The Red Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran first baseman Adam Lind, reports Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston (Twitter links). The ISE Baseball client was recently released by the Yankees. Drellich notes that president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has confirmed the agreement to him, though the club has not yet issued a more formal announcement of the signing.
Lind is coming off a strong season with the Nationals, having raked at a.303/.362/.512 clip and clubbed 14 homers in 301 plate appearances. The 34-year-old has posted an OPS+ of 123 or better in four of the past five seasons — an ugly 2016 in Seattle being the lone exception — and batted a combined .282/.348/.473 through 2142 plate appearances in that time. He’s totaled 94 plate appearances between the Yankees’ Class-A and Triple-A affiliates this season, slashing a combined .302/.362/.477 with three homers in that time.
The addition of Lind will give the Red Sox some additional depth at first base and designated hitter following the surprising DFA and seemingly likely release of Hanley Ramirez. He’s a bit redundant with Mitch Moreland — a hitter who comes with similar platoon issues and a much better glove at first base, though. Lind, after all, has a disastrous .217/.263/.329 slash against left-handed pitchers over the course of 12-year MLB career. He’s been mostly limited to first base, though the Nats did trot him out to left field for 197 innings last season. That marked his first work on the outfield grass since 2010, and he unsurprisingly did not rate well there in the estimation of defensive metrics.
Good low risk move. I was hoping they’d sign him after his release
Low risk? No risk
Good? Yikes. I’m starting to wonder if they got their weed card up at the front office. Adam Lind= Mitch Moreland, except Moreland is doing good.
Trawl lawl lawl lawl lawl, lawl lawl, lawl lawl
Simply injury/slump protection.
Ultimately cheaper than Hanley
They’re still paying Hanley not to play. What a great way to run a business.
I would bet every team in baseball is paying t least one player not to play. It happens.
Name a team where it happens to the extremes of the Sox. We’ll be waiting.
Bobby Bonilla
Mic drop!
The Yankees paid ARod over 40 Million to not play anymore.
They also from a statistical aspect not paid Tex for those last 4 years of below average offense.
Not saying the Sox made smart moves with Hanley or Pablo, but don’t act like the Yankees haven’t done that in the not so distant past.
That feels like work. Off the top of my head the Padres are paying Shields, Headley and Olivera like 30 million dollars this year.
Angels and Hamilton was pretty extreme
That is factually incorrect on Arod.
You can’t use Tex as an example though since he played for them through the contract…
It’s one thing not preforming up to your salary but it’s an entirely different conversation to pay a player NOT to play for you. Throwing Tex into that category is just reaching
And they paid ARod 27 MM, not 40
Maybe the dodgers. Only team I can think of that threw a comparable amount of money down the tubes.
“Bobby Bonilla.”
Do folks still not understand what that one was about? I’m talking about the refi, not the original deal. The Wilpons at the time were earning 12%-20% per annum from their good friend, Bernie M. Thus offering to pay Bobby Bo ~9% per annum appeared to be a no-brainer. They were earning 3-11% per year on the money they refi-ed until Bernie went Bust. Good deal for Bonilla, good deal for the Wilponzis too.
IOW, they are no longer paying Bobby Bo for his past services as a player but are now paying him interest on the money he loaned to them when they agreed to the refi. Got it?
(Not directed specifically at you, Dylan. Your comment was a convenient place to park my rant.)
Dodgers too. Teams with money to burn usually make more expensive moves and when they don’t work out, they can afford to absorb where others can’t and have to pray.
Regardless of the correct amount, it was a lot. in addition to NY, I believe he has Bonilla type money owed by the Rangers. Using PEDS. It financially pays.
Your hatred of Boston got old ages ago. Take your meds.
Detroit.
K Pops
Thanks for that
Mets, Yankees, BlueJays, Dodgers, should I go on or are you still waiting?
All good dude, but in the context I used that in response to thegreatcerealfamine, it worked.
Nope none of those or anyone else has gone to the extremes of the Sox.
Lol ok there bud, you’re obviously wrong but that’s ok
It’s math. Go look at those teams, add the money they’re spending going out to players(not playing for them or currently not playing at all) then compare it to the Sox. Not even close. Injuries don’t count.
Loaned? Lol! It’s money that they deferred. He’s getting a million dollars until like 2030.
Some people…
Your talking mainly about a former GM, not necessarily the team. Castillo, Panda and Hanley were all on BC’s watch.
You’re right. Terrible way to run your business. Keep that manager of your store who is running it into the ground because you’ll lose his $50K salary. Completely ignore the $3M in lost revenue your manager has lost. I admit…. that is some sound logic.
Then the store fires the manager. Cutting ties and ending it’s financial obligation to him. Poor example
That’s the point. Or that’s at least how I understood Judy’s point. There’s no point in using your guys who are giving their own team negative value. You may as well cut ties with them instead of paying them to cripple you
They’re clearly still making money as a franchise running what you all are calling “a terrible way to run your business”. It’s clear there’s a reason why they do what they do, and all of you talking heads do what you do.
LOL. Strange though because I cringe when I think of the way ownership believes in sabre metrics. Their present success is in spite of not because of any on field reliance. Biggest difference in managers is probably behind the scenes and in the clubhouse where is fans can’t see.
They are still making hundreds of millions of dollars
and most team owners claim they lose money every year and won’t open the books for inspection ! These guys are smart business people
and would not keep doing this if they were not making money. Plain
and simple economics !
Judge judy: they are payjng Hanley, a right handed hitter, far and away better than Lind, drop him, and immediately go out and get a lesser mitch moreland. Gotta make u scratch your head.
I do believe they areplaying Mitch Moreland, a left handed hitter with an OPS of 1.023. Not much to head scratch.
I’m a Yankee fan, and I’m glad this guy is being given another chance. Obviously when he plays against the Yankees, I hope he goes 0-4 with 3 strikeouts, but he’s someone you can say deserved more than a minor league deal this off-season. Happy he got a chance — even if it’s with the Red Sox.
Please as a Yankee fan, don’t post stuff like this.
Seriously?
It’s called class. He was great in his limited action for the Nationals, in 2017, hitting .303/.362/.513 with 14 homers in 267 at-bats. You can point out plays least valuable position with defensive flaws, fine. But that slash line — even in a platoon split, deserved more than minor league signing. Many of us are about numbers here. Surely his numbers deserved more than a minor league deal, in 2018
Maybe just word it more like the last two sentences of this post. “It’s called class” you don’t like things like this, so.
From others that appreciate you taking the high road thank you. It’s nice to see people acting respectable
Huh?
Xab, not sure why he chose Boston unless surprisingly, there were no other offers. I haven’t seen his 2018 stars but Travis is a righty and likely platoon call up if Moreland’s production suffers. He seems mostly to be injury protection.
I’ll keep it simple: .303/.362/.513 14 HR in 267AB’s for Nats in 2017, even as platoon-DH deserved more than 3 minor league deals.
In minor leagues, Lind slashed: 302/.362/.477 and 3 HR, 14 RBI, for NYY. He’s paid his dues.
Kind of like you backing Mike Ford. Well how’s he doing?
“.303/.363/.513 14 HR in 267 ABs for Nats . . . deserved more than 3 minor league deals.”
Agreed, but to be fair I believe the Nats offered Lind a one or two year deal—which he rejected—prior to signing Matt Adams. Still deserved a ML contract somewhere as the skill set he brings, LH platoon bat with power and barely acceptable defense at 1B or LF does have value.
@Dewey
He can provide a lefty DH bat when they bench JBJ, and move JDM to LF.
Good comment back Stymeedone. I love that glove but unless one of our catcher’s consistently hits, the team will need more end of order production. Devers could also use a short rest to regroup.
I’m a Yankee fan and totally agree. No reason Lind should’ve not received a major league deal. Glad he’s somewhere just sucks it’s with the enemy
Only 3 k’s why not 4?
Double play grounder.
He isn’t a Hanley replacement he is insurance for Moreland. Hanley had to be let go it was obvious that Cora wasn’t going to sit Hanley and his option was going to kick in almost for sure. Hanley isn’t the kind of guy that is going to take sitting well when he has a 22 million dollar option waiting and he had become an almost automatic ground out the entire month of May. I like this move Moreland has been injury prone in the past.
Moreland can also be quite streaky, so I do think this is a nice move as well…
This is the dumbest move ever. They still paying Hanley n DFA him n sign someone the NYY released who can’t hit like Hanley. I could understand if Hanley was being toxic, other then that it’s crazy!!!!!
Hanley sucks and Lind was actually decent last year
Guys, it’s really about the option next year which balloons to 22 mil….that simple, he is not worth it (a) and (b) you have a lot of guys on this team with contracts due next year…. mookie arb will prolly be in the 20 mil ranger so think long term here
I really believe Mookie will try FA. And suppose the yanks will lure him like the other 2 outfielders that went FA from Sox, Johnny Demon, n Ells…..buried!!’
Professional kind of hitter, knows the AL East, rumored to have excellent attitude. Nothing about this not to like.
Doesn’t make sense for Lind. I would have approached one of the teams, like the Rockies who need some production in that area. Red Sox are not going to help his career.
Have you considered that maybe those teams didn’t want him?
Exactly. Besides, why say no to playing for the Boston organization right now?
Because Maybe you have other options?
Or perhaps not.
Because playing for Boston and playing for Pawtucket are two different things.
The Curse of Ex-Brewer 1st Basemen is to be feared! Fielder’s neck injury, Carter and Hart’s dramatic declines, and now Lind’s stay in limbo…
Did Carter ever have an incline???