Massarotti: Hanley Being Hanley A Frightening Proposition For Red Sox
BOSTON (CBS) -- So Hanley Ramirez is moving to left field. Well whoop-de-doo. Personally, with Hanley, I am far, far less worried about the E-7 and far, far more worried about the K-9.
Woof, woof.
Let's get right to the point here, folks: Hanley can be a dog. He's not always a dog and he is supremely, supremely talented, at least on offense. But there are times when Hanley simply does not want to play – or try – for whatever reason, and there simply may not be a more important player in the Boston lineup this season than the gifted, enigmatic, right-handed-hitting left fielder who will likely be nestled in Boston's cleanup spot.
Boy that all sounds familiar.
Batting fourth, the left fielder, Ramirez.
Get ready for Hanley being Hanley.
Much has been made of the Red Sox' revamped lineup this offseason and spring, and most of it is with good reason. Following a season in which the Red Sox finished 11th in the American League in runs scored, 13th in batting average and 13th in OPS, the Sox went out and spent $183 million on Nos. 4 and 5 hitters Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval. Third baseman Sandoval ($95 million) actually got the majority of the money, but it was Ramirez (four years, $88 million, $22 million annually) who became just the fourth Red Sox player in history to garner an average annual salary of $20 million or more.
The others? Manny Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford.
So which end of that spectrum is Hanley going to end up on?
With all due respect to the doughy Sandoval, he simply doesn't have Ramirez's upside. He just doesn't have the same raw ability. Sandoval is a talented hitter with some power who excels in the clutch, but he does not have the kind of talent that could produce a triple crown. Ramirez does. In the right lineup and the right ballpark, Ramirez could hit for a high average and the kind of power and production that would make him one of the most feared hitters in the game.
That's why the Red Sox made him the highest-salaried player on their roster, at least by average annual value. That's why he's hitting cleanup. Ramirez won a batting title at age 25 – he batted .342 – and he has impressive career bests in runs (125, twice), home runs (33) and RBI (106). Most of those were totals amassed while Ramirez batted first for a bad Florida Marlins team early in his career.
Fine, so Hanley doesn't run like he used to. But he can still hack. He has exactly a .300 career batting average with excellent balance against left-handers (.307) and right-handers (.298), the latter of which is critical for a Red Sox lineup that is a little one-sided. He has a career average of .298 with runners in scoring position. He has a career postseason batting average of .356.
Yowza.
And yes, seamheads, he has good plate discipline.
Since the Red Sox acquired him, there has been considerable discussion about Ramirez's transition to left field, a position he has never played in his major league career. Is anyone really worried about this? For the majority of their existence, the Red Sox have treated left field like the Island of Misfit Toys. Mike Greenwell played out there. So did Wil Cordero. Add in guys like Jonny Gomes and Manny, and, well, you'd have enough butchers out there to open up a meat shop.
At Fenway Park, who needs a glove? You can play left field with a cleaver.
Fact: the only problem with Hanley Ramirez has been – and always will be – his head. In 2010, while with the Marlins, Ramirez loafed after a ball and drew the wrath of then-manager Fredi Gonzalez, whom he then publicly embarrassed. ("He never played in the big leagues," Ramirez scoffed.) By the end of Ramirez's time with the Los Angeles Dodgers, manager Don Mattingly seemed exasperated by the daily ritual of assessing Ramirez's availability, which made him something of a cross between Manny and, well, J.D. Drew.
And that was in a contract year.
Now Ramirez has the security of a four-year, $88 million contract with a vesting option for a fifth season, which is downright frightening. There may be less incentive for him to play then ever before. The Red Sox may be relying on the leadership of David Ortiz to keep Ramirez pointed in the right direction – again, sound familiar? – but the only person who can truly control Hanley is Hanley.
Which is, of course, the problem.
In baseball, like all sports, we make mountains of molehills. Aside from the contract dispute, the oldest conflict in sports concerns the disgruntled athlete who wants more playing time. In reality, there is nothing wrong with a player who wants to play – as Bill Parcells long ago taught us, that's what players do – and we spend far too much time focusing on his disgruntled complaints.
The guy we should worry about, after all, is the guy who doesn't always want to play.
And on the 2015 Red Sox, that guy is batting cleanup, playing left field.
That guy is Hanley Ramirez.
Tony Massarotti co-hosts the Felger and Massarotti Show on 98.5 The Sports Hub weekdays from 2-6 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @TonyMassarotti. You can read more from Tony by clicking here.