Less than four weeks after falling to the ground, clutching the final out of the San Francisco Giants thrilling 7-game World Series win, Pablo Sandoval switched coasts and signed a five-year contract with the Boston Red Sox. Hours later the Sox pulled a double California dip when they inked Dodgers’ shortstop Hanley Ramirez to a four-year contract with the plan to move him to left field.
In 24 hours, General Manager Ben Cherington completely re-made Boston’s lineup. Both deals were scrutinized as perhaps overpays: Sandoval because of his potentially expanding waistline and Ramirez because of injuries and the perception that he was not a good member of the clubhouses he inhabited. I disagree, and feel that both signings were terrific. Both the Kung Fu Panda and Han-Ram will immediately impact the Sox lineup and also provide the type of roster depth that will enable Cherington to re-make the starting rotation through trades.
Besides being key members of two infields of National League playoff teams from California, Sandoval and Ramirez have one other critical thing in common: they both really wanted to play in Boston and in particular, to play with David Ortiz.
Let’s look at the Panda first: Sandoval’s contract is for five years, $90 million with either a $17 million team option or a $5 million buyout, so the guaranteed money is $95 million. Sandoval reportedly had an almost identical offer from the Giants: it would have been the “safe” move for him to stay in the Bay Area, where he was an icon to the fans. But he chose what he called the “challenge” of joining a new team.
Many in the industry felt that a $95 million guarantee was more than his production warranted, that he was overrated based on the small sample size of his prolific post-season performance in the 2012 and 2014 Fall Classics. In the last three regular seasons, Sandoval’s highest home run total is 16, his highest RBI total is 79, his highest batting average is .283 and his highest OPS is .789, good numbers for a 3rd baseman but good enough for a $95 million guarantee. It is true that these numbers are not spectacular but there are three reasons why this still makes sense for Boston:
- Sandoval was by far the best third base option on the market. Besides being a solid (if not spectacular) hitter, he is an underrated 3rd baseman defensively. The Red Sox third basemen in 2014 were collectively miserable.
- He balances the lineup: the Red Sox are very right-handed heavy, with David Ortiz being the only other expected starter who bats from the left side. Sandoval is a switch hitter and, with his ability to go to the opposite field, should get a significant number of doubles and “long singles” off the Green Monster.
- From a business standpoint, if you’re trying to justify the average guaranteed annual value of $19 million per year, the Kung Fu Panda will bring value to the team besides his ability on the field. Because of his notoriety of his two World Series Championships, he may be worth a few extra rating points for NESN and because of his nick-name, don’t you think the Sox might sell a few million dollars-worth of Panda-related memorabilia this year?
The case of Hanley Ramirez represents another case where some in the industry questioned the financial commitment, a four-year contract worth $88 million, not because of his productivity but because of his durability and questions relating to a perceived negative clubhouse presence in his tours in Miami and Los Angeles. It is a fact that he has missed 180 games due to injury in the last four seasons, some of the “freakish” variety, some not, but it is also true that Ramirez’ OPS (on-base + slugging %) was .907 for the last two years, compared to the two-year OPS of .744 for Yoenis Cespedes, the man he is replacing in left field. That is a massive difference.
Of course, the large difference in productivity is moot if Ramirez is on the disabled list. The Red Sox need a quality backup and the good news is that they now have eight other players who spend significant time in major league outfields last year. Of course, the Sox will trade a couple of these players (likely starting with Cespedes). The Cuban star was acquired last July in the trade deadline deal that sent Jon Lester to the Oakland A’s. Since Cespedes will become a free agent at the end of 2015, there’s no chance that the Red Sox will be able to get a Lester-quality starting pitcher in return, but given the dearth of quality power bats in the majors right now, they’ll certainly get a solid #3 starter for him.
There’s another question to ask: in his most injury-riddled season (2013), Ramirez finished 8th in the MVP voting, having produced a monster season with a 1.040 OPS. Injuries or not, wouldn’t have Han-Ram have commanded a $100+ million contract after that 2013 season if that had been his walk year? If the answer is yes, then the Sox have gotten a premier offensive player at a relative discount.
The final piece of this puzzle is Ortiz, who apparently played a key role in the desire of both Sandoval and Ramirez to ply their trades in Beantown. With the retirement of Derek Jeter, Ortiz will become baseball’s unofficial “elder statesman.” He and Torii Hunter will be the only 39-year old players who will earn regular playing time. Ortiz has tremendous respect throughout the game among the players, especially the Latin American players. Ramirez, like Big Papi, is from the Dominican Republic, and has long considered Ortiz to be a what he called a “big brother” to him. Whatever shenanigans may or may not have gone in with Ramirez in the Marlins’ or Dodgers’ clubhouses, it’s unlikely he’ll do anything that that would embarrass Ortiz.
Although Sandoval doesn’t have the long-standing decade-long relationship with Ortiz that Ramirez has, he also said, in his introductory news conference, that “it’s going to be a very exciting time” to be “Papi’s teammate.”
The bottom line about these acquisitions is this: they were two of the most productive hitters on the free agent market and the Red Sox signed both of them. That means, with their new-found surplus of outfielders plus a deep farm system that Boston is in perfect position to make the necessary trades to rebuild their starting rotation and bring a pennant race back to Boston.
The Three Amigos would like nothing more than to ride with the Fenway faithful into another October run.