Low-budget signing of Moreland has worked out splendidly for Red Sox
HOUSTON -- Were the circumstances a bit different, particularly their proximity to the luxury-tax threshold, the Red Sox probably wouldn’t have signed Mitch Moreland.
Were the circumstances a bit different, in other words, the Red Sox wouldn’t have struck gold.
Moreland has hit 18 doubles and nine home runs in the middle of the Boston batting order, and the .373 on-base percentage he has compiled is 40 points above his previous career high. He has made a commitment to a more disciplined plate approach that has him drawing walks twice as often as he did two seasons ago.
“It’s something I tried to focus on a little bit more, being a little more selective, trying to stick with getting my pitch and not missing it,” he said. “I’m just trying to stay within myself and stay within the zone.”
Moreland has been more productive than Mark Trumbo, who signed back with Baltimore for three years and $37 million. Moreland has been more productive than Kendrys Morales, who signed with Toronto for three years and $33 million. He has been more productive than Jose Bautista or Carlos Beltran, veterans who signed one-year contracts with Toronto and Houston, respectively.
Moreland has even been more productive to this point than Edwin Encarnacion, the ex-Toronto slugger who signed a three-year, $60 million contract with Cleveland in January -- a contract that also cost the Indians a first-round draft pick.
Encarnacion had long looked like the ideal successor to David Ortiz, but Boston’s determination not to cross the $195 luxury-tax threshold made bringing him above a near-impossibility. The Red Sox had to take something of a small-market approach to its pursuit of Moreland, an approach that for them is uncharacteristic but has been effective.
Encarnacion might yet finish the season with better offensive numbers than Moreland. His track record suggests he should. But Cleveland is on the hook to pay the 34-year-old Encarnacion another $45 million beyond this season, no matter what he does, just as Baltimore and Toronto will be on the hook for two more years after this one with Trumbo and Morales, respectively. There’s no telling what might happen going forward.
In signing Moreland, especially coming as he was off an underwhelming season, the Red Sox went back to their 2013 model -- buying low on veteran hitters on short-term deals. They shifted to that model after shedding Carl Crawford and his $142 million contract in 2012. They returned to it -- regrettably -- with the tandem signings of Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval in 2014 and David Price in 2015. The pressure to win the winter in Boston has tended not to yield positive results.
Like Mike Napoli in 2013, Moreland came to Boston from Texas on a one-year contract. Like Napoli after 2013, perhaps Moreland could be enticed to forego free agency and stick around if the fit is right.
The downturn in production of Ramirez this year -- his slugging percentage is just .405 -- suggests that perhaps Moreland and youngster Sam Travis could coexist on the Red Sox roster next season and beyond.
Moreland deflected the idea of negotiating a contract extension during the season -- “Right now we’ve got more important things to take care of,” he said -- but gushed about his experience with Boston so far.
“I loved it from the minute that the Red Sox called,” he said. “It has probably exceeded my expectations as far as the group of guys, an unbelievable group of guys. I’m excited about the next few months.”