The Red Sox just DFA'd Hanley Ramirez
By: Tyler Walters
Dustin Pedroia will make his return to the Red Sox lineup tonight at Fenway Park against the Braves. The only problem with that is the Sox didn't have room for Dustin on the 25 man roster, until now.
Boston pulled the plug on Hanley Ramirez Friday morning and he has been Designated for Assignment. The club now has seven days to decide if they want to trade Hanley or release him.
This comes as quite a shock to the baseball world. Ramirez is currently in the midst of a slump but had a terrific start to the season.
He's batting .254 through 44 games with six home runs and 29 RBIs.
The most obvious thing for the Red Sox to do to clear up a roster spot would have to get rid of Blake Swihart. Swihart was once the top catching prospect in all of baseball but after he was injured playing left field for the Sox in 2016 he hasn't seen much action.
He played in six games last year and has only made 33 plate appearances so far this season. In those 33 at bats he has struck out seven times and only come up with four hits (one of those an extra base hit).
With Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez both in the 25 man roster, and both playing multiple times per week, it's obvious that the Red Sox do not want to put Swihart behind the dish. That means his offense is going to have to be a little better.
The only place he would go defensively would be first base. However, Mitch Moreland is hitting .311 with seven home runs in the 34 games he has played in this year.
There's no where else for Swihart to play. The outfield is full, behind the dish is full so it looks like he'll be splitting times at first with Moreland.
It would be very hard to convince me that Blake Swihart is offering you more at this point than Hanley Ramirez is, even if he is slumping. The problem is that Swihart can't be sent down to to the Minor Leagues because he's out of options and they can't trade him because he has no trade value.
The only real problem with Hanley is that the club owes him more than $15 million for the rest of this year and will have to pay him $22 million next year before he becomes and unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2019 season. With a payroll over $230 million (the highest in baseball), one could see why the Red Sox would want to shave some of that off.
It will be interesting to see what the Red Sox ultimately decide to do with Hanley Ramirez. I don't see them releasing him, as he does have some trade value.
I hate to see Hanley leave the Red Sox. When David Ortiz retired after the 2016 season, Hanley became my favorite personality in baseball and a large portion of that just got stripped away.
Hanley was up and down in Boston as far as production went. He was great and then terrible and then terrible and then great.
He lightened the mood though. It was obvious to anyone who watched a Red Sox game over the last few year where they showed dug out clips, Hanley was the guy keeping it fun. You hate to see guys like that go.
Ramirez started his MLB career with Boston in 2005 and I definitely thought he would be in Boston until the end of his contract, but that appears not to be the plan for Dave Dombrowski (Red Sox President of Baseball Operations).
Follow me on Twitter: @tylerwwalters
Dustin Pedroia will make his return to the Red Sox lineup tonight at Fenway Park against the Braves. The only problem with that is the Sox didn't have room for Dustin on the 25 man roster, until now.
Boston pulled the plug on Hanley Ramirez Friday morning and he has been Designated for Assignment. The club now has seven days to decide if they want to trade Hanley or release him.
This comes as quite a shock to the baseball world. Ramirez is currently in the midst of a slump but had a terrific start to the season.
He's batting .254 through 44 games with six home runs and 29 RBIs.
The most obvious thing for the Red Sox to do to clear up a roster spot would have to get rid of Blake Swihart. Swihart was once the top catching prospect in all of baseball but after he was injured playing left field for the Sox in 2016 he hasn't seen much action.
He played in six games last year and has only made 33 plate appearances so far this season. In those 33 at bats he has struck out seven times and only come up with four hits (one of those an extra base hit).
With Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez both in the 25 man roster, and both playing multiple times per week, it's obvious that the Red Sox do not want to put Swihart behind the dish. That means his offense is going to have to be a little better.
The only place he would go defensively would be first base. However, Mitch Moreland is hitting .311 with seven home runs in the 34 games he has played in this year.
There's no where else for Swihart to play. The outfield is full, behind the dish is full so it looks like he'll be splitting times at first with Moreland.
It would be very hard to convince me that Blake Swihart is offering you more at this point than Hanley Ramirez is, even if he is slumping. The problem is that Swihart can't be sent down to to the Minor Leagues because he's out of options and they can't trade him because he has no trade value.
The only real problem with Hanley is that the club owes him more than $15 million for the rest of this year and will have to pay him $22 million next year before he becomes and unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2019 season. With a payroll over $230 million (the highest in baseball), one could see why the Red Sox would want to shave some of that off.
It will be interesting to see what the Red Sox ultimately decide to do with Hanley Ramirez. I don't see them releasing him, as he does have some trade value.
I hate to see Hanley leave the Red Sox. When David Ortiz retired after the 2016 season, Hanley became my favorite personality in baseball and a large portion of that just got stripped away.
Hanley was up and down in Boston as far as production went. He was great and then terrible and then terrible and then great.
He lightened the mood though. It was obvious to anyone who watched a Red Sox game over the last few year where they showed dug out clips, Hanley was the guy keeping it fun. You hate to see guys like that go.
Ramirez started his MLB career with Boston in 2005 and I definitely thought he would be in Boston until the end of his contract, but that appears not to be the plan for Dave Dombrowski (Red Sox President of Baseball Operations).
Follow me on Twitter: @tylerwwalters
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