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.
Year | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | .255 | .364 | .469 | .833 |
2011 | .259 | .320 | .414 | .733 |
2012 | .275 | .321 | .468 | .789 |
2013 | .232 | .299 | .437 | .736 |
2014 | .246 | .297 | .347 | .644 |
2015 | .278 | .330 | .482 | .812 |
2016 | .233 | .298 | .422 | .720 |
Career | .254 | .315 | .438 | .754 |
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Posted by Peter Abraham on Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.