The Boston Red Sox announced that left fielder Hanley Ramirez has been shut down for the rest of the current season due to a lingering right shoulder injury. Acting manager Torey Lovullo delivered the news on Thursday at Fenway Park.
Ramirez has been out since August 26 and was placed on the 15-day disabled list on September 5 because of inflammation on his right shoulder. He was in the process of transitioning from left field to first base.
"Unfortunately, his shoulder just was not responding the way we wanted it to. His effort, his focus, his interest in playing first base never, ever wavered. It was just the matter of his right shoulder not responding to what he was asking it to do. As a result, we felt like it was most important at this point to look towards 2016 and give him the proper rest that he needs," Lovullo told CSNNE.com's Sean McAdam.
However, the interim manager does not see an offseason shoulder surgery as feasible and mentioned that "it's more of a shutdown with rest right now." He added that Ramirez experiences difficulty in throwing more than hitting.
Ramirez, 31, signed a four-year deal worth $88 million with the Red Sox last winter. He delivered a less than impressive season finish with.249/.291/.426 batting line along with 19 home runs and 53 RBI over 105 games. He did manage to perform 10 home runs and 22 RBI back in April but struggled to sustain that production since; he failed to hit a home run for the second half.
Going deeper into the team, the Red Sox also revealed on Thursday that a general manager (GM) and senior vice president has been named. Former assistant GM Mike Hazen has been promoted by Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski to the said positions.
Dombrowski himself was recently named as the president of baseball operations and Hazen's promotion is seen as his first big move since being in office in August. Hazen started his career in Boston as director of player development almost a decade ago. According to the team's release, the 39-year-old executive has played an integral role in several areas of the team's major league operations, including player acquisitions, contract negotiations, player evaluation, major league scouting, as well as pro scouting.
"Over his 10 years with the Red Sox, Mike has proven to be an invaluable member of the baseball operations department. We are thrilled to have him in this position and I'm excited to have him working with me on every aspect of baseball operations," Dombrowski said.
