UPDATE (Dec. 8, 3:50 p.m. ET): It took a couple days, but the Boston Red Sox finally made the acquisition of Mitch Moreland official Thursday, signing him to a one-year contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Boston designated pitcher Williams Jerez for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.
ORIGINAL STORY: The Boston Red Sox have been awfully busy Tuesday.
Hours after trading for left-handed ace Chris Sale and reliever Tyler Thornburg in two separate deals, the Red Sox agreed to a one-year contract with first baseman Mitch Moreland, according to multiple reports.
FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal was the first to report the news, which later was confirmed by Today’s Knuckleball and FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman and MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, who added the one-year deal is for $5.5 million.
Moreland primarily has been a first baseman in his career, and he won the 2016 American League Gold Glove at that position for the Texas Rangers. The 31-year-old spent his first seven Major League Baseball seasons with the Rangers, and he hit .233 with 22 home runs and 60 RBIs in 2016.
Right before the latest reported Red Sox move, manager John Farrell had this interesting comment about 2016 first baseman Hanley Ramirez’s potential position for the upcoming season.
The Red Sox, who reportedly were the “clear front-runner” for Moreland, now have a first baseman who, as Heyman pointed out, has a 1.061 OPS at Fenway Park.
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Thumbnail photo via Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports Images
