's Bradford Doolittle put David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez among the best free-agent signings in MLB history, a ranking that once again puts the Boston Red Sox's early-21st-century spending in the spotlight. Ortiz, who was signed in 2003 to a one-year, $1.3 million deal, and Ramirez, who arrived before the 2001 season on an eight-year, $160 million contract, became two of the franchise's defining offensive stars.
Ortiz's first season in Boston looked like a bargain before it became a legacy. He hit.288/.369/.592 with 31 home runs, finished fifth in AL MVP voting and went on to spend 14 seasons with the Red Sox, hitting 483 homers -- second in club history behind Ted Williams -- while helping Boston win three World Series titles. He also carried a.947 career postseason OPS, the kind of October production that turned a low-cost signing into a franchise landmark.
Ramirez's run was longer, louder and almost as productive. He hit.312/.411/.588 during his time in Boston, made eight straight All-Star teams and won six Silver Slugger awards before the Red Sox traded him to the Dodgers in 2008 after 7 1/2 years of the deal. Doolittle said Ramirez ranked with the all-time best hitters in Red Sox history by OPS+, and added that he was often not very serious, but could seriously hit.
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The comparison also shows how unusually those moves worked out. Ortiz was not a free agent in the usual sense; the Twins released him at 26, after his best season in Minnesota, when he had 20 homers and a 120 OPS+. He later kept re-signing and extending in Boston until he reached free agency again after the 2011 season. Ramirez, meanwhile, was the sort of expensive swing teams make hoping for star production, and Boston got it for most of the life of the contract before sending him to Los Angeles.
Read Also: Orioles Score? David Ortiz lands at No. 3 in all-time free-agent moves
Doolittle's broader ranking comes as the discussion around best signings spans 50 years of free agency, with Boston again in the frame after Aroldis Chapman paid huge dividends for the club last year. Ranger Suarez's rough start to a $130 million contract has only sharpened the contrast between deals that deliver immediately and those that take time, or never do. For Boston, Ortiz and Ramirez remain proof that the right bat can change a franchise for years, not just a season.
