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Red Sox DFA Hanley Ramírez

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The Red Sox have designated Hanley Ramírez for assignment to clear room on the major league roster for the Dustin Pedroia‘s return from the disabled list. Boston now has seven days to either trade of release Ramírez.

Ramírez, who was originally signed as a 16-year-old international free agent out of the Dominican Republic by the Red Sox in 2000, made his major league debut with the club in 2005. He appeared in just two games for Boston before being traded to the Marlins in a deal that yielded Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. At Florida, Ramírez was 2006 Rookie of the Year and a three-time All-Star.

Since his return to Boston in 2015 in a four-year, $88 million deal, Ramírez has appeared in 429 games. Overall, he’s slashed .260 AVG/.326 OBP/.450 SLG with 78 home runs and 255 RBI with the Red Sox.

Ramírez is one of seven active major league players with 1,000+ runs and 250+ home runs.

At the time of his DFA Ramírez was 302 plate appearances from vesting an option that would have guaranteed him $22 million for 2019. Now, if the Sox release Ramírez, the option disappears; if he’s traded, his new club would be responsible for honoring the option unless they negotiate an alternative.

The Red Sox owe Ramírez $15 million for the remainder of this season. Altogether now, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale notes on Twitter, the Sox are now responsible for $35 million to players no longer with the club, including Pablo Sandoval, Adrian Gonzalez, and Allen Craig.


Red Sox Pound Yankees In “First Game” of 2018

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Does it count more now?

For over a week and despite an 8-1 start, fans have endured nagging question about just how “real” this Red Sox team is. Boston was off to a historical start to the season, but questions lingered given the quality of their opponents.

But on Tuesday—at least for a day—the Red Sox made it clear that they’re built to compete, pounding the Yankees in an unyielding 14-1 attack. The game marked just the seventh time since at least 1908 that New York lost to Boston by a 13-run margin or more. Their six unearned runs allowed was their most since July 14, 2011 at Toronto.

Routinely-dominant Chris Sale, now in his second year with the Sox, earned his first win against New York in a Boston uniform. Though 4-4 with a 1.75 ERA in 15 career games against the Bombers, Sale was 0-3 in five starts against them in 2017, his first with the Sox, including going 0-2 in three of those games at Fenway.

On Tuesday, Sale allowed eight hits (all but one were singles) over 6.0 innings. He walked no one and punched out eight, allowing just one earned run, a solo shot by the formidable Aaron Judge, who entered the game 0-for-12 lifetime against Sale.

Red Sox offense was hot right out of the gate. Mookie Betts, the lead story in a rich night of Sox offense, belted a lead-off double for a third straight game. Betts would go on to enjoy a historical night at Fenway, becoming the first big leaguer with five runs against the Yankees since Luis Castillo nearly ten years ago.

Now, some additional notes on last night’s game.

  • Sale is the first Sox starter to work 6.0+ innings against the Yankees with no walks, no more than one extra-base hit, and no more than one run allowed since Wednesday’s starter, David Price, last July 16. Before Price, the last Boston pitcher with such a game was Jon Lester on August 9, 2009.
  • Betts is the seventh player ever to score a record five runs against the Yankees and the first Red Sox player to achieve that feat since at least 1908.
  • Betts had a single, two doubles, and a grand slam. It was his 11th career game with three or more extra-base hits, tying him with Nomar Garciaparra and Dwight Evans for fifth-most such games in club history after David Ortiz (21 games), Ted Williams (19), Bobby Doerr (13) and Carl Yastrzemski (12).
  • Betts’ grand slam was the first by the Red Sox since Jarrod Saltalamacchia‘s on September 13, 2013, also at Fenway.
  • Betts is the first Red Sox with four or more hits, RBI, and runs scored against the Yankees since at least 1908. The last player of any team to do that against New York was the Tigers Brennan Boesch on April 3, 2011.
  • Boston’s first three batters, Betts, Andrew Benintendi, and Hanley Ramírez, were a combined 8-for-9 (.889) with 8 runs, 3 doubles, a triple, home run, 9 RBI, and 4 walks.
  • Ramírez added three RBI Tuesday for the club lead this season (11). Ramírez now has five multi-hit, multi-RBI games this season. No other MLB player has more than three such games.
  • Ramírez is the only Boston batter in the last 100 years with multiple hits and multiple RBI in five of the team’s first 10 games.
  • The Yankees had not allowed 14+ opponent runs since a 1-15 loss against the Astros on August 25, 2015.
  • The Red Sox exploded for nine runs in the 6th inning, their most since scoring 10 in the ninth inning at the Twins last May 7. The last time Boston scored that many runs in one inning against the Yankees was May 31, 1998 (11 runs in the ninth).
  • Boston has not committed an error in any of their first 10 games, the longest streak by any major league team to begin a season since at least 1940.

 


Sox Stun Rays with 8th Win

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The weather was as cold as Boston’s offense on Sunday as the Red Sox seemed destined for a loss heading into the 8th inning, down 7-2 to the Rays. The 38ºF game-time temperature was the lowest for any Sox home game in nearly 15 years (34ºF on April 17, 2003).

Tampa Bay subjected the Sox to a thousand cuts with a run scored in every inning from the second to the sixth, then added insult to injury with two more in the top of the seventh. Boston had squeaked in just two runs of their own until the flood gates opened in the bottom the eighth. Facing Rays reliever Matt Andriese, Hanley Ramírez led off the inning with a single but watched as Brock Holt and J.D. Martinez made quick outs.

With two down and even after a switch later in the inning to Tampa closer Alex Colomé, Boston recorded three doubles from Mitch Moreland, Rafael Devers, and Andrew Benintendi along with clutch singles from Eduardo Núñez, Mookie Betts, and Christian Vázquez. When the smoke had cleared the Sox found themselves up 8-7 with Craig Kimbrel ready to go for a 1-2-3 ninth inning. For Kimbrel it was his 69th save in a Boston uniform, tying him with Sparky Lyle for eighth most saves in club history.

Sunday’s win was the eighth in a row for the Red Sox, tying their longest win streak of 2017. The 8-1 start is the club’s best record through the first nine games of a season in franchise history. It’s also the club’s second best win streak for the month of April in the last 100 years after 11 consecutive wins in 2009.

“We’ve been playing good baseball for a month now,” rookie manager Alex Cora said after the game. “I know spring training doesn’t count, but we were playing good baseball [even then]. When you play good baseball, you’re going to have good results.” Cora joins Joe Morgan in 1988 as the only Boston managers to begin his tenure by winning at least eight of his first nine games.

In addition to the startling offensive outburst, the Sox continued their streak of errorless games. The nine straight games without an error is Boston’s longest-ever to begin a season.

Despite the good vibes, the Red Sox got just 3.2 innings of work from Eduardo Rodriguez in his season debut. Rodriguez, who had just been activated from the disabled list following off-season knee surgery, allowed five hits and two walks leading to three earned runs. He did, however, manage seven strikeouts becoming the first Boston pitcher with that many strikeouts without finishing the 4th inning since Roger Clemens on August 31, 1984.

Perhaps more troubling was the apparent ankle injury to Xander Bogaerts, who had to leave the game early. Bogaerts has slashed .368 AVG/.400 OBP/.711 SLG to open the season. His seven doubles, nine extra-base hits, and 23 total bases against the Rays are all the most by any major league hitter against any single opponent so far this season.

For the Rays, Sunday marked their eight straight loss, the longest losing streak in baseball and the club’s longest since an eight-game skid in July 2016. Tampa Bay is just the sixth team since 1908 to win on Opening Day and then lose their next eight games. The last to do that was the 2005 Rockies.

After another off-day, the Red Sox will take on the Yankees at Fenway for three games beginning on Tuesday night.


Sox Win In Fenway Opener

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The scheduling gods gave the Red Sox some gifts to start the 2018 campaign. The club didn’t even have to travel far from the spring headquarters to start the new season with three games at Tampa and two at Miami before heading back to chilly Boston for yet another set with the Rays. These games are opportunities to rack up some early wins against two rebuilding clubs and, save for a tough loss on Opening Day, the Red Sox responded with six good wins—wins that count just as same as the ones against tough opponents late in the season.

You can argue, justifiably perhaps, that it shouldn’t have been this hard to put away the Rays and the Marlins. Except for a solid 7-3 win over Miami on Monday, four of the remaining six wins have been hard fought, one-run victories. That includes, of course, Opening Day at Fenway, in which Boston was held scoreless until Xander Bogaerts tied the game with a two-out double in the bottom of the ninth inning. That’s when the momentum shifted, though it would take three more frames to finish things off right.

In the end it was Hanley Ramírez who powered a walk-off win that gave Boston a second straight extra-inning victory. The Sox have, in fact, won nine consecutive extra-inning games. The walk-off was the eighth such win at a Fenway home opener, the first since Mo Vaughn‘s grand slam against the Mariners on April 10, 1998.

For Ramírez, who says he feels healthy and may be doubly motivated by a contract incentive, it was his second straight game with a game-winning hit in the 12th inning or later.

Particularly at the start of the season, the schedule makers leave plenty of room for weather-related make-up games. Thanks to that, the Red Sox have an oddball Friday off (their first such Friday rest since 2012), take on the Rays for two more this weekend, then enjoy a Monday off before the Yankees come to town. For most, that series against New York will be the first real test of the season.

Fenway Faithful Rewarded With A WIn

On Thursday David Price struck out five and allowed three hits but held the Rays scoreless through 7.0 innings. It was his second straight scoreless start to the begin the season. Price is the first Sox pitcher to hold an opponent scoreless in his first two starts of a season since Derek Lowe in 2002. Since returning from the DL late last year and including the 2017 postseason, Price has not allowed a run in his last 29.1 IP.

After the game Price acknowledged the fans who cheered him as he left the mound after the seventh inning. “I didn’t want to tip my cap,” Price explained, “because that would take me out of the game.” Price said he didn’t know at the time if Manager Alex Cora would send him back out for another inning. “If I’d been sure of it I definitely would have tipped my cap.”

Overall, Red Sox starting pitching has been outstanding, with an 0.86 ERA through the first seven games. Boston starters have allowed zero or one runs in each of those first seven games thereby extending a major league record streak of consecutive such starts to begin any season.

Carson Smith, first out the pen today, allowed the Rays only runs on a home run by Matt Duffy. For Smith, it was just the third home run he’s allowed over 94 career appearances (89.1 IP). Hector Velázquez and Craig Kimbrel came in for one frame apiece, but it was youngster Bobby Poyner, who once again impressed with two strong innings. Poyner was rewarded with his first major league win.

On the field, Red Sox fielding has been superb with no errors committed to date. That matches the 2013 club’s longest errorless-games streak to begin a season since 1913.

But when it comes to offensive production, the Red Sox aren’t firing on all cylinders just yet. Though Jackie Bradley came through with an important leadoff double in the bottom of the 12th, he likewise grounded out in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded. Bradley is slashing .136 AVG/.240 OBP/.227 SLG to open the year, Andrew Benintendi is at just .174/.367/.174 and fans have yet to see flashes of power from new slugger J.D. Martinez.

Until the offense shows up consistently, the fate of the Sox will rest squarely on its pitchers.

Thursday’s home opener improved the Red Sox to 6-1 on the young season.


New Tech To Keep Red Sox Healthy

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Fans likely roll their eyes when they hear about the official this or the official that of the Boston Red Sox. But after last year’s miserable, flu-ravaged start to the season, it’s no surprise the team was keen to avoid a repeat.

At one point early in the 2017 campaign, Mookie Betts, Brock Holt, Joe Kelly, Mitch Moreland, Hanley Ramírez, Robbie Ross and some assorted members of the coaching staff were all suffering effects of the flu, which quickly moved from person to person in the close confines of the clubhouse.

This spring, amidst a very tough US flu season, the Dodgers had fatigue, chills, fever, and other flu-like symptoms sweep through their workout facilities. Manager Dave Roberts said he’d sent home 25 players from camp to nurse their way back to health.

Red Sox Sickest Team In Baseball

The flu made it a rough start to the season for the Sox in 2017, but it turned out the issue was not an isolated one.

According to a study by Surgically Clean Air, Inc. that was reported in the Boston Globe, even before the start of the 2017 season, Boston already led the majors in days missed by sickness since 2011 with 85. That equates to a cost of more than $3.9 million, or about $45,882 per game lost because of sickness. Those aren’t numbers ownership could just ignore.

This week the Red Sox announced a partnership with Clorox to introduce that company’s Total 360® System to the club’s existing protocols. Clubhouse staff say that they can now spray down the facilities with a sanitizing solution far more efficiently than using their previous methods. “What used to take our team hours now only takes them minutes,” said Jon Lister, Fenway’s senior director of facilities management.

Can’t get enough about this? Well, for you there’s even a video:

https://youtu.be/R8agytoJq-k