Red Sox have ‘nothing to lose’ moving Ramirez

There is no reason to think Ramirez will ever be a good defensive first baseman, but the logic may simply be that he will do the least damage there.

Ramirez took batting practice earlier in the day and has been deemed ready to go in the starting lineup.

Ramirez was accompanied by Boston third base coach Brian Butterfield and slugger David Ortiz, who has 275 career games at first.

So with one experiment not working, the Red Sox are trying another.

Boston Red Sox interim manager Torey Lovullo confirmed that the team gave left fielder Hanley Ramirez reps at first base Tuesday in hopes of shifting him back into an infield role.

The Red Sox signed Ramirez to a four-year, $88 million deal in the offseason. Hanley, a former shortstop, happily revealed the plan while acknowledging that the Red Sox are better off with Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Rusney Castillo patrolling the outfield on a regular basis.

Many people expected Ramirez to have a tough time during his first season playing in the outfield, but expected his explosive bat to make up the difference. “He was like, ‘If you put this guy over here and put this guy in left field, how would the team look?’ And I was thinking about that, too”.