The Boston Red Sox have a better chance to go to the World Series than the Florida Marlins, and their fans are more rabid, their ballpark more storied.
Hanley Ramirez doesn’t care. That’s because the Marlins already have offered Ramirez something he might never have received with Boston: a chance to play.
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The centerpiece for Florida in the trade that sent Josh Beckett, Guillermo Mota and Mike Lowell to Boston, it is already clear the Marlins plan to open spring training with Ramirez as their starting shortstop. And that’s all he ever wanted.
“It’s a great opportunity for me,” Ramirez said in Spanish from his home in the Dominican Republic. “When I go to spring training I have to show what I can do, every day, to win the position.”
To Ramirez, the Marlins’ latest fire sale means opportunity, not angst. Ranked as the Red Sox’s No. 1 prospect two of the last three years, Ramirez has just two big-league at-bats to show for all that promise and probably wouldn’t have gotten many more in the near future with All-Star Edgar Renteria signed through 2008.
But virtually every Florida lineup spot figures to be up for grabs come February. That also will benefit pitchers Anibal Sanchez and Jesus Delgado, who also are coming over from Boston, and former Mets prospects Yusmeiro Petit, a right-hander, and Mike Jacobs, a power hitting catcher-first baseman, both of whom were acquired for first baseman Carlos Delgado.
Petit, a Venezuelan who turned 21 last week, went 9-3 with a 2.91 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 118 innings at Double-A Binghamton last season and figures to compete for a spot in the rotation next spring. The lefty-swinging Jacobs, 25, who hit .310 in a trial with the Mets last summer after winning Eastern League MVP honors, could step into Delgado’s spot.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Venezuelans Sanchez and Delgado probably are at least a year from the majors. Jacobs, Petit and Sanchez are playing winter ball in Venezuela.
It’s Ramirez, however, who stands to make the biggest impact. And he probably has the most at stake, given his reputation. He is taking nothing for granted.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “You can’t just sit there. You have to keep working.”
He is honing skills this fall with Licey, a pre-eminent team in the Dominican winter league, where he was hitting .258 with 10 RBIs in 26 games.
Ramirez, who turns 22 next month, already has played five minor-league seasons and has hit at least .310 in six of his eight stops. In fact, his .271 average at Double-A Portland (Maine) last year is a career low. He still stole 26 bases, the second time in three seasons he has stolen that many, and drove in a career-high 52 runs.
Though his new team might be rebuilding so fast that it’s hard to keep track of who’s coming and going, he isn’t willing to concede anything as far as the standings go.
“Boston was a team like Licey,” he said. “They won every year. They have to win. And I’m used to that. With the Marlins, we’re going to do the same thing. Every day you have to go out there to win.”
If that’s not enough, there’s one more reason why Ramirez is excited to be a Marlin.
“Ah, Miami, Miami!” he said with a laugh. “It’s beautiful. Very beautiful. There’s many Latinos there, and the people are great.”