You hit, you play, you win
Ramirez accepts competition at his jobs
FORT MYERS — Hanley Ramirez wasn’t going to pout his way into a corner in the Red Sox locker room just because the club signed a more potent hitter to take his spot as the full-time designated hitter.
And as the next David Ortiz.
No, the pain of potentially losing his job wasn’t evident for Ramirez, even if he felt it. The 34-year-old nodded his head to reporters while standing at his locker yesterday, one day after the Red Sox agreed to terms on a five-year, $110-million contract to bring slugging free agent J.D. Martinez to Boston.
“It’s pretty good,” Ramirez said of the move. “It’s a good bat and at least 40 homers, and we’re trying to win this (expletive). We’re just gonna get better and win it. It don’t matter. It’s not about us. It’s about the team, the Red Sox. It don’t matter. We just want to win.”
Ramirez could pay the biggest price in lost playing time with the addition of Martinez, who spent the majority of his career at the corner outfield spots but is expected to be the DH on most days.
“Looks like you guys are more worried about my at-bats than winning a championship,” Ramirez said. “I don’t know why. Me and J.D. trained together in Florida. We have a good relationship. We just want to win. That’s good. It’s not about me. It’s not about the at-bats. That is not on my mind, about the at-bats.
“You know what’s on my mind? Winning. That’s it. Common sense. Nothing else matters.”
The $22 million Ramirez is making this season could prevent him from being a trade candidate for other clubs. So the Sox will have to find the best way to use him.
Mitch Moreland is a Gold Glove-winning first baseman and last year hit 34 doubles and 23 homers here. To platoon Moreland, a left-handed hitter, and Ramirez, a righty hitter, at first base to start the season makes sense, unless Ramirez, after having shoulder surgery in October, hits his way into the lineup on a regular basis.
“That’s how it’s always been: you hit, you play,” Ramirez said. “Nothing changed. That’s how the game is.”
Moreland signed his twoyear, $13-million contract in December when it was common knowledge that Martinez and the Red Sox had mutual interest. But Moreland had no idea that the Sox would add another player to the DH mix.
“No, I didn’t look at that way,” Moreland said. “It was more about talking to my family and knowing that this is a great place to play. It’s a great baseball town and something I wanted to be a part of. It didn’t matter, you know, who they signed or where they signed after that, or before it.”
Another player for manager Alex Cora to use could be beneficial for the 32-year-old Moreland, who got 576 plate appearances last year, the most of his career. Moreland said he was thrilled to see Martinez here and called him a “force” at the plate.
“And roles change,” Moreland said. “You can’t control what happens from now to when the season starts or once the season starts to the end of it. Roles change.”
Since the Martinez signing had not yet been made official, Cora wouldn’t comment on his plans for the slugger.
“As everyone knows, he’s a good player,” Cora said. “He’s a guy that can impact any lineup, and we’ll see. That’s all I have on that matter.”
And how could a new lineup look?
“As of now, Hanley Ramirez will hit third,” Cora said.
And he’s expressed multiple times that right fielder Mookie Betts and left fielder Andrew Benintendi would be his ideal top-two hitters.
Top to bottom, the Red Sox lineup will be better with Martinez.
“He’s obviously a presence,” center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. said. “Having that type of presence in the lineup can make a difference and that’s what he is, he’s a difference-maker.”
Martinez hit 45 homers in 119 games last year. Ramirez offered a prediction for 2018.
“He’ll hit 50-55 homers in 162 games,” Ramirez said. “So that’s good right there.”
Are the Red Sox now AL East favorites?
“No,” Ramirez said. “We’re the underdogs. There are other good teams out there too. This is baseball. Anything can happen. It’s better when nobody expects anything and you win it all.”