CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians traded away or let go in free agency several middle-of-the-order hitters during the offseason, and as such, they went looking for someone who add some run-producing capabilities to the lineup.
The Indians believe veteran infielder Hanley Ramirez could help fill that void, which is why they signed him to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training with the big-league club.
“The hope is the middle-of-the-order-type bat,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “We need to let him settle in first. He played a little winter ball. He said he’s been hitting and stuff, but he’s mid-30s. He hasn’t played a lot, so we need to let him get his legs under him, get some repetition.
“I talked to him this morning a little bit and told him, ‘Tell me when he thinks he’s ready to start getting in there,’ and then, we’ll get him into some games. I know we need to get a look at him, but you can rush it and mess it up. We don’t want to do that.”
The 35-year old Ramirez has a career .290 batting average (1,825 of 6,300) with 374 doubles, 269 home runs and 909 runs batted in over 1,652 games during his 13 years with the Boston Red Sox (2005, 2015-2018), Florida/Miami Marlins (2006-2012) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2012-2014).
Ramirez has career splits of .361 on-base, .487 slugging and .848 on-base-plus-slugging percentages. He is the only active MLB player with at least 250 home runs and 250 stolen bases. Ramirez stole 281 bases over his first 13 years in MLB.
Also, Ramirez is one of only seven active players with 250 home runs and more than 1,000 runs scored (1,045) in his career.
Francona was Boston’s manager when Ramirez was coming up as a rookie, and although their time together was brief, it left an impression.
“I remember we had a split squad and I made the trip, I think it was up to Clearwater and Millsey stayed back,” Francona recalled. “He waited for me. I got back at 7:30 that night, and he said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to see this Ramirez kid. He’s a man.’ Then, he got two at-bats in ’05, and then, got traded for Beckett.”
Ramirez is a three-time National League All-Star (2008-2010) and won two Sliver Slugger Awards during his time with the Marlins and was top-11 four times in the voting for the league Most Valuable Player Award.
Last season, Ramirez hit .254 with 45 hits in 177 at-bats, including seven doubles and six home runs with 29 RBI, 25 runs scored, 14 walks against 35 strikeouts and a .313/.395/.708 split line over 44 games with the Red Sox.
During the offseason, Ramirez, a native of Samana, Dominican Republic, spent a month playing for Licey in the Dominican Winter League, where he hit .266 (17 for 64) with four doubles, three home runs, 10 RBI and .360 on-base, .469 slugging and .829 on-base-plus-slugging percentages.
“That has nothing to do with us,” Francona said of Ramirez’s 2018 season.
“We ask the same of every, single player: show up on time, be a good teammate, try your ass off to do as good as you can. Whether a guy hit .300 in 1999 or whether he didn’t run a ball out in 2012, it doesn’t influence us here. We treat people how they should be treated.”