2018 Boston Red Sox Spring Training Storylines -- The Infield
If you missed it yesterday, we started the 2018 Boston Red Sox spring training storyline series with the rotation. Today, we’re gonna look at the infield.
Hanley Ramirez — First-year manager Alex Cora is going to have a little bit of a challenge on his hands as it pertains to Hanley Ramirez. Now in the final guaranteed year of his four-year, $88 million deal that he signed with Boston prior to the 2015 season, Hanley needs 497 plate appearances this season for his $22 million option to vest for 2019. To put things in perspective, Hanley has eclipsed 497 plate appearances in three of his last four seasons, so the mark is certainly attainable. In a perfect world, I’m sure the Red Sox would prefer that Hanley’s option did not vest, but what if his performance forces their hand?
Hanley’s second go-around in Boston hasn’t been a failure. It hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been a failure. His 2016 season saw the Dominican native hit 30 homers for the first time since 2008, and drove in 111 runs, a career high, representing the first time he had ever hit at least 30 home runs and driven in at least 100 runs in the same season. Much like David Price, I would say Hanley is next in line in the “I have no idea what to expect from this player” department.
Why? Because he’s so good when he’s motivated. The question is, will the $22 million vesting option be enough to motivate him when his existing $22.7 million salary last season seemingly wasn’t enough to motivate him very much, aside from the postseason? Will the Red Sox have to strategically limit Hanley’s plate appearances so that his option won’t vest? Will Hanley make that decision easy for the team due to poor performance? Or, will Hanley perform so well that the Red Sox don’t actually mind the option vesting?
Dustin Pedroia — Let’s just make one thing abundantly clear — the Red Sox are a better team when Dustin Pedroia is on the field. The Manny Machado incident last year? Yeah, that was a bad look. Do you have a right to be irritated about that as a Red Sox fan? Sure, you do. But let the larger sample speak for itself. This is a guy who broke his goddamn foot and was taking grounders on his knees and took BP while kneeling on a chair just days after. He leads by example, he’s the heart of the team, and beyond the intangibles that we’re all familiar with, he’s still a damn good ballplayer when he’s healthy.
Last year, Pedroia was limited to just 105 games, still managing to hit .293 with a .760 OPS. His last healthy season came the year prior in 2016 when Pedroia hit .318 with an .825 OPS and played his usual Gold Glove caliber defense at second base, turning one of the best double plays in the league. His words, not mine. But I agree. While I fully recognize that some fans have soured on Pedroia for either the Machado incident or his inability to stay healthy, the fact of the matter is that we’re still talking about one of the best second basemen in the league when he’s healthy.
I also sense that there might’ve been some issues between Pedroia and former Red Sox manager John Farrell, so perhaps that clubhouse aspect surrounding Pedroia improves greatly now that Pedroia’s buddy Alex Cora is now at the helm. But the storyline with Pedroia will always come down to health. Can he give you 150 games? He won’t be healthy enough to start the season this year, so I’d be happy if he’s out there for around 135 games, knowing that Eduardo Nunez is a more than capable replacement for the time being.
Xander Bogaerts — Can my man Xander get some fucking love in this city? Damn. One bad year and it felt like everyone hopped off the X-train. Foolish! Listen, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, and Didi Gregorious are absolute stud shortstops in the American League. But how soon we forget that Bogaerts was right atop that list a few years ago, and he’s still only 25 years old, literally the beginning of a baseball player’s prime years.
Last year, a hand injury limited Bogaerts’ offensive production, yet he still managed to play 148 games. From the start of the 2015 season through the end of the 2016 season, Bogaerts was second in the MLB in hits (388) to Jose Altuve (416), the reigning American League MVP. If you’ve given up on Bogaerts for one down year, you might wanna get back on the bandwagon now before you look stupid later. He’s healthy, and it looks like he’s bulked up a little bit over the offseason.
The big storyline with him in past years was wondering when we were going to see the power from him. He hit 21 homers in 2016, ending the debate of whether or not he’s actually capable. Now, we need to know if he can do that not just consistently, but even more so. The doubles have never been an issue — he’s averaged 34 a year over the last three seasons — but it’d be nice if we could see more homers from him on a consistent basis. If he’s healthy, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t see more of that in 2018.
Rafael Devers — Entering his first full major league season at the age of 21, the projections kindly favor Boston’s new third baseman, Rafael Devers. Also a native of the Dominican Republic, ZiPS has Devers projected to hit .273 with an .811 OPS, 32 doubles, 27 homers and 85 RBI. Damn, it feels great to have a third baseman who doesn’t suck. Hold that thought, though. I’m still not sold on Devers’ defense at third base, and you shouldn’t be, either. That’ll be the biggest storyline for Devers, beyond watching to see how he overcomes adversity at the plate, if and when he experiences it. And he more than likely will. But he’s not exactly a smooth, sound, or polished defender at third base, and there are some who think that Devers will eventually end up at first base as a result of this. That probably won’t happen in 2018, because the Red Sox are a little crowded over there with Hanley Ramirez and Mitch Moreland, but that could be a thing that happens in the future. Maybe he changes that narrative this season. I’m not banking on it, but it would be a pleasant surprise.
Mitch Moreland — Mitchy Two Bags AKA Mitchy Nine Toes made a great first impression on Red Sox fans last year. He made a great impression on Dave Dombrowski, too, because his performance in 2017 landed him a two-year deal to return to Boston. Moreland earned the nickname Mitchy Nine Toes, of course, because he broke his toe on June 13 last summer. Through his first 61 games up until he broke his toe, he was hitting .285 with an .877 OPS. In the 45 games after he broke his toe, he hit .175 with a .560 OPS. Over his final 43 games played last season, he hit .264 with an .832 OPS. So, while Moreland refused to use the toe injury as an excuse, it was definitely a factor.
Moreland finds himself in a unique situation in 2018, given that Hanley Ramirez will be vying for playing time at first base, since JD Martinez will be getting most of his at-bats at DH. Red Sox manager Alex Cora has already committed to Hanley batting third in the lineup, which means that Hanley has the upper hand over Moreland as it pertains to first base duties. At least, to start the year.
However, we all know that Moreland is the superior defender and Hanley has his tendencies to slump for prolonged periods of time. Like, basically the entire first half of the season. Not that Moreland is immune to slumping, but he got off to a hot start last year, and if he does that again in 2018, he could soon find himself in Cora’s lineup at first base over Hanley, especially since the Red Sox will be looking for any reason to keep Hanley under the 497 plate appearances necessary for his $22 million option for 2019 to vest.
Tomorrow, we’ll be taking a look at the 2018 storylines for the Red Sox outfield. If you missed the storylines for the Red Sox rotation, you can check that out here.