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Keith Law, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Red Sox get premium player at good price

I thought Hanley Ramirez might crack the $20 million per year mark given his age, offensive potential and the fact that a "down" year from him still produced 3.5 WAR -- and that's including his atrocious defense at shortstop. Assuming the reported deal goes through OK, the Red Sox seem likely to move him to another position, maybe left field, where his glove shouldn't be a problem and his bat will still profile well. There's a good chance he has two or three years in the next five in which he's much more than an $18 million player.

Ramirez is still a premium offensive player, although 2014 was a weak year for him; he has a visibly slower bat and didn't perform as well against high velocity as the year before. That said, he'll be just 31 in the first year of the deal, quite young to be starting any age-related decline, which is probably what Boston is betting on.

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