That is a huge gamble. Hanley, when healthy, is an amazing hitter. But yeah can't remember when he was 100%.
He played 157 games in 2012. 86 in 2013 and 128 last season.
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Hanley Ramirez hasn't played a full season in two years, hasn't played in LF before, and is pretty damn bad defensively.
Can either him or Sandoval pitch? I was pretty bummed the Jays missed out on Sandoval, but all of that went away when they got Josh Donaldson. Unreal trade.
Yeah I wouldn't start saying Red Sox got 2015 on lock quite yet... and as much as I love Sandoval and wish he stayed in SF, have Sox fans looked at his numbers? He's not about to blow up the AL.
And what the fuck are the A's doing? They've traded away their 3 and 4 hitters, signed Billy Butler for a ton of money (who had a career year 2 years ago), and I've been reading that they are already looking to trade Jeff Samardzija? Plus, Lester is clearly going elsewhere, so what was the point of getting rid of Cespedes?
Sandoval is one of those guys who does decent in the regular season, but absolutely explodes in the playoffs. Problem is, his OPS in the regular season has gone down each of the past three seasons, in addition to his size. Unless the Red Sox trade Cespedes/Nava/Napoli/Craig or whoever for pitching because their OF and 1B/DH spots are crowded, or re-sign Lester, Boston won't make the playoffs.
I'll never understand what the A's are doing, Beane just sabotaged a team that was the best team in baseball up until Cespedes was traded. They're looking to trade Samardzija because he is a free agent after the 2015 season, they cannot afford to re-sign him because he'll be in high demand, they need help at SS, and they want to re-stock the farm. Cespedes was moved because again, he becomes a free agent after this season, and Oakland couldn't afford to keep him. With a rotation consisting of Lester, Samardzija, Gray, Kazmir, and Hammel, Beane though they could just pitch their way to the World Series.
Donaldson doesn't become a free agent until 2019, and was third in all of Major League Baseball in WAR, only behind Trout and McCutchen. Nolin and Graveman are good pitchers (I'm a Jays fan), but Lawrie is a real wild-card and Baretto is relatively an unknown. I never thought Donaldson would ever be moved, let alone for the package AA put together for Oakland.