Hanley's bat is irreplaceable, but LA could make huge upgrade in field
Hanley Ramirez is signing with the Red Sox and the Dodgers won't be able to replace his bat, but they will be able to upgrade their infield defense.
By
Mike Axisa
•
2 min read
The Dodgers infield will have a new look in 2015, as Hanley Ramirez is about to join the Red Sox, according to our own Jon Heyman. The deal is reportedly worth $88 million across four years with a vesting option for a fifth year.
Los Angeles didn't appear to make much of an effort to retain Hanley, and unless they somehow trade for Troy Tulowitzki and manage to keep him healthy, the Dodgers will downgrade offensively at short. It's inevitable. Ramirez is a bonafide middle of the order hitter and those guys are very hard to find these days.
The Dodgers will suffer offensively but they are in position to gain a lot defensively at shortstop. Hanley was a below-average defender at short and that's putting it nicely. Surely you remember the throwing error that turned Clayton Kershaw's perfect game into a no-hitter this summer, just as one example.
Let's put some numbers on Ramirez's defense. The defensive stats we have these days are far from perfect but they're way, way better than fielding percentage and errors totals. Here are how the four main systems have rated Hanley in the field since he joined the Dodgers at the 2012 trade deadline and moved back to short:
| 2012-14: Hanley Ramirez's Defense | |||||
| Season | Innings at SS | DRS | UZR | Total Zone | FRAA |
| 2012 | 503 1/3 | -7 | -1.9 | -1 | -3.2 |
| 2013 | 651 | 3 | 0.2 | 0 | 0.3 |
| 2014 | 919 2/3 | -9 | -10.3 | -8 | -16.9 |
| Total | 2,074 | -13 | -12 | -9 | -19.8 |
Zero is league average, so the four systems say Hanley has cost the Dodgers something like 10-20 runs in the field over the last two and a half seasons. That's significant. Since 2012 only five shortstops rate worse by DRS and four rate worse by UZR.
Manager Don Mattingly regularly lifted Ramirez for a defensive replacement in the late innings this summer, so it's not like his poor glovework is a secret. The Dodgers now have a chance to replace him and turn their infield defense in a major weapon -- Juan Uribe and Adrian Gonzalez are Gold Glove caliber at the corners and Dee Gordon is improving at second as he gains experience.
That said, Los Angeles can't just wave a magic wand and add a top notch defensive shortstop. Jed Lowrie and Asdrubal Cabrera are both free agents and guess what? They're two of the five shortstops who rate worse than Hanley by DRS since 2012. Free agent Stephen Drew is a solid gloveman but he can't hit. At least he didn't last year. Internal options Miguel Rojas and Erisbel Arruebarruena can pick it but no level of defense will make their bats acceptable as regulars. Alex Guerrero isn't much of a shortstop either.
The new Andrew Friedman led front office will have to dig around for shortstop -- doesn't trading for Jimmy Rollins, who has one year left on his contract, make sense? -- and they have another three months of offseason to do that. They're not going to be able to replace Hanley's bat, so there's no sense in trying. Improving the defense and focusing on run preventation at shortstop is their best course of action at the moment.
