Boston Red Sox get bargain with Mitch Moreland

The Boston Red Sox landed their first baseman on Monday, inking Mitch Moreland to a two year deal. In doing so, they may have landed one of the biggest bargains of the offseason.

Heading into the 2017 campaign, the Boston Red Sox were looking for someone relatively competent to play first base. Hanley Ramirez had proven that he did not belong in the field any longer, and Pablo Sandoval was essentially eating his way out of baseball. In search of anyone that could be respectable with the bat and glove, the Red Sox signed Mitch Moreland to a one year deal worth $5.5 Million.

The move worked surprisingly well. Moreland posted a respectable .246/.326/.443 batting line, hitting 22 homers, 34 doubles, and driving in 79 runs. He was also stellar defensively, saving 10 runs. Yet, this was an area that the Red Sox were expected to pursue an upgrade at during the offseason, with Eric Hosmer a name continually linked to Boston.

Instead, in a somewhat surprising move, the Red Sox brought back Moreland, signing him to a two year deal with $13 Million. He has a chance to earn another $1 Million in incentives. However, this deal pushes Boston out of the Hosmer Sweepstakes, which is another surprise given the Yankees acquisitions this offseason.

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Although Moreland is not the type of player that will cause the presses to stop or ESPN to dedicate hours of coverage, he could prove to be a bargain. In fact, when looking at his 2017  campaign, there is not a lot of difference between his production and that of Carlos Santana.

In 2017, Santana produced a .259/.363/.455 batting line, hitting 23 homers and 37 doubles, while driving in 79 runs. He was also handy with the glove, saving ten runs at first. Those numbers are fairly similar to Moreland’s production from last season. However, Santana received $60 Million over three years, making Moreland look like a bargain.

Yes, Santana has a stronger track record with the bat than Moreland does. Both are also going to be 32 throughout most of the 2018 campaign. However, Santana’s production is not that much better than Moreland, especially last season. It is certainly not worth $47 Million more over the lifetime of their contracts.

Next: Five Red Sox primed for bounceback 2018

The Boston Red Sox made a surprising move as they retained Mitch Moreland. At $13 Million over two years, he could prove to be a bargain.