Their names are Matt Holliday, Vladimir Guerrero, Johnny Damon, Magglio Ordonez, Jermaine Dye and Hideki Matsui.
So it came as a bit of a surprise when the Red Sox' first notable acquisition of the offseason was revealed to be Jeremy Hermida.
Here's what we know about Hermida. He's 25 years old, and he's played parts of five major league seasons with the Marlins. He brings some raw power, a solid glove in right field and a batting eye that could still improve with time. He's a decent piece for the Red Sox, but he's not likely to make the difference between postseason bust and World Series title. He's a baby step.
And yet rumors are still floating around that Hermida is a possible starter in Boston next season. Anyone buying it?
In South Florida, Hermida was viewed as an underachiever. When the Marlins traded him, it made perfect sense to them — they always keep the trimmest payroll possible, and Hermida's $2.25 million paycheck made him look like a relative superstar on that roster. The team decided to give up on overpaying for a promising talent that might not pan out.
"Our expectations were high for Jeremy," Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest told the Palm Beach Post on Tuesday. "He had his moments where he was highly productive, like the second half of '07. But given his talent level, I think the expectation was for more. Hopefully he'll realize [his potential] elsewhere."
In Florida, it was just too great a risk. After blowing the Marlins away with a 1.017 OPS as a rookie in September of 2005, Hermida had never lived up to the hype over the long term. His power started to fade, his batting average was all over the place and the Marlins didn't want to invest in him anymore. He wasn't the sure thing they'd hoped for when they took him at No. 11 overall in 2002.
In Boston, though, the situation is a little different. Small risks are OK when you're the Red Sox — this team can afford to sink a couple million into a long shot. If Hermida doesn't pan out, that's fine, but it's worth making the small investment to find out. Hermida's the kind of left-handed power bat that might thrive in Fenway Park.
But if Hermida is the only investment the Red Sox make this winter, he's a big mistake.
The Red Sox have money to splash around. They need to spend it on a proven commodity — Bay should be their top priority, but if not him, then it should be Holliday or Dye or someone with a strong track record. In Hermida, the Sox have their Plan B — now it's time to work backwards. The real alpha dog is yet to come.
Rather than looking at Hermida as the next Bay, we should see him as the next Rocco Baldelli on the Red Sox' roster. He's a corner outfielder with some pop, worthy of taking over a starting job in a pinch, but perfectly well suited to a fourth outfielder role as well.
In his one season with the Red Sox, Baldelli appeared in 62 games, making 150 at-bats and giving the Red Sox a middling .744 OPS. If Hermida exceeds those numbers, we can call his time in Boston a success.
Of course, there's always the hope that he'll annihilate those figures, and turn his career around the way other left-handed sluggers before him (think David Ortiz) have done in Boston. If that happens, great — but if not, the Red Sox have the cash to explore other options.
Acquiring Jeremy Hermida was just step one. The Red Sox have a long way to go this winter.
