Red Sox: What if Boston signed Max Scherzer instead of Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval?
Hanley Ramirez in Boston
Fans greeted Hanley back to Boston with open arms. He was the reason why the Sox were able to get Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell, two key contributors to the 2007 World Series title.
In 2015, Ramirez had a huge showing on Opening Day homering twice, including a grand slam. It looked like the Sox offseason acquisition was paying off. Just one month into 2015 and Han-Ram had 10 homers, 22 RBI’s, and was hitting .293. It was just what the Red Sox needed.
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Ramirez hit another nine bombs until the All Star Break. After not being the same player and several injuries, he was shut down on August 26th for the season with a .249/19/53 line.
2016 brought a lot more luck, as Ramirez was able to go yard more often. After starting off slowly, he finished with a bang in September going yard 10 times with 26 RBI’s and hit .313. For the season, Hanley hit 30 long balls, knocked in 111 and hit .286 overall. It was enough to make the fans forget that they had the Panda as wasted payroll.
2017 hasn’t been as pretty for Hanley so far. Perhaps it’s the fact that Big Papi is no longer part of the lineup. Every player on the team has seen their numbers suffer. He’s hitting .273 with 6 home runs and 20 RBI in 35 games so far and isn’t projected to even come close to his 2016 totals. While he’s hitting better than in 2015, it took him until April 23rd to go yard. It was a startling trend for not only Hanley as several key players on the team have yet to find the fence.