Revisiting the Ramirez-Beckett Deal Three Years Later

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Now, so far this year, he’s pitching like he was in ’07, with a 9-3 record and a 3.48 ERA.

Do you see a pattern emerging? I don’t like it. If this trade is ever going to be seen as fair, he is going to have to pitch in his ’07 and half ’09 body (and his last three years with the Marlins), and not in his ’06 and ’08 body.

The only fair way to look at a deal is to look at all the pieces involved, so let’s do that. The only piece that has had a real impact for Florida is Anibal Sanchez, and he started off with a bang.

He went 10-3 with a 2.83 ERA in 2006, and on top of that, he threw a no-hitter in September. Needless to say, Florida absolutely had won the trade through 2006.

Since then, Sanchez has done a whole lot of nothing. He was injured early in ’07 and only threw 30 innings during the season. Between this year and last year, he has only thrown 80 innings.

He still has a chance to regain his ’06 form, and he was a top prospect in the Red Sox organization, but I haven’t heard any chatter that he will be dominant any time soon.

As for the Red Sox side of the deal, Mike Lowell has been a revelation. He was just a throw in to the deal, but has had a much greater impact than anyone would’ve thought. I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty statistics, I’ll just let one all-star game appearance and a World Series MVP trophy speak for themselves.

So does that mean Boston has won the deal? You know what, after thinking about it a lot and finally analyzing things, this isn’t about who won. It’s about philosophy and building a team.

Boston could have put faith in Ramirez being the next great star he has become, while possibly sacrificing a ring because their pitching staff would not have been as deep, or they could have done what they chose to do and put together a grade A rotation with a possible anchor for years to come, while leaving a gaping hole (still gaping) at shortstop.

Speaking of shortstop, some proponents of the Beckett side of the deal will say that one of the reasons Ramirez was shipped out of town was because the team wasn’t sure he was going to be a shortstop in the future and might have to move to third or centerfield. I’ll just say this: with his offensive ability, he can throw away his glove forever and never play defense again and he still would have a place in Boston.

So there you have it. Yes, it would have been nice if the team could’ve kept Hanley Ramirez. If you held me at gunpoint, I would probably rather gamble on Hanley and what he can bring later on. But Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell have more than held their end of the bargain at times.

It all comes down to preference. 

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