November 26, 2014
by Dakota Antelman
After signing free agent third basemen, Pablo Sandoval, to a five year $95 million contract, and short stop, Hanley Ramirez, to a $100 million five year deal, the Red Sox front office hosted a press conference Tuesday to introduce the two newcomers.
There was a general aura of excitement in the Red Sox fan base Tuesday that had been present for the majority of the past few weeks. The long played out, highly political, free agent saga that had engulfed the baseball world for the past month had drawn the attention of baseball figures across the country had come to a stunning, climactic close just days before. Suddenly, with the services of two of baseball’s best sluggers, the Sox appeared to be a much better team than they were in September.
Red Sox owner, John Henry praised management and coaching for luring such prime targets to town.
"If we can win the World Series every other year and finish last every other year, I'd take that,'' Henry said. "It has been a roller coaster, I can't deny that, but when you have a bad year, like you did this year, just like in 2012, you're determined to rebuild quickly, and I think Ben has taken tremendous steps to do that.”
Beyond Henry however, the main focus Tuesday was on the players who were being introduced as well as the current Red Sox they would soon be playing alongside.
Beginning with the players introduced, character issues were a topic given a large amount of discussion time
Though each powerful in their swings and legendary in their place in baseball history, Sandoval and Ramirez each have personal issues that have been assuredly and loudly pointed out since their singing.
For Sandoval, commitment has been a struggle for much of his career. Standing five feet, 11 inches tall, Sandoval weighs in around 245 pounds. His weight has fluctuated since the beginning of his career and, at times, lack of offseason commitment has resulted in decreased mobility in some of his six seasons in baseball.
He addressed those problems head on Tuesday insisting that he wanted to stay at third base rather than DH. To do so, he will have to stay in shape.
"I’m going to sit down with the strength and conditioning staff, with the training and figure out the best situation," he said. "The organization will choose the program I have if they make an adjustment they’re going to do it because the organization does those things. So we’ll sit down with training staff and talk about that."
Sandoval further elaborated by voicing his understanding of how and why his weight has been a problem.
"I don't take it personal," he said. "I just take it like advice that they gave me. I want to show them that I can be a better player. I learned a lot of things from that, so now I'm showing that I'm in my new organization and I'm going to show that I'm mature and I'm good enough for that challenge.”
The team’s addressing the very blatant issues that Sandoval has dealt with instead of constantly drawing the conference back to what wonderful things he has done hint at a long term commitment to the player. Such a thing is truly positive as Sandoval is already a world class talent that could get even better with training and commitment to a baseball lifestyle.
But they still were not all grim and gloomy. Sandoval’s position was discussed as he also spoke on the fluidity of the game of baseball as it is played in Boston.
"I want a new challenge. I need a new challenge," he said Tuesday during a Fenway Park news conference. "I know that I had a great career in San Francisco. But I'm going to have a new one here."
Sandoval approached Tuesday’s conference with a kind of genuine will to learn this system. He said the things he had to say while meaning the things he wanted to say.
Ramirez, who was introduced a few hours after Sandoval, saw his conference largely centered around where he would play next season.
The discussion was slightly arbitrary and revealed that the Red Sox really are not sure what moves might be made in the coming weeks and months.
"You're always trying to get a sense of where they might fit in," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "We're not even at Thanksgiving yet. The potential for some other additions might exist.”
Ramirez has been suggested as a possible candidate for the Sox left field position. However, there has been growing talk of a blockbuster trade that would move star prospect Xander Bogaerts out of Boston to make room for Ramirez and gain the services of a star pitcher.
Realistically though, the Red Sox are not sure which way they will go.
Beyond position talk, Ramirez’s past connection with the Red Sox organization was also brought up in relation to his ability to bond with current members of the team.
David Ortiz, who was the Red Sox designated hitter the night of Ramirez’ 2005 MLB debut with the Red Sox, has already embraced his being linked with Ramirez and Sandoval by the nickname “the three amigos”.
Ortiz, who has been one of Boston’s most consistent sluggers since his entry onto the team more than a decade ago, ought to recognize the need to develop Sandoval, and ideally Ramirez as well, into similarly capable hitters.
Judging by Ramirez’ antidotal evidence, that is just was Ortiz has tried to do.
"David, he's like my big brother," Ramirez said. "He's texting me pretty much every day and telling me what I've got to do, what I've got to change. I think he's part of my success in the big leagues ... I can't wait to be on the same team with him. It's going to be great."
One big thing that Ramirez has to change is his worrisome propensity to snap per se. After last season’s AJ Pierzynski debacle that ended with him being moved out for disciplinary reasons, the Red Sox need to keep tight reigns on Ramirez and any behavior issues he runs into.
But Boston showed in their recognition of those issues that they are ready to handle Ramirez and are willing to go to great lengths to get the most out of him.
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