It has been a busy couple of days for the Boston Red Sox.  Just one day after announcing the signing of third baseman Pablo Sandoval, the Red Sox reached an agreement with free agent Hanley Ramirez.  The deal is for four years and $88 million with a $3 million signing bonus.  During the off-season Hanley said he would be willing to switch positions if need be and now Hanley will make the switch to left field for his new team.  Hanley was never a good defender at shortstop so the move is not that surprising, particularly with a team that struggled to get production out of it’s outfield last season.

Having saved some cap space by not signing Sandoval the Giants have been linked to two of the big name pitchers in Max Scherzer and Jon Lester.  The Giants reached out to Scherzer but things seem to be moving more towards the direction of Lester as he is scheduled to meet with the Giants later next week.  Another direction the Giants are considering is a trade with the Braves for outfielder Justin Upton.  Talks have not been rumored to be serious but the Giants have made contact and are open to make a deal for the right price.  

It has been a busy off-season thus far with a lot of teams making a splash and signing free agents.  Early on it looks like the Red Sox are winning the off-season and look poised to make a trade now that their outfield is cluttered with the addition of Ramirez.  Even though many of the top hitting free agents have already been signed there are still plenty of pitching options available and tons of trade rumors circulating around.