Orioles, and Angels “seem to be the targets” of DD’s campaign to relocate the pricey veteran after he turned in a massively disappointing season in 2015. It’s not immediately clear if those three clubs have interest, however.
Of course, trading Ramirez is probably easier said than done. Just last week, five general managers told Cafardo that they wouldn’t take on Ramirez even if the Red Sox picked up the tab on half of his remaining salary. Ramirez is owed $66MM through 2018 and he has a $22MM vesting option for 2019, so even at a reduced rate, that’s still a hefty price for a player coming off such a rough season on and off the field.
For their part, the Sox say that they’re still committed to Ramirez playing first base for them in 2016. They’re also hopeful that the soon-to-be 32-year-old can bounce back by dropping some weight. Ramirez was officially listed at 225 pounds this season but he was apparently tipping the scales at 240 pounds. All in all, Ramirez’s first year in Boston was dreadful. Despite hitting 19 home runs, he produced just a .291 OBP, and he struggled horribly with the transition from the infield to left field. At the time of his signing, Ramirez was coming off of a year in which he posted a .283/.369/.448 slash line with 13 homers for the Dodgers with a .300/.373/.500 slash line for his career.
On a related note, Cafardo hears that the Red Sox have discussed free agent slugger Chris Davis internally. However, that would only be doable if the Red Sox were able to move Ramirez. Also, the Red Sox would have to weigh their desire to add Davis’ bat against their need for a frontline starter.
Hard to see many if any takers for Hanley. He is essentially position-less now and has one of the worst contracts in baseball. Even if the Sox pick up a big chunk of his contract, I doubt many teams actually want him. Tough situation for Dombrowski and Boston. Would’ve been crazy to imagine that we would be having this conversation just a year ago today.
Kind of dumb to sell Hanley at his career low. He cant truly be as poor as last season indicated. Remember this guy lead the AL in homers until his shoulder injury, then his production fell off a cliff. And hes 32, not 42, so its not like its too late for a bounce back season. But selling this low is a sure way to witness another Adrian Gonzalez situation.
Except they didn’t sell low on Adrian Gonzalez.
yeah, they used adrian to offload crawford and beckett’s deals. that was a great trade for the sox, even though adrian has unsurprisingly continued to be good. agree with adyo about selling hanley low being suboptimal but that’s not a good analogy
agree. it was a bad year but people are burying him a bit early imo. he can’t handle the outfield, obviously, but one year before that he was the starting shortstop for a playoff team. not a good defensive SS, sure, but he played there without killing the team. there’s no reason to think he can’t handle first base, and no reason to think he forgot how to hit. he hit 10 homers in april and then hurt his shoulder.
seems clear to me the smart move for the sox is to keep him and hope he rebuilds some value.
So are you saying DD isn’t smart by shopping now? I would think that because this is Papi’s last season, and he was a top 10 OPS/elite-level hitter, DD is going to stack this team with as many sure-things as he can so Ortiz can have one last playoffs to shine in – Hanley isn’t a sure-thing, and Boston doesn’t have the time to wait around for him.
if it was just a question of deleting hanley and his contract from the team, sure, you’d do that. that’s not what it’d be, though. hanley’s there, his contract is there.
DD’s job isn’t to manage the ortiz farewell tour, his job is to make the sox into the best team he can, short & long term.
and anyway, what’s a sure thing? you’re saying, get a hitter who’s definitely going to be better than hanley. who? hanley’s pretty good, when he’s healthy. and what will it cost to acquire this player? is this really the best use of resources?
Hanley has both health and form concerns, there’s plenty of players out there without those, most internal. Travis Shaw at 1B is better than Hanley is.
I think the best move Boston could make would be to add prospects to Hanley so his money would be totally off the books, then sign Price and/or Greinke, then win all the games.
so you think travis shaw is a sure thing?
which prospects, specifically, would you spend to get rid of hanley?
Hanley started the year hot and cooled off after May. He looked all-star worthy at first. Getting him out of LF and focus all his time on hitting (and occasionally infield work) would huge.
Also, Big Papi is leaving after this season (though I do not buy it). If that’s the case then HanRam can be a full-time DH as he seems to want to be.
I would think Papi retiring would mean DD would want Hanley off the team in 2016 entirely, so he could get a more sure-thing in the lineup, because Ortiz is still elite-level and 2016 is the last chance he has to use him in his lineup everyday.
There were plenty of ppl wary of his contract (and Panda’s), but it was bound to happen. Ugly contract and no position, good luck getting anything for him.
Hanley needs to show he can still hit before he can possibly be moved and that isn’t going to happen during the offseason.
One would think the only way a team would trade for Hanley would be if Boston dipped into their farm and added a piece or two, similar to the Melvin Upton/Bronson Arroyo trades last year. Hanley by himself is un-tradeable, but I’m sure a team would take on that entire massive contract if it meant Benintendi or Devers and a #20-30 prospect was coming back as well.
If you could add Devers in exchange for taking back Hanley, the Phillies would have already made the call. Hanley > Howard.
I think if the o’s lose davis, I think they trade for Howard. And not sure why they list the angels for hanely. they have plenty of right handed power unless they would use him at third.
If HanRam were half off I’d easily stick him at 3B. He can manage 3B and still have upside in his bat.
I think the reason Hanely is linked to the Angels is because they are shopping Cron. As a possible trade piece to get a third baseman. Cron and Pujols both should be only a dh. If they can get Hanely cheap and have the Sox eat a bunch of money, play Hanely at first.
I could see that happening. This is the first we’ve heard of Boston actually shopping him, so maybe Phily will enquire.
jordan zimmermann signs with the tigers, he just shook up the market
lol Devers
Devers was on DD’s no trade list.
So the Redsox trade one of the best prospects in baseball to get rid of their starting 1Bman whose projected for a 120 wRC season. I get Hanley has a bad contract, but as the end of the day, he’s their best option at 1B and your fooling yourself if you think they will trade one of the best prospects to make their team worse.
If BoSox would eat all his contract and expect nothing in return, Braves might take him.
That’s part of the problem. They could do something like that, but it frees up zero money and they would be limited in the pursuit of free agents.
So Dombrowski wants to trade Hanley and then add Price and give him over $200 million
Pretty much. Maybe adding Davis too, if you read the entire post.
breaking news, jordan zimmermann signed with the tigers
you arent breaking the news by posting in this comment section,lol
Can’t see this happening…just too much $ in that contract, unless Dipoto in Seattle–who knows the Sox well–can swing a bad contract for a bad contract trade. Not sure what bad contract they have in Seattle other than Cano-and there’s no fit in Boston.
Why? Unless its for another bad contract, it just doesn’t make sense. I’d see if he can rebound first.
Unless its something like Ryan Howard and Matt Harrison for Hanley Ramirez, I wouldn’t even bother. In that scenario, the Sox clear up money, but lose the production at the plate that Hanley would bring. Phillies add money, but add talent too.
The red sox would have to eat most of his contract, and they list the angels as a suitor for him, I don’t see a fit there
CJ Wilson for Hanley Ramirez. Bad contract swap. Fills the needs for both clubs.
Losing pay roll to pick up pitching. The only problem is how much will they need to send out for somebody to take this bad contract? My bet is they eat at least $35 million of it.
Hanley’s not that awful. If you have a DH slot open and the Sox pick up half the salary and give you a decent prospect … that’s not a terrible proposition. In addition to the 600 DH AB’s he gives you — with some power — he can fill in at 1B, 3B, SS, even for a game or two in LF.
I’m not sure any team is a “good” fit for Hanley. Defensively, he’s a DH, but I don’t expect him to be happy with that, so he’ll pout and put up disinterested numbers. Maybe a team that can tolerate his defense at 3b/ss. The third base market is small, so maybe a team like the White Sox?
As an O’s fan, I don’t like it. He’s not the kind of player that Buck tolerates too much.
Shocker
This guy is starting to remind me of Gary Sheffield. Good bat but no position and the rumors of a bad attitude that follow him from team to team. Probably end up playing for a few more teams before he’s all done
Everyone keeps saying that the Angels aren’t a fit, yet doesn’t Boston need pitching? Don’t the Angels have 7-8 starting pitchers?
It smells like a bad contract swap, CJ Wilson for Hanley and some money to offset the contracts. IMO
I’d move Sandoval. At least Hanley could profile at DH once Ortiz retires.
Why would the Mariners want Hanley? They already have a shortstop in Ketel Marte and have a DH in Cruz. There is literally no fit.
I concede that Hanley Ramirez would be an imperfect fit in Seattle but I doubt Nelson Cruz will fill the DH slot on a full-time basis.
Cruz has a career UZR/150 of 0.8 in right field, although Cruz has posted negative UZR/150 numbers there the last five years, including a negative 11.1 this season.
The Mariners need to balance that defensive deficiency against Cruz’s reported wish to play in the field, a request that is supported by his stronger career production at the plate when playing the outfield than when serving as a DH. The splits were even more pronounced in his first year with the Mariners:
as DH 278 PA, .263/.333/.450/.783
as RF 312 PA, .337/.402/.670/1.072
First base could be a long-shot option for Ramirez or Cruz, who both teamed with Robinson Cano on the Dominican Republic’s champions in the 2013 World Baseball Classic:
web.worldbaseballclassic.com/wbc/2013/teams/index.…
I get what your saying here but, Dipoto has repeatedly said that he wants athletic outfielders and not guys who have no range like Hanley or Cruz. Even though he hits better while playing in the field, his range is questionable at best and is at a much higher injury risk while in RF.
In that respect Nelson Cruz reminds me of Toronto right fielder Jose Bautista, another 35-year-old, Dominican-born, righthand-hitting slugger. Compare these 2015 numbers:
NC DOB 7-1-80, 655 PA, .302/.369/.566/.936, 90 R, 44 HR, 93 RBI, 160 OPS , 4.8 fWAR, 5.2 bWAR
JB DOB 10-19-80, 666 PA, .250/.377/.536/.913, 108 R, 40 HR, 114 RBI, 149 OPS , 4.5 fWAR, 5.1 bWAR
Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) is one metric of defensive efficiency. UZR/150 measures the rating per 150 games. This season Cruz posted a UZR/150 of a negative 11.1 in 704 innings in right field while Bautista posted a UZR/150 of a negative 12.5 in 1,038.2 innings in right field.
The Mariners need to balance Cruz’s defensive deficiency against his reported wish to play in the field, a request that is supported by his stronger career production at the plate when playing the outfield than when serving as a DH. The splits were even more pronounced in his first year with the Mariners:
as DH 278 PA, .263/.333/.450/.783
as RF 312 PA, .337/.402/.670/1.072
The Mariners tolerated Cruz in right field for 80 games this year while the Blue Jays tolerated Bautista in right field for 118 games this year.
In perfect world the Mariners would improve their defense with athletic outfielders, but the addition of a defensively adept center fielder in Leonys Martin may help mask Cruz’s deficiencies in right field.
Or not.
First base
Don’t forget that this is Pappi’s last year, if he can just play 1B for 1 year, he DH for the rest of his contract. They would be nuts to eat anywhere near half his contract just to give him away.
I don’t see why they would
Give up on him so easily, he started off red hot and got hurt so his production fell off, he’s only 32 so his career is by no means over and healthy he’s an easy 25 homers 80-100 RBIS, he’s a defensive liability but Ortiz retires after this year and that opens up the DH role for him, and even if they trade him they shouldn’t sell low because of his potential, they’d have to eat a chunk of his salary and probably throw in another player but could get a nice return for him, and if he’s going anywhere I see Baltimore if they don’t bring back Davis or even Tampa bay who needs a big bat.
I dont think they are looking to get anything nice for him. They would have to eat almost the entire contract to get anything of good value for him I think, Sounds like they just want to unload him at any cost right about now.
Shopping him to the Orioles? The Sox must really have a low opinion of him.
The Braves could send Shelby Miller, Fredy Freeman and Nick Swisher to the BoSox (Excess Value of $75 Million) and take Hanley Ramirez back in the deal. Boston would have to add Blake Swihart, Jackie Bradley and two pitchers, Henry Owens and Joe Kelly and move $44 million to the Braves to pay half of Ramirez salary to even out the value. This will give the Bosox a solution at first and starting pitcher for 2016 and make space for Rusney Castillo. Ramirez would play third for the Braves, and of course the Braves love young pitching and need a catcher and outfielder.
Boston’s going to have to give up much more than that.
That is pretty even on cost and value so what adjustment do you think.
Change Joe Kelly to Espinoza and the Braves might be interested
I think Boston would make that change.
I can’t imagine the Braves would trade Freeman in any deal where Moncada or Devers were not in the mix.
Good point, but their number one priority is catching.
rusney’s already a starter, what do you mean make space for him. it’s JBJ/mookie/rusney in the OF as of today
Swisher would knock him out
so your trade to add nick swisher to the team would make space for rusney by knocking him out? what are you talking about?
think about it some more.
if you mean that sending JBJ one way and swisher the other way would break even on outfielders, describing your trade as “making space for rusney” is a baffling way of expressing that. rusney is a starter before the trade and also after the trade. you could just say “swisher replaces JBJ” instead. swisher wouldn’t play over rusney anyway if it came to that.
People are wondering why the Angels are even listed…
Don’t the Red Sox need pitching? The Angels have 7-8 starting pitchers. It sounds like a salary swap to me.
CJ Wilson for Hanley and some money to offset the difference. IMO. And Hankey can play third or second.
More Cafardo fodder that has to do with nothing and is probably not true. The guy is never right about anything. I remember when he was trying to get the Sox to trade Lester for Matt Kemp at the 2014 deadline.
Im wondering why they’d want to throw a big contract at chris davis if they are willing to eat alot of hanleys deal(which they’ll have to)to deal him.that’d be like giving away a tomato to buy tomato juice imo
Hanley can only be valuable as a DH
I can’t see him going to the Orioles for three reasons.
1) I don’t think that the Red Sox would eat enough of Ramirez’s salary to make a trade within the division to the O’s an option.
2) On a Buck Showalter team he would only be a DH, and whether he would accept that role (and not be a clubhouse disruption because of it) is of some concern.
3) Boston would likely want back more in prospects than the O’s have to offer. They aren’t trading Gausman to anybody for anyone, and the rest of the top prospects are injured or too far away to be included in a Ramirez deal.
I’d want him in the Angels for free. That’s the only way. No money paid and no prospects given to the Sox. The bad thing about Hanley now too is that he can’t play defense. Dude is a mess. I’d say package him to the Angels with Panda and Mookie and Y’all got yourselves a deal.
A team with one of the deepest pockets in the game is not going to give away one of the most valuable young players in the game just to get rid of a couple bad contracts.
Betts isn’t going anywhere, and they are certainly not going to give him away.
So a 200mil payroll team trades a top 10 asset in baseball to unload a bad contract, lol.
You honestly took that seriously?
Ramirez for Adam Laroche, with Boston picking up about half Ramirez contract
Adam Laroche for Han Ram, with bosox picking up half the contract
A. Laroche for Hanley with bosox picking up half
The biggest concern I had with Hanley heading into last season was his transition to the OF. We all know how that went.
Just imagine if his transition to 1B is just as bad…then we’re screwed big time. I mean what do you do in that situation?
I guess Shaw is a viable backup option (although I wouldn’t want him starting 162 games) but do you stick Hanley on the bench? That’s a costly bench player in that case.
why wouldn’t he be able to play 1B, though? he’s a lifelong infielder who was playing a reasonably-kinda-acceptable shortstop one year ago. outfield is a whole new skillset – you have to read fly balls off the bat and take good routes. hanley was starting from scratch on that, and was terrible at it, and either didn’t care enough to put in the work or just couldn’t do it for whatever reason.
first base, on the other hand, is nearly the same thing as shortstop – fielding grounders, taking throws, and so on – only without the hard stuff like “range” and “throws from the hole”, plus a little bit of different footwork around the bag and more throw-scooping. it’s much closer to what he’s used to.
people act like the defensive spectrum is just a straight line, such that if hanley was an abysmal LF, you can just assume he’ll be an almost-abysmal 1B, since that’s the next step down. but it’s not that simple. the OF and IF are different worlds. CF is supposedly harder than 3B, but do you just assume you’ll be able to transfer your CF seamlessly to 3B if he isn’t quite cutting it where he is? of course not. hanley was a better shortstop than he was a left fielder.
You outright him to AAA like they did with Craig until he learns the position. Yes, you waste 22MM but you still have him as a full time DH in 2017-18.
I see no reason for Seattle to be linked to this story.
Adam Laroche for Hanley , bosox pick up half
People seem to forget Hanley Ramirez was a starting shortstop in the major leagues for 9 years. The starting shortstop in the all star game three years in a row (2008,09.10). Hanley will handle first base at least at a league average level defensively and if he can keep both his shoulder and his ego healthy, the Sox may reap some of the rewards of this albatross of a contract. Never sell low!!
DD would be stupid to give an AL rival a free DH for 3 yrs and have no DH in 2017-18. Hanley can flat out hit if he isn’t forced to run into OF walls. Even last yr he hit 19 HR’s. As for Shaw his 2015 numbers are very close to Wil Middlebrooks first year stats , too small a sample to be sure Shaw can do the job. The better solution is to trade Panda to a team that has a bad contract OF and needs a 3B; like LAD — Ethier 2 yrs 33MM or SD — Upton 2 yrs 33 MM (if the sox have to throw in some $$$ so be it) The sox can use a 4th OF so they do have to rush Benintendi.
Hanley plays 100 games at 3b with late inning “D” replacement and 30 at DH to keep Papi fresh. They would need a right handed 1b/3b to mix in with Shaw and Hanley. Holt is needed at 2b/ss/U. As for Carfado he is almost always wrong until a deal is done and reported 1st by someone else.
I like the way you think.
Can Hanley still handle 3B honestly? Cause if so CJ Wilson for Hanley certainly would be of interest to me.
He can do as well there as 1b. No reaching for throws and pulling a hamstring, or colliding with runners. Poor range, needs late inning “D” replacement. For the sox who will need a full time DH in 2017-18 it could work part time for 2015.
Laroche for Hanley and cash
You think the Sox will sent prospects AND money to a team to take Hanley? Wrong. They will release him before losing a high level prospect. They have tons of cash and wouldn’t miss a beat.
If he can’t play the field, they can outright him like they did with Craig and have him at DH in 2017-18.
Eat it Red Sox.