Sam Travis should be playing more 1B/DH

Mitch Moreland is only under contract for this season and if I was a betting man, I would be willing to bet he is not coming back for another season. That leaves the Red Sox without a first baseman for 2018.

The truth is, Hanley Ramirez isn’t gonna play first base next year. He hated that one season he was a first baseman. The only good part for him was being able to snag the DH spot for this season, albeit it’s not going well for him (.240 something average, 22 homers, .750 something OPS). After all, he has a -0.2 WAR (wins above replacement) on the year on Baseball Reference. So pretty much, they’re a worse team because of him. Maybe there’s a solution to this problem.

The way Hanley has played this season (painfully inconsistent), the Red Sox could use a spark to their lineup. That seems like something Sam Travis may be able to provide, especially against left-handed pitchers (if not full-time). The right-handed first baseman is hitting .304 in 24 games for the Red Sox this season. Plus he looks better at 1B now.

Travis was the Red Sox second round draft pick back in 2013 and when the team called up Rafael Devers, Travis then became the team’s top hitting prospect (Michael Chavis would be next) because he was such an advanced bat. The guy has shown he can hit at the big league level in 63 plate appearances. That’s should be a decent enough sample size for the Red Sox to maybe consider putting this guy in the lineup whether it be at the expense of Moreland or Ramirez–possibly a mix of the two if they want to play Travis every single day.

No one in the Red Sox lineup who qualifies for the batting title with the team has an OPS over .800 albeit seven of the nine guys in their lineup did last year. That right there tells you something has to change.