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Massarotti: Red Sox Better Off With Travis Shaw Over Hanley Ramirez

BOSTON (CBS) - Spring training is what it is, so don't interpret this as any sort of snap judgment based on roughly a week of meaningless games. This really has more to do with the much bigger picture that extends into the end of last season and entirety of future ones, beginning in 2016.

Does anyone else think the Red Sox would be far better off with Travis Shaw at first than Hanley Ramirez?

Like, right now?

Playing first base in place of the generally indifferent Hanley Ramirez, Shaw went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI in the Red Sox' 6-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday at time-dipped McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Fla. For the spring, Shaw is now a scorching 8-for-14 with a double, homer, five RBI and two walks (no strikeouts), good for an OPS of 1.482.

Not impressed? Fair enough.

The barstools are filled with players who have ripped up the Grapefruit League and then turned into, well, grapefruits. But look deeper. Shaw started 55 games for the Red Sox last season, during which the Red Sox went 32-23. (Over the course of a 162-game schedule, that's a 94-win pace.) No one needs to remind you how bad the Red Sox were with Ramirez in the lineup at any position, which brings Ramirez' general apathy into the equation.

Hanley Ramirez
Hanley Ramirez. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

If Ramirez were a fully engaged player, is he better than Shaw? Of course. Even defensively, given his natural ability, Ramirez should be superior. But we all know Hanley does as Hanley wants, and that means a general level of detachment that makes him a waste of money and, worse, talent.

The real question here concerns the real potential of Shaw, a ninth-round pick who batted .270 with an .813 OPS last regular season during a stretch of games that was relatively meaningless. In roughly 200 fewer at-bats, he nearly matched the production of Ramirez in doubles (12-10), home runs (19-13) and RBI (53-36). Of course, he is also six years younger.

As for Shaw's upside, one evaluator last year suggested he would be an average major league first baseman, akin to someone like a young Adam LaRoche, which is to say a stable .270-20-80 player. Does that make him an All-Star, especially at first base? No. But he makes him something more than a negative, which Ramirez indisputably was last year.

Again, for what it's worth, the same evaluator acknowledged last season that Shaw does not possess an especially fast bat. And yet, for a variety of reasons he continues to hit – and for power. Upon arriving at spring training early this spring, Red Sox manager John Farrell acknowledged the team had a backup plan if Ramirez or Pablo Sandoval falters, though Shaw feels like a far better replacement for Ramirez than for Sandoval.

One more thing: depending on what happens with an aging David Ortiz, a developing Blake Swihart, an unpredictable Sandoval or a schizophrenic Jackie Bradley – or all of the above – the fact that Shaw hits left-handed is hardly to be overlooked. (Roughly 70 percent of pitchers are, of course, right-handed.) And while the absence of Ramirez in the lineup might make the Sox more vulnerable against left-handers, remember that the Sox did bring in outfielder Chris Young – could this be another reason he's here? – who pulverized lefties last year.

In the end, here's the bottom line:

The Red Sox aren't likely to jump Shaw ahead of Ramirez now, even to start the regular season. But if and when Hanley goes into shutdown mode, the Sox won't wait.

And they shouldn't.

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