To JD Martinez or not to JD Martinez, that is the question. A motivated Hanley Ramirez’s answer has got to be “to not JD Martinez”.
It’s pretty simple: if the Red Sox land JD Martinez, Hanley’s role on this team is quite literally up in the air. Having both Martinez and the recently re-signed Mitch Moreland on the team would make Hanley the odd man out. Now, if the Red Sox do land Martinez, it’s a completely different story. The Red Sox would be forced to heavily rely on Ramirez’s bat and health, which is a pretty scary thing to even merely think about if you’re the Red Sox.
People forget, Ramirez has only hit 30 home runs twice in his career: in 2008 with the Marlins and in 2016 here in Boston. If Hanley is going to be this team’s DH, they need a David Ortiz-esque 30/100 season out of him, and he needs to stay motivated, focused and healthy. Who knows whether we’ll get one, all or none of the above at any given time.
A motivated Hanley Ramirez is one of the better hitters in Major League Baseball, and I mean that. When he really wants to, he can tear the cover off the ball like he means it. In 2016, he hit 30 homers, drove in 111 runs and hit .286 and slugged .505. He dropped to 23 homers, 62 RBI with a .242 average and sugged .429 in 2017. In 2016, he had Ortiz by his side. In 2017, he had a super young team around him, he was hurt and he was too confident and made up too many excuses as he was expected to “lead” the team.
This year, he himself even said he expects himself to hit 30 home runs and his manager, Alex Cora, told everyone quite simply: “if he hits, he’s going to play”. Not to mention, on this team, he *should* be a leader. He’s the second oldest player on the team, has been around the block a few times and is a solid role model on and off the field when he has his act together. Not to mention, he’s off to a good start: he dropped 15 pounds over the offseason, thanks to him getting in on the TB12 Method, and he showed up to camp two days early. If he can merely pretend like he’s Tom Brady for the majority of the season, then we’ve got something brewing here, folks.
If there’s one thing I really want to tell Hanley, though, it would be this: please, pretty please, on behalf of all Red Sox fans, please stop swinging for the fences during every single one of your at-bats. First and foremost, it doesn’t work. Your contact rate percentage was the lowest of your career in 2017 at 75 percent. Your ground ball rate dropped 7 percent last year, too. Second of all, it doesn’t help your shoulder. You talked about how you “hit 23 home runs with one shoulder last year”. Maybe you would have had both shoulders for longer if you didn’t air it out on every single pitch you saw no matter what it was?
Alright, I’m done. That was harsh, but I needed to get it off my chest.
Monetarily, though, Hanley should be motivated, because he’s got a $22 million vesting option that begins in 2019 IF he reaches 497 plate appearances this year (which is, by the way, the weirdest number ever and just looking at it makes my anxiety shoot up through the roof). He needs to stay healthy both for the benefit of his team and for himself.
Like most Red Sox fans, Hanley irritates me beyond human comprehension. Why he can’t stay motivated, I really don’t know. Albeit, I’m willing to give him another chance this year. He has what it takes to be the x-factor of the Red Sox if they don’t sign Martinez, and I believe that. Call me crazy. If Boston does snag JD, then it’s a completely different story. For the time being, I’m remaining cautiously optimistic. This particular Red Sox teams has so many “what ifs” surrounding it heading into the season, but I’m quite ready to see just how they play out, especially Hanley’s situation. Let’s fuckin’ have it.
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