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Boston Red Sox land both Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez

By Aaron Somers

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There’s something uniquely interesting about the MLB hot stove season when the Boston Red Sox end up landing both Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez on lucrative free agent contracts on the same day. Few could have anticipated such a move. The pair were among the top hitters available on the open market and appeared, at least to some, as though they were destined to compete for openings at the same position – third base.

Instead the pair will be announced together at a press conference scheduled for 1 PM EST Tuesday from Fenway Park.

While the Red Sox still have a number of concerns to address on the offseason to do list, the pair of additions more than helps to make up for what proved to be a disappointing offense during the 2014 season. Collectively the team batted .244/.316/.369. Their .684 OPS tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for the eighth worst mark in baseball. As a team the Red Sox scored just 634 runs this past season, good for 11th best in the American League. It also marked a 219 run drop from the season before, when the team piled on an AL-best 853 runs en route to winning the World Series.

Finding a bat, somewhere, was always going to be a priority for Boston this winter but it always appeared likely that the team would pursue a third baseman. Red Sox third baseman – Will Middlebrooks, Xander Bogaerts, Brock Holt, Garin Cecchini, Jonathan Herrera, and Ryan Roberts – struggled as a collective group. Bogaerts’ future, at least in the short term, is likely at shortstop and Holt is potentially most valuable in a super-utility role. There was room to bring in an upgrade at third base.

In signing both Sandoval and Ramirez, however, the Red Sox are clearly prepared to take a broader shift towards righting their offensive blueprints. Sandoval is a career .294/.346/.465 hitter who’s averaged 20 home runs, 36 doubles, and 86 RBI over his seven seasons with the San Francisco Giants. At 28 he’s already been a part of three championship winning teams, coming up clutch in the postseason to the tune of a .426/.460/.702 line in World Series games. He’s battled some weight problems in his career, but generally despite his size has been able to maintain himself as a solid defensive third baseman.

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Ramirez, who will turn 31 this next month, is a .300/.373/.500 hitter over his ten year career. He’s averaged 40 doubles, 25 home runs, 87 RBI, and 35 stolen bases a year – but those numbers are somewhat skewed from earlier in his career. Ramirez has only stolen more than 27 bases in a season once since 2009 and has even seen his power numbers level out in recent years. Injuries have also become a concern for Ramirez, limiting him to 128 games this past season and just 86 in 2013. He’s lost a step, in a sense, which has also hindered his range in the field – lending to the strong belief that he’s in need of a move off of shortstop.

Again, we come to the fact that both can’t play third base on a daily basis. Either player could step in and DH if this were any other team in the American League, but the Red Sox aren’t going to bench David Ortiz in favor of someone else. An assumption could be made that either could also slide over and play first base as well, but Mike Napoli isn’t likely to find himself in a bench role and even if he were to go down to injury the club would turn to Allen Craig as an option first. Dustin Pedroia isn’t moving off of second base, either.

That leaves third base as Sandoval’s only real option. He’s never had the athleticism to handle shortstop. If Ramirez were to take over at short, that’d push Bogaerts from the starting lineup altogether – a move that, again, seems unlikely. The organization has spent plenty of time going back and forth regarding where they want to see Bogaerts play, but ultimately the plan all along was to find him a permanent home in the lineup for the foreseeable future.

This means Ramirez is destined to find himself in either left or right field, which opens up a host of new questions for the team to address.

Boston is already facing a gluttony of outfielders to work into the mix – including Yoenis Cespedes, Mookie Betts, Rusney Castillo, Daniel Nava, Shane Victorino, and Jackie Bradley Jr. Cespedes seems all but certain to be traded. Betts and Bradley each have minor league options remaining. Victorino, while recovering from injury and yet to prove his health, could also potentially be on the move. At least one, if not more, from this group won’t find himself on Boston’s roster for much longer.

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Signing Sandoval and Ramirez to long term deals gives the Boston lineup a boost and provides the depth to make dealing some of these players in exchange for starting pitching a more feasible idea. Of course, the team could still sign Jon Lester to a free agent deal, allowing them to focus on adding just one arm via trade instead of two. Signing both Sandoval and Ramirez now, however, might prove to be an overlooked opportunity to take advantage of timing.

There are few significant bats available on the open market this winter. Offseasons to come figure to be relatively similar. Next year, for instance, the only lineup-changing bats that figure to come available will be Ian Desmond, Matt Wieters, Cespedes, Jason Heyward, and Justin Upton. That’s assuming that player/vesting options are exercised, keeping Jose Bautista, Alex Gordon, Edwin Encarnacion, and Adrian Beltre from becoming available. Could Boston have waited a year before adding a second big piece to their lineup? Of course. Would they have gotten a player of Ramirez or Sandoval’s caliber for the same overall cost? Perhaps, but there are hardly any guarantees given the credential of this group and the increasing cost of quality young players across the game.

Boston has seen a full range of response as a result of their signing of both Sandoval and Ramirez. Some applaud the aggressiveness, figuring that the team’s ability to turn around and address their pitching need via trade is of exponential value. Others can’t understand the redundancy to the moves or the contract terms Ramirez was given (Sandoval’s contract details are still unknown as of Monday night). In the end, it’s too early to tell how it will all work out.

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