The trading deadline and waiver wire offer the Red Sox the opportunity to trade Hanley Ramirez and eliminate another signing mistake.
The Red Sox tossed Ben Cherington into the college teaching ranks thanks to a series of decisions that happened to result in not quite as planned outcomes and that is certainly a risk for any general manager. On top of the list that resulted in Cherington’s exit was the signings of Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez.
The Sandoval signing apparently is on the cusp of being around $95 Million in dead money – toss that in with the largess handed to Rusney Castillo and the burdensome compensation of Allen Craig and that leaves a bit less in resources for ownership to purchase a crumbling newspaper or some kickball team in England.
The only coin left is Ramirez, whose 2015 season was a disaster of epic proportions. Everyone fully understands the drill on Han-Ram who was sent to left field where he put on a display of fielding incompetence that will be legendary for decades – a left field answer to the defensive shame of Dick Stuart at first base.
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Ramirez was sent to first base where the hope was his level of defensive embarrassment would be minimized and it was. Ramirez has done reasonably well with his defense, but after the debacle in left field just about anything would be a personal improvement. For those who place value in defensive metrics, the precious UZR/150 is -2.4 or somewhere in the middle of the defensive scrum. However, when I looked at those metrics Eric Hosmer – an exceptionally gifted glove man – was dead last.
Now is the time to strike on Ramirez – trade him and clean out another mistake.
The bat is where Ramirez makes his living and that continues to disappoint. His calling card is power and you see the occasional bursts with a titanic shot or a three home run game that brings back memories of how and why he won a batting title. There will be no more batting titles and even get close to a .300 average is as probable as the Tooth Fairy being hired by Dave Dombrowski.
I will not tread lightly – Ramirez is a player on the slow spin downward to mediocrity. This season the slumps are pronounced and the hot streaks are incredibly poignant, but both seem to be longer than one would wish. Ramirez does have value at age 32 and teams are always desperate for an influx of power so just don’t let the opportunity pass.
The contract is onerous for the return on investment as Ramirez has two more years left after 2016 at $22.75 Million per season and a vesting option for another season. That is a sizable commitment for a player who has not produced up to expectations.
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The game plan often repeated is that Ramirez will slide into the designated hitter position after David Ortiz completes his farewell tour, but the Red Sox may just look for some production that has a far greater upside than Ramirez – although Ramirez has a nice career DH slash of .326/.374/.600.
My personal replacement choice would be Edwin Encarnacion, but Jose Bautista and Mark Trumbo are also available. So I would discount Ramirez becoming the heir apparent to DH. But that leaves a void at first base for at least the remainder of 2016.
Travis Shaw could easily slip to first base with no loss (or real upgrade) in defense and hitting that would at least be statistically similar. Aaron Hill has experience and could finish the season at third or Brock Holt could play either position. I just don’t consider the trading of Ramirez as baseball Goldbach Conjecture.
The real downside is the team is certainly weakened by the loss of Ramirez since it is one less bat and does shuffle players about in a time of playoff drive need. The upside is the fact that payroll is reduced to be used as a replacement and the fact you may actually get some talent in return. What may also play into the puzzle is just how much of the remaining contract the Red Sox may have to absorb?
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The trading deadline and the waiver wire is an opportunistic one when teams are in the playoff hunt and this is the perfect spot to eliminate another signing mistake. Do it.