Do Signings of Sandoval, Ramirez Prove Cherington’s Incompetence?
By DJ Smith
October 4, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez (13) hits a single in the second inning against the St. Louis Cardinals in game two of the 2014 NLDS playoff baseball game at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
This is the opinion of Dylan Smith
Last week I had talked about how the hands of the Red Sox future, as well as the future of General Manager Ben Cherington laid in the hands of Jon Lester. All the Red Sox have to do is show their gratitude to the southpaw by offering him a competitive contract and you can bet Lester would come back in a heartbeat. Cherington and the Sox owners have shied away from extending that offer (for whatever reason I don’t completely understand), and that would have been at least somewhat understandable if they were spending their dollars in other starting pitchers.
It appears that instead of giving Lester a $150-180 million dollar contract, Cherington has decided to give that money to Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. I can’t express how frustrated I am if Cherington decides to go this route and is unable to bring back Lester, it goes against their whole philosophy as an organization.
During the disastrous 2012 season the Red Sox were able to pull off one of the biggest trades in organization history that saw Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, and Nick Punto head to the Dodgers for essentially a bucket of baseballs. This move allowed the Red Sox to essentially press the restart button and start anew, where spending their money wisely became the number one goal.
This strategy paid off the following season when they shocked the world and captured the World Series, thanks to guys like Mike Napoli, Koji Uehara, and Jonny Gomes. Now I realize that those players aren’t superstars, but during the 2012 offseason they took a look at where they needed to improve. They needed a first basemen after Adrian Gonzalez left, so what did they do? Go sign Napoli to a high paying, short term contract. Next they needed a closer, so what do they do? Find Koji Uehera and once Andrew Bailey blew out his elbow Uehara came in and dominated the rest of the season and postseason. The picture I’m painting is during that off season, the Red Sox saw where they needed to improve and they went out and addressed those holes in a smart manner. I don’t think we’re going to be in much trouble in the upcoming years because of contracts given to Shane Victorino or Johnny Gomes.
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So now fast forward to this off season, you could argue that the Red Sox have two glaring holes. Starting pitching and the 3rd base position. Now call me naïve, call me old-fashioned, but last time I checked starting pitching won championships. Look at 2013, we had Lester who was the ace, we also had an appearance from what looked like the 2002 John Lackey, we also saw a rebirth of Jake Peavy, and even Clay Buchholz. Right now the Red Sox starting rotation is in rough shape, right now we have Buchholz, Joe Kelly, and a few young arms that made appearances toward the end of the season. Now those young arms are going to be useful sooner rather than later, but for the right now the Red Sox need that ace in the rotation and I’m sorry but Clay Buchholz has not proven that he can be a reliable ace. So with few options available, the Red Sox can decide to fork over the cash and give it to Lester or give it to another guy who has not pitched in Boston .
The Red Sox today have signed Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez for a combined total of about $180-200 million dollars. WHAT IS BEN CHERINGTON THINKING?! The two glaring holes of this team are starting pitching and a corner infielder, so what does he do? He signs two guys who honestly should not be getting $20 million dollars per year, Ramirez has not produced at All-Star levels since 2010 and it’s hard to argue that Pablo Sandoval isn’t peaking right now.
So while the Red Sox sit with their two newest acquisitions, the true prize of the offseason Jon Lester, is still on the sidelines mulling over offers. I’m still holding a bit of hope for Cherington that he can sway Lester into coming back, but if he does not and decides to go another route get ready for a full blog blast of his incompetence as General Manager.
Cherington’s leash just got a lot tighter today, and even though pink-hat fans may see this as a big win for the Red Sox I don’t see the benefit at all. Given the Red Sox history, this seems a lot like their old business model where signing every possible free agent was the goal. They need to remember what holes they have, and after today they still have one glaring hole. All lights are now on Cherington, if he manages to reel in Lester then I can reevaluate these moves, but if he lets Lester get away get ready for an uproar*.
*Same goes if Xander Boegearts gets traded.