A decade after the Red Sox first traded Hanley Ramirez, it’s time to trade him again
Hanley Ramirez after striking out with the bases loaded against the Royals.
COMMENTARY
How do you commemorate the 10th anniversary of a blockbuster trade?
Hmmm. Might I suggest trading one of the players involved one more time?
On November 24, 2005, the Red Sox interrupted our Thanksgiving feast with a mega-trade that nearly caused us to drop the bowl of turnips. (No big loss there.) With Theo Epstein on his fully justified, Pearl Jam-following hiatus, Larry Lucchino seized the opportunity to remind New England of his baseball ops chops, making a decision that had a seismic effect on the roster.
The Red Sox reached the playoffs in 2005 with 95 wins, but got swept by the White Sox in the divisional series. It was apparent that they needed — hey, does this sound familiar? — a genuine ace. So Lucchino (with presumed cooperation from interim co-general managers Ben Cherington and Jed Hoyer) went out and got one, acquiring brash, hard-throwing 25-year-old right-hander Josh Beckett from the Marlins.
The price was steep: Not only did the Red Sox take on a presumed salary dump in third baseman Mike Lowell, but they gave up one of baseball’s best prospects in 21-year-old shortstop Hanley Ramirez, as well as three young pitchers, among them Anibal Sanchez.
It turned out to be the proverbial and rare trade that worked out well for both teams. Ramirez became what the most optimistic prognostications suggested he would — namely, one of the most electric if enigmatic players in the National League. He was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2006, hit 33 homers and stole 35 bases in 2008, won the batting title (.342) and finished second in MVP balloting in 2009. From 2006-08, he never had an OPS below .940. He sometimes drove his teammates and managers nuts with his immaturity. A decade later, he still does. But as a ballplayer, he was everything the prospect gurus told us he could be.
Yet only the most ill-informed perpetual second-guessers lamented giving him up. Beckett endured more than his share of enigmatic twists in his own career, but he was a driving force on the 2007 World Series winner, arguably the most complete and certainly the most unheralded of the franchise’s recent champs. At his best, Beckett was the epitome of an ace. And Lowell was no salary dump. He became a popular cornerstone, playing a steady third base (did he ever make a throw that wasn’t right on the money?), driving in 120 runs in the ’07 season, and winning a World Series MVP Award the same year.
The Marlins surely had no regret. The franchise paid Ramirez roughly $25 million total for six years of an exceptional early career and prime.
As a Red Sox fan, it’s a trade you would want made again without a blink of hesitation.
Hell, right now, at this very moment, you’d make that trade, which is saying something considering that Lowell has been retired long enough to be on the Hall of Fame ballot this year, while Beckett retired after the 2014 season and presumably now spends most of his hours in the most kick-ass deer stand you’ve ever seen.
A decade later — and just a year after bringing Ramirez back to where he began with a four-year, $88-million deal that has been a breathtaking failure so far — it’s apparent that the Red Sox need to move on from him again, and that even the hypothetical return of a couple of creaky retired players is probably better than an any real proposal they will receive. Ramirez hit the occasional home run last season — 19 in fact, but 10 came in April, and zero in 114 second-half plate appearances in which he posted a .449 OPS, which is about what you’d expect from a lousy-hitting pitcher.
That wasn’t even the worst of it. He was such a disaster defensively that he made a Red Sox fan long for the trustworthy glove of Wily Mo Pena. He was lackadaisical and ineffective, and it’s hard to make any case that it will get better in his age-32 season. His skills are eroding, but his casual attitude remains just the same. He’s given us no reason to believe it gets better, no reason to think he’s capable of being David Ortiz’s successor at designated hitter in 2017. That’s a waiting game I don’t want to play.
And if you think he might play first base this season, you probably also believe this will be the year Joe Kelly wins that Cy Young Award. A player who can’t play left field at Fenway Park is going to learn a new position in spring training? C’mon now. Mo Vaughn will play just as many games at first base for the Red Sox this season as Ramirez will.
Dave Dombrowski’s priority this winter is to find an ace. That’s percolating. He’s begun to rebuild the bullpen, acquiring Craig Kimbrel. Next on the list should be moving on from Ramirez, even if it means essentially giving him away while continuing to pay off Ben Cherington’s career-altering mistake.
A decade after the Red Sox first traded him, I can’t help but notice that the standard gift for a 10th anniversary is tin or aluminum. Given that his glove is already made of the same material, no parting gift is necessary. Just tell him to pack up his precious metals and his bags of cash and get him out of here.
Where? That’s out of my pay grade. It’s on Dombrowski to find this year’s sucker for Ramirez. After all, he now has the job of last year’s rube.
Chad Finn can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeChadFinn.
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