UPDATE: The Red Sox’s wheeling and dealing continued into Monday morning, as the team inked third baseman Pablo Sandoval to a five-year contract close to $100 million.
The Red Sox signed Hanley Ramirez to a four-year, $88 million contract Sunday with a vesting option for a fifth year according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.
Ramirez, 30, had a batting line of .284/.369/.448 and hit 13 home runs in 128 games with the Dodgers last season. He is only one of 17 active players with a career slugging percentage of .500 or higher.
Power is the rarest commodity in baseball, as the average number of runs scored per game last season was its lowest mark since 1980. Ramirez gives the Red Sox long-term stability in the middle of the lineup, as the club’s other two best right-handed bats – Yoenis Cespedes and Mike Napoli – are eligible to become free agents at the end of the season.
It’s unclear which position the Red Sox will tap Ramirez to play. He’s primarily played shortstop in the Major Leagues, but the Red Sox are supposedly eyeing him for third base or left field.
Ramirez appears to be an unconventional fit for the Red Sox next season at the expense of the switch-hitting Pablo Sandoval, as David Ortiz is the only left-handed hitter in the starting lineup at the moment. But Ramirez hits righties at a productive clip. He has an .860 OPS against them in his career.
The Red Sox could also still be in the running for Sandoval. WEEI’s Alex Speier tweeted Sunday the team is still pursuing the 28-year-old third baseman. Sandoval is expected to make his free agent decision this week.
Though Ramirez has elite power, he’s a poor defensive player and has struggled to stay on the field over the last several seasons. He’s played in fewer than 100 games in three of the last four years.
His attitude has also been a problem at various points throughout his career. Former Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez pulled him from a game in 2010 for not hustling after a ground ball. Ramirez then proceeded to throw his teammates under the bus.
Jon Lester, who was teammates with Ramirez in the Red Sox minor league system, trashed him at the All-Star Game that summer.
A fluffy question was posed to Lester: had he and Ramirez, back when they were in the minors, perhaps gone out for a pizza one night and talked about someday playing in the All-Star Game?
“I’d have a better chance of being struck by lightning than me and him getting a pizza together,” Lester said. “You can take that for what it’s worth. But there was no chance on God’s green earth that I was getting a pizza with him.”
The Red Sox traded Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez to the Marlins in 2005 for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. Ramirez went on to hit .300/.373/.500 with 148 home runs in seven seasons in Miami. The Marlins dealt him to the Dodgers in 2012.
Miami-based marketer Christopher Meola and 14-year-old Jake Wesley were the first two who reported that Ramirez is returning to Boston.
