FORT MYERS, Fla. — Before he boarded the bus Saturday for a spring training game an hour away, Hanley Ramirez tossed a football across the Boston Red Sox clubhouse.
It brought back memories of Ramirez holding a football in the Portland Sea Dogs’ clubhouse at Hadlock Field. He darted around lockers and down the hallway then, pretending to be a running back.
BY THE NUMBERS
10
Years since Hanley Ramirez was a full-time member of the Portland Sea Dogs
.342
Ramirez’s batting average in 2009 when he won the National League batting title
214
Total games played in past two seasons
$19 million
Base salary for Ramirez with the Red Sox this season
Ten years later, Ramirez is still playing.
But he’s not a kid anymore. And an older Hanley Ramirez could provide the punch Boston needs to rebound from its last-place finish in 2014.
Ramirez, 31, was a prized Red Sox prospect playing in Portland in 2005. He was traded to the Marlins soon after.
Now Ramirez has returned to the Red Sox as a free agent. During the winter he signed a four-year, $88 million deal with Boston, with a 2019 vesting option for another $22 million.
“He’s grown up, matured,” Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. “Obviously he’s done a lot throughout his career so far. It’s fun to get a chance to play with him again.”
Pedroia was a shortstop when the Red Sox drafted him in 2004. He didn’t play second base until 2005 when he came to Portland, where Ramirez was already the shortstop, having reached Double-A at the end of 2004.
Ramirez refers to himself and Pedroia as “the odd couple.” In Portland, Pedroia was the mature player with three years’ experience in college. Ramirez was the kid who signed with Boston when he was 16 and reached Double-A at 20.
Pedroia and his work ethic was a coach’s dream. Ramirez, Boston’s top prospect at the time, smiled a lot but also had a hothead side. He had been suspended twice for incidents while playing in Class A.
But Ramirez had few problems in Portland under Manager Todd Claus. And if there were issues, Claus addressed Ramirez behind closed doors.
“I handled him one on one. He responded best that way,” Claus said last week while in Fort Myers. Claus is now Boston’s Latin American scouting coordinator.
“We developed some trust.”
Ramirez credits Claus and then-farm director Ben Cherington for “talking to me a lot, trying to get me in the right way. Get me to the big leagues.”
While Ramirez received guidance, his performance was not inspiring with the Sea Dogs, batting .271 with six home runs and a career-low OPS of .720.
The Trade
Ramirez was traded after the 2005 season to the Marlins. Maybe it was because of his lackluster year in Portland, or his attitude, or simply that the deal netted Boston pitcher Josh Beckett.
Regardless, the trade played well for Ramirez, who likely would have been in Triple-A Pawtucket in 2006. Instead he played all season in the majors, batted .292 and was named National League Rookie of the Year.
Ramirez won a batting title in 2009 with a .342 average.
“He had a lot of talent,” said Carlos Tosca, the former Portland Sea Dogs manager who was the Marlins’ bench coach during Ramirez’s time there.
“It was easy for him. At that time he could steal a base. He could hit the ball out of the ballpark anywhere.”
But Ramirez’s attitude would get him in trouble, from shouting matches with teammates to an infamous incident in 2010 when he showed no hustle on a play, jogging after a ball that got away from him.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez (another former Sea Dogs manager) benched Ramirez afterward.
“After he got the first contract (six years for $70 million), I don’t think he was as hungry,” Tosca said. “He was a little bit different, a little more moody.
“Complacency comes into play (because) he knows he’s the best player on the field. Bored is a good word.”
Ramirez’s health and production took a downward turn in 2011 and as the more expensive years of his contract were coming up, the Marlins traded him to the Dodgers in July 2012.
As when Boston dealt him in 2006, the trade to Los Angeles benefited Ramirez.
Mentored by veterans
“I think it’s important for Hanley to be in a place where there are players around him just as talented as he is,” Tosca said.
Ramirez got that in Los Angeles, with a veteran team in contention.
“That changed my career and my life,” Ramirez said. “Go to a winning team and see how you prepare yourself every day to be a winner.”
In 2013, Ramirez batted .345 with 20 home runs in only 86 games. His OPS was 1.040.
In 2014: .283, 13 home runs and an .817 OPS.
The drawback was he played only 214 games over those two years because of injuries. And there were concerns whether Ramirez, no longer the skinny kid playing in Portland, had the quickness to continue playing shortstop.
Still, the Red Sox went after him in free agency, seeking a slugger to bat behind David Ortiz.
They signed Ramirez despite his recent history of injuries – and to play in left field, a position he had never played in the pros.
The new Hanley
In Boston’s two World Series runs, in 2004 and 2007, the Red Sox had a left fielder named Ramirez, with a wild dreadlock hairstyle, batting behind Ortiz. Manny Ramirez provided protection for Big Papi, making sure Ortiz got good pitches to hit.
But the “Manny being Manny” antics were a distraction and Ramirez was traded in 2008.
Will there be “Hanley being Hanley” moments? The Red Sox don’t expect them.
Manager John Farrell said he has confidence Ramirez won’t be a problem because it was Cherington, now the general manager – “who knows Hanley as well as anyone” – pursuing Ramirez.
Farrell’s first impressions are all positive.
“He’s been a pleasure,” Farrell said. “He’s been great – the attitude, the work ethic. He’s been fun to be around.
“Reputation and what you hear second-hand is just that … You’ve got to find out for yourself.”
“He feels supported here. He’s embraced everything, including a position change. It’s been very good.”
Not only did Ramirez agree to play left field, he committed to playing it well, arriving well before spring training began to figure it out.
“He was the only veteran down here for two weeks doing extra work,” said Red Sox first base coach and outfield instructor Arnie Beyeler. “When everyone else was done, he’d come back out for work off the wall.
“He’s worked hard on little things.”
Ramirez seems hungry, despite his new contract.
“Now I only care about winning championships,” Ramirez said.
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