Hanley Ramirez And Mookie Betts Are Polar Opposites In Red Sox Outfield
BOSTON (CBS) -- Frustration at Hanley Ramirez and his abysmal defense in left field for the Boston Red Sox is boiling over.
Longtime Boston sports columnist Gordon Edes eviscerated Ramirez on Tuesday, saying he was "found guilty of impersonating an outfielder" in Monday night's 8-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians.
The entire 2015 season has been clip after clip of Ramirez misplaying fly balls, jogging lazily after rollers, and deferring to his teammates to pick up the slack.
Amazingly, he makes Manny Ramirez look like a Gold Glover. At least Manny threw people out sometimes.
This particular play from Monday night summed up the Adventures of Hanley this season:
But next to Hanley in center field stands Mookie Betts, who seemingly makes highlight reel plays on a nightly basis. His speed, instincts, and all-out effort for the ball have created some spectacular catches. He is the exact opposite of Ramirez in the outfield - and he showed it with this catch in the same game:
Fortunately, Betts looks like a major piece of the future for the Red Sox. Unfortunately, so does Ramirez.
People have been calling for the Hanley-in-left-field experiment to end for months now. The best solution, really, is to take Ramirez off the field entirely and make him the DH - but of course, that won't happen without David Ortiz moving to first base or sitting out entirely.
Ramirez's defense has been legendarily bad, and with the Red Sox going nowhere this season they should almost leave him out there just for the sheer entertainment value.
And when he's next to an outstanding fielder like Betts, or even Jackie Bradley Jr., his ineptitude is magnified exponentially. Did I mention that Betts also sacrifices his body to make plays for his team?
And who could forget this amazing catch that got overturned for a home run:
When the Red Sox figure out a solution that takes Ramirez off the field, and lets Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts handle left field and center field full time, the team will be way better off. But for now, you'll have to deal with polar opposites bringing both joy and misery to the Fenway field.
