After reports began to trickle out on Sunday night that Hanley Ramirez would be signing with the Boston Red Sox, a familiar refrain began to echo throughout the baseball blogosphere – HANLEY’S BACK! Ramirez was signed by the Red Sox way back in 2000 as a 16-year old out of the Dominican Republic, and he rose near the top of many prospect lists in short order. Of course, he received just two plate appearances with the Red Sox in 2005 before getting shipped to the Marlins in the Josh Beckett trade.
Now, after one more trade from the Marlins to the Dodgers, Hanley is back in Boston, years after Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell helped the Red Sox win the 2007 World Championship. However, just because Beckett and Lowell are gone, that doesn’t mean Ramirez’s fingerprints still aren’t on this Red Sox team.
The initial trade that sent Ramirez to Miami nine years ago today was rather simple – Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, and a pair of pitchers that combined for 14 1/3 major league innings (Jesus Delgado and Harvey Garcia) in exchange for Beckett and Lowell. Ramirez was Florida’s Opening Day shortstop in 2006, and hit .292/.353/.480 with 17 homers and 51 stolen bases. He edged out Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman to win the NL Rookie of the Year award.
Over his seven years in Miami, Ramirez would hit .300/.374/.499 with 148 homers and 230 stolen bases. From 2006 to 2012, Ramirez was ninth in baseball in fWAR, and that stint includes an injury-ravaged 2011 and a 2012 season that saw Ramirez get shipped to Los Angeles in July. He made three All-Star teams in Miami, won a pair of Silver Sluggers, and received MVP votes in three seasons, including a 2009 year that saw him win the NL batting title and finish as the runner-up to unanimous winner Albert Pujols in the MVP balloting.
However, just because Ramirez played well in Miami, that doesn’t mean the team was successful. the Marlins would finish above .500 just twice during his seven seasons in Miami, and never made the playoffs. Thus, the decision to ship Ramirez (and reliever Randy Choate) to the Dodgers in exchange for Nate Eovaldi and Scott McGough made sense from a purely baseball sense. Eovaldi has shown flashes of brilliance during his career with the Marlins, pitching to a 4.10 ERA in 369 innings, striking out 264 and walking 110.
Anibal Sanchez was the other significant piece brought to the Marlins in the Beckett trade. Sanchez’s career in Miami mirrored Ramirez’s – he started in 2006, and was dealt in 2012. In 794 1/3 innings, Sanchez had just a 44-45 record, but pitched to a 3.75 ERA, struck out 676, and walked 305. The potential was clearly there with Sanchez,, but injury issues during his early years in Miami seemed to tamper those expectations. The Marlins dealt him (along with Omar Infante) to the Tigers in 2012, and naturally, Sanchez signed a huge multi-year deal to remain in Detroit, led the AL in ERA in 2013, and finished fourth in Cy Young voting before making just 22 appearances in 2014.
The package that went back to the Marlins for Sanchez and Infante hasn’t exactly shined. Jacob Turner was the crown jewel of the return, but had just a 4.41 ERA in 239 innings as a Marlin before was traded to the Cubs for Jose Arias and Tyler Bremer, a pair of pitching prospects that ended 2014 in A-ball. Pitcher Brian Flynn has pitched 25 innings in the majors for Miami, and has allowed 24 runs. Catcher Rob Brantly hit .235/.298/.325 in 98 games with the Marlins, but spent his entire 2014 season with AAA New Orleans.
Then, there’s the other part of the Ramirez trade – the part that helped the Red Sox win a championship. Mike Lowell spent five years in Boston following the deal, hitting .290/.346/468 in 612 games. He was a 2007 AL All-Star, finished fifth in the 2007 AL MVP voting, and was the 2007 World Series MVP. He retired in 2012. Josh Beckett spent seven years with the Red Sox, getting traded to the Dodgers just a month after Ramirez and Sanchez were shipped out of Miami. Beckett was a three-time All-Star with Boston, pitching to a 4.17 ERA in 1,240 innings, finishing as the runner-up to the 2007 AL Cy Young award, and winning the 2007 ALCS MVP award.
The trade that sent Beckett (and others) to the Dodgers is still having an effect on Boston today. Three of the players the Red Sox acquired for Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, and Nick Punto soon moved on – Ivan De Jesus and Jerry Sands were traded to the Pirates in the disastrous Joel Hanrahan deal, and James Loney signed with the Rays as a free agent that winter. Pitcher Allen Webster has a 6.25 ERA in 89 1/3 innings with the Red Sox, striking out 59 and walking 46. Pitcher Rubby de la Rosa has a 4.54 ERA in 113 innings with the Red Sox. Both Webster and de la Rosa may have a long-term future in the bullpen for the Sox.
However, moving the contracts of Beckett, Crawford, and Gonzalez allowed Boston to spent freely in free agency during the winter following the 2012 season. They re-signed DH David Ortiz, brought in backup catcher David Ross, fourth outfielder Jonny Gomes, outfielder Shane Victorino, closer Koji Uehara, starter Ryan Dempster, shortstop Stephen Drew, and first baseman Mike Napoli. They won the World Series in 2013, and a year later, Ortiz, Victorino, Uehara, and Napoli are the only ones of that crew to remain. Naturally, Victorino is now part of the massive outfield logjam the Red Sox possess, while Ortiz and Napoli are boxing out Allen Craig from getting playing time.
It’s funny how baseball works. The Red Sox traded Hanley to acquire Beckett and Lowell, and they won a title in the process. Beckett was then traded years later to give the Red Sox flexibility, and they won another ring. And now, they’re bringing Hanley back along with (reportedly) Pablo Sandoval, and losing all of that flexibility. The Red Sox gave up the most value in all of these trades involving the major players in the first Ramirez trade, and they’re the ones that have won two titles. And now, he’s back, and who even knows what’s going to happen?
