Boston officially unveiled Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez as their newest signings on Tuesday. Now they hope the big bucks lead Boston back to the big series in October.
After spending the past two years as bitter rivals in the NL West, Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval are both key parts of what’s expected to be a return to the postseason for the Sox in 2015.
Sandoval signed a five-year deal worth $95 million with a $17 million club option for a sixth year (or a $5 million buyout) Tuesday morning while Ramirez signed a four-year, $88 million deal on Monday with a fifth-year option worth $22 million.
Now as both join David Ortiz at Fenway to fully complete the new “Three Amigos” unit for the Sox, the winning expectation that Boston has had after their two World Series runs in 2004 and 2007 has returned.
“It’s exciting for me to be with Hanley and David Ortiz,” Sandoval said Tuesday.
“David, he’s like my big brother,” Ramirez said.
For Sandoval, his arrival in Boston presents a new challenge: the expectation of success. He won three World Series with the Giants and earned himself a World Series MVP in 2012. He’s a .344 hitter in the postseason, the best in baseball history among players with at least 150 plate appearances and has a .426 batting average in 50 career World Series plate appearances.
While the Sox signed Sandoval for his postseason heroics, they’ll still need him for the 162-game regular season first. He hit .279 with 16 home runs and 73 RBI in a career-high 157 games with the Giants in 2014, the second straight year he played in over 140 games and the third straight year he hit over .270. If it’s anything to be said about him offensively, it’s consistency.
“His approach, we believe, fits the ballpark well,” Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said. “Third base had been a position we’ve been trying to figure out now for a couple of years now. … This was an opportunity to add a really good player, a great person and a great fit for our team at a position of need.”
Last year, Boston third basemen ranked next to last in OPS with a .580 mark that was 121 points below the league average of .701.
Defensively, however, Pablo is still on his way back up. He committed 11 errors in 151 games at third last year, an improvement from the 18 errors he committed in 2013.
For a Red Sox team that finished last in the AL East for the second time in the last three years, missing the playoffs for the fourth time in the last five years, one big move wasn’t enough.
Hanley Ramirez is hoping to have a renaissance of sorts at shortstop in Boston, although he’s willing to change positions considering how highly regarded 22-year old Xander Bogaerts is at shortstop in Boston. Should Hanley move to the outfield, Boston would have to make moves on one if not more of their current potential six starters in the outfield.
For Ramirez, however, heading to Boston is more of a homecoming. He came up in the Red Sox system before being traded to the Marlins in 2005 that brought Josh Beckett to Boston.
Hanley hit .300 with 13 homers and 71 RBIs for the Dodgers this year.
“It’s been a while, he said. “I remember ’05 when I got traded I was really upset. Like he said, it worked out for both of us — you guys won a couple of World Championships. I haven’t won any but that’s what I’m here for. I’m a new player, I’m a new person.”
The Red Sox did something they haven’t done in a long time: spend big money. With baseball’s offseason just getting underway, it’s hard to believe that Boston is done making moves. They’re looking to bring back Jon Lester and add to their pitching staff.
Tuesday, Red Sox principal owner John Henry said, “That was really overblown because of one comment quoting a study which says more about the structure of major league compensation. That doesn’t mean you’re not going to go out and sign 30-year-old players. You can’t win unless you engage in free agency. We always engage in free agency.”
“I think the risk of doing nothing was much larger,” Henry, who attended both ends of the matinee-evening news conferences the Red Sox held to introduce their newest additions, added. “The risk is avoiding free agency. You can’t put together a winning ballclub just through the minor league system. To me that would be really risky.”
Now the Sox risky spending has to be rewarded. Because 71 wins will not cut it in 2014 in Fenway after a $200 million-plus spending spree.
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