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Red Sox add a bat with Mitch Moreland

Mitch Moreland is a career .254 hitter with 110 home runs over parts of seven seasons.Brandon Wade/Getty Images

OXON HILL, Md. — Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski isn’t slowing down. The Sox agreed to a one-year contract with free agent first baseman Mitch Moreland.

Major league sources said the deal is for $5.5 million. Fox Sports first reported the story.

It was the third deal in a span of nine hours for Dombrowski, who earlier in the day made a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers for righthanded reliever Tyler Thornburg and another trade with the Chicago White Sox for lefthander Chris Sale.

Moreland fills a specific need for the Sox in that the 31-year-old is a first baseman and a lefthanded hitter with power. The Sox were seeking a low-cost option to plug into their lineup.

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Moreland’s addition will allow Hanley Ramirez to be used as the designated hitter more often, particularly against righthanded hitters. Against lefthanders, the Sox could use Ramirez at first base and Chris Young as the DH.

Moreland, who won a Gold Glove last season, is a career .254 hitter with 110 home runs over parts of seven seasons with the Texas Rangers. He has a career .778 OPS against righthanded pitching.

Adding depth
Moreland's major-league stats, year by year.
Year BA OBP SLG OPS G XBH HR RBI BB SO
2010 .255 .364 .469 .833 47 13 9 25 25 36
2011 .259 .320 .414 .733 134 39 16 51 39 92
2012 .275 .321 .468 .789 114 34 15 50 23 71
2013 .232 .299 .437 .736 147 48 23 60 45 117
2014 .246 .297 .347 .644 52 12 2 23 12 43
2015 .278 .330 .482 .812 132 50 23 85 32 112
2016 .233 .298 .422 .720 147 43 22 60 35 118
Career .254 .315 .438 .754 773 238 110 354 211 589
Source: baseball-reference.com

Watch: Dombrowski on dealing for Sale


Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.