November 24th, 2014
by Dakota Antelman
In the span of about three hours, the Boston Red Sox unloaded nearly $200 million in payroll over the next five years. In quick succession, reports surfaced confirming and suggesting deals to Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval respectively.
The two high profile free agents have been the talk of the MLB this offseason making today’s stunning news all that more groundbreaking.
Further complicating this though is the fact that should these two deals go final, the Boston Red Sox will have one of the most powerful offensive lineups in baseball.
Ramirez, who was signed to a $88 million four year deal with an option for a fifth year at $22 million salary, carries with him a history of speed and power. Nine years and three teams after making his MLB debut with the Red Sox in 2005, Ramirez has hit an average of 24 home runs per season. He has on seven occasions stolen more than 20 bases while all the while batting a solid .300 from various points in a batting order. He has made three All-Star Games and been named Rookie of the Year, NL Batting Leader, Silver Slugger at various points in his career.
During what has been a rather successful decade long demolition of MLB pitching, one of Ramirez most capable opponents has been long time Giants third basemen Pablo Sandoval.
Sandoval came to Boston on a similar $100 million five year contract that has since been all but signed. The value of whatever contract he would be given has been a hotly contested subject this offseason largely due to the flexibility Sandoval’s being a switch hitter allows him to possess.
The benefits of his manipulated batter/pitcher matchups, include 106 home runs and an assembled batting average of .276 in six professional seasons. Sandoval, like Ramirez, has made his presence felt in the Midsummer Classic, making the All-Star game twice.
After years of being compared to one another though, these two players have been united by a pair of marquee contracts and gargantuan salaries.
But what does this mean for their playing time?
The answer is further clouded by the fact that there are many more names and positions in play here than those of Sandoval and Ramirez. Names like Yoenis Cespedes, Mike Napoli, Xander Boagaerts and Shane Victorino come to mind.
In short, last season’s last place finish obscured the fact that, at least on paper, this Red Sox team was already stacked with power hitting talent. But paper is not real life and after many of those players failed to live up to expectations the Sox were smart to try to bring in some fresh faces.
Those fresh faces, by nature of the equally fresh memory of the millions upon millions of dollars it took to get them, will likely play big roles for this Red Sox team next year. The other faces, by nature of the largely unsuccessful seasons that they worked towards last seasons could see their playing time suffer to accommodate the inclusion of Sandoval and Ramirez.
More specifically, the left side of the infield as well as the outfield could see the most noticeable turnover. Sandoval and Ramirez’s natural positions are third base and short stop respectively.
As of now, it looks like Sandoval will ease into the third base position uncontested. Ramirez however might take quite a bit more shuffling to work into the lineup.
Firstly, one must understand that Dustin Pedroia will never leave second base. Second, Xander Bogaerts has already shown how much his game suffered when he made the switch from third base to short stop. Operating off of that previous knowledge the Red Sox ought to know that moving him out of the infield could be met with catastrophic results.
Remembering that Sandoval will likely be locked in at third base, that means that the only position in the infield available is first base which really is not available unless the Red Sox do something drastic and trade away Mike Napoli.
Napoli, who currently serves as a tried and true big bat out of the number four spot in the lineup, feels a little too beloved by Red Sox coaching to be let go.
So what does that leave for Ramirez? Outfield? Likely; yes.
While the Sox infield is stacked with fielding talent, the outfield is much more unstable. Shane Victorino dealt with immense injury trouble last season missing nearly 100 games with various hamstring calamities. To his right, the Red Sox center fielding position was in constant turnover with neither Jackie Bradly Jr. Mookie Betts nor even Brock Holt making a surefire case for why they should be tenured in the position. Though Yoenis Cespedes will not go anywhere, simply due to his bat, the Sox assuredly have room in the outfield to insert Ramirez should he be comfortable playing there.
If he is comfortable, then we will likely see at least one more player leaving Boston in the coming days and months. But that is not to say that the Red Sox could not get something in return.
As of now it looks like the Jon Lester contract roomers of last month have quieted. If they stay that way and the Red Sox do not get Lester, they will still be in dire need of an ace pitcher. To remedy that need, Boston could foreseeably trade a package deal of some of their top prospects for a top tier pitcher.
However, to date, no whispers suggesting the acquisition of a pitcher through the trade market have been hatched.
We may have to wait on that one.
Needless to say, the Red Sox blew things up Monday morning scooping up two of the MLB’s top hitters and dishing out some rather exorbitant sums of money in order to do so. But now they are left with a minor problem that begins to verge on worrisome. They are simply overstaffed. They have more big bats than they know what to do with and though that does not seem like a problem, if they smother any of those high value talents for too long they risk losing them.
