Skip to main content

Why a healthy and Rejuvenated, Hanley is important to Red Sox in 2018

Why Hanley being both healthy and rejuvenated is important for Red Sox to succeed in 2018


Ramirez worked out at first base Friday.

photo credit: BostonGlobe.com

Hanley is entering his final year of a four-year pact he signed back in 2015 with the Red Sox.  His three seasons with the Sox have been more frustrating than anything else, which has seen him struggle in two out of three of those seasons, with only producing one big season that was back in 2016, which saw him hit .286 with 30 home runs, drive in 111 and play in 111 games.

Yet the past last season saw him struggle with shoulder issues which limited him to mainly just DH'ing and thus prevented him from playing first base albeit for 18 games last season. Offensively even with the shoulder difficulties, he did hit 23 home-runs which is pretty impressive considering what he was dealing with, yet he only hit just.242 with a .750 OPS last season, taking over as the primary DH for David Ortiz.  Yet, while stepping into the same position as the retired Ortiz once occupied, he was unable to come anywhere close to the same production, that the former was able to do.
  After the season ended, Ramirez underwent arthroscopic surgery to clean out dead tissue in his left shoulder.  It was deemed that his right shoulder only needed rest and strengthening.

Hanley has already reported to Camp at Fort Myers and as of Friday was back at first, fielding ground balls and making the throws to second, and jokingly said that he expects to play around 150 games at first base this season.    Whether that actually happens or if the Red Sox end up signing someone else, possibly JDM? and it results in Hanley splitting time at both  DH and first base with both Mitch Moreland (1st) and JDM (DH) having a healthy and eager Hanley is a good sign for the Red Sox and their fans, and a bad sign for opposing pitchers heading into this season.

So while Hanley may say that he is playing for the team and wanting to do what's best, which he said to the BostonGlobe, "We just want to win a championship. If you produce and win, they’re going to take care of it at the end of the year. I just want to win and after that, we’ll see what happens.”
 He will also have to produce like he did back in 2016 in order to be able to a big part of any successes that this team will have in 2018 as well as the potential for his returning in 2019 on a player option worth $22 million.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Soo today was a very light day. Had no control games or innings, but did have some time out on the drill field to get back into the habit of doing routine plays to get back into the swing of full umpiring.  Sadly I also started to realize how cutthroat this business can be.  Soo due to my injuries I haven't fully been at full health, as well as my other physical issues, have made my career has an umpire not the easiest of things to do.  I usually often in pain from my legs to my back and I do my best to push through it to continue to work my game, and due to the pain I may not look at athletic or graceful as other guys out there on the field, but I do my best.    One of the guys that I have gotten to know here at school, told me that sadly there have been a few guys that have snickered and made fun of me behind my back. He told me, not to worry about that, that the situation had been taken care of and that I should just focus on my game. To hear that a guy t...
Post a Comment
Read more

A New Hall of Fame Class

As a young kid growing up I grew up on the heroes of the game, Ruth, Dimaggio, Mantle, Williams etc.  As I continued to grow up and watch the game of baseball grow and mature like I did, I was always excited to see what new legends were going to get to be immortalized into the Baseball Hall of Fame.   I've been lucky enough to visit the Hall of Fame on multiple occasions including as a kid with my dad, as a member of my high school baseball team on two occasions.   To now watch as more players that I grew up watching in the late 80's 90's and early 2000's it just reminds me of how wonderful this game truly and really is. I'll end this quick post with one of my favorite quotes from my favorite movie, Field of Dreams, "
Post a Comment
Read more
Soo as we finished up week # 4 and start towards the home stretch, I am amazed at how fast this experience has gone.  I have waited over 3 years for this experience and to be on the fields working and learning and gaining experience that hopefully I will be able to use in order to become a better umpire, then I was before I came here.  Also getting to know and meet the instructors has been amazing. To personally get to talk with and get to know this guys that I have watched for years on tv and to just see them and talk with them has been a great learning experience.  As the guys have hammered into us, "Don't leave this experience with any regrets." I am definitely not going to do that. Even with my knee injury, I never stopped I kept fighting and learning and busting my ass to get back on the field, and I can tell everyone that I will not have any regrets when I come home, I will have left everything out on the field and will have made each and everyone of you that has...
Post a Comment
Read more