Red Sox sign Enrique Hernandez (2 years, 14 mil)

cantor44

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 23, 2020
1,635
Chicago, IL
Maybe the Sox should add two years to Kike's contract ....He just turned 30 in August, so you'd be getting, basically, his 30, 31, and 32 seasons. Man, he is such a valuable player.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 23, 2001
10,229
When the Sox signed this guy, my reaction was basically, "Shrug, whatever." Come to think of it, I think I had the same reaction to the Big Papi signing. Good thing I'm not the GM!
 

InsideTheParker

persists in error
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
40,371
Pioneer Valley
Every time he is on my telly, I can't help remembering how furious most of us in the game thread were that Cora kept KH at the top of the order when he failed again and again at the beginning of the season.
 

cantor44

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 23, 2020
1,635
Chicago, IL
Every time he is on my telly, I can't help remembering how furious most of us in the game thread were that Cora kept KH at the top of the order when he failed again and again at the beginning of the season.
This is true - I'm guilty as charged here. This is one of those times when the tried and true SoSH counter criticism of "they have more information than you have" rings apt. I suppose it's always true, but particularly applicable here. I saw Sox at the toilet in July and got there early enough to watch batting practice, and Kike's was, frankly, the most impressive of anyone. He was just scorching ball after ball after ball. It was then that I thought ...hmmmmm. This guy can hit.
 

joe dokes

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
30,233
This is true - I'm guilty as charged here. This is one of those times when the tried and true SoSH counter criticism of "they have more information than you have" rings apt. I suppose it's always true, but particularly applicable here. I saw Sox at the toilet in July and got there early enough to watch batting practice, and Kike's was, frankly, the most impressive of anyone. He was just scorching ball after ball after ball. It was then that I thought ...hmmmmm. This guy can hit.
In this case, I think it's as much patience as "more information."
 

SoxFanInPdx

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
3,246
Portland, OR
Went to buy a Kiké jersey last night and couldn't find one. Sold out I assume?

Anyway, I like the signing before the season, but wasn't sure what to expect since he was basically a super sub on the Dodgers. Wouldn't mind if he got an extension. He's earned it with this season. Maybe a 2-3 year deal.
 

soxhop411

news aggravator
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2009
46,274
Went to buy a Kiké jersey last night and couldn't find one. Sold out I assume?

Anyway, I like the signing before the season, but wasn't sure what to expect since he was basically a super sub on the Dodgers. Wouldn't mind if he got an extension. He's earned it with this season. Maybe a 2-3 year deal.
Thats why he signed with the Sox, from the ESPN article above
Hernandez continued his epic streak on Saturday with another home run in the Red Sox's 9-5 victory over the Astros in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. It was his fifth homer in seven games this postseason, during which he has gone 16-for-32 with a .500/.514/1.094 line, the best seven-game stretch to start a playoff run since Beltran's .448/.529/1.138 with six home runs. Hernandez has set records for the first seven games for the most total bases (35, beating Beltran's 33) and extra-base hits (nine), tying Hideki Matsui's record hit total.

And best of all, he won the approval of perhaps the most hard-to-please teammate in his career. Chase Utley, the six-time All-Star second baseman with whom Hernandez played for four seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, is notoriously loath to lavish praise. In the midst of Hernandez's jag, however, he sent his old pupil a single text message. There were no words. Just an emoji.



"That," Hernandez said, "is the biggest compliment in the world."
For Hernandez, it was always about what he wasn't. He wasn't Carlos Correa or Francisco Lindor or Javier Baez, the jewels of his generation from Puerto Rico. He wasn't a center fielder or a shortstop or a second baseman but rather a superutility player, consigned to filling gaps instead of finding himself consistently on a lineup card. He wasn't part of the Astros' future when he made it to the big leagues five years after they drafted him in 2009, so they traded him to the Miami Marlins; and he wasn't part of their future, either, so they traded him to the Dodgers; and for as many big hits as he got during his 142 postseason plate appearances for them, he wasn't ever a big enough part of their present for his liking.

Hernandez wanted to play every day, full time. And while he played most days over the last four seasons, it was in the sort of role that saw him consistently subbed in or out depending on the platoon advantage. He never shook the reputation in Los Angeles for hammering left-handed pitching and struggling against right-handers, even though over the last three years his OPS against both sides was nearly identical.

"When I went against right-handers," Hernandez said, "I felt like I had to get four hits in one at-bat."

It gnawed at his patience, and as much as he tried to remain positive, it ate away at him. While the belief in himself resonated to his core, Hernandez's levels of trust vacillated, sometimes by the day. He would tinker and tweak and go through stretches in which he wondered if his break was ever coming. He was always a good teammate, beloved in the Dodgers' clubhouse, personable, a quintessential glue guy. And he made the Dodgers better with his versatility, contributing mightily to their postseason runs. His game-tying home run in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series last season helped keep the Dodgers alive en route to their first World Series title in more than three decades.
Hernandez signed a two-year, $14 million deal with the Red Sox and was told he would play every day. He ping-ponged between second base and center field, and occasionally, when he struggled, Hernandez would text Turner seeking nuggets of advice. Turner's words buoyed Hernandez, and before a rough bout with COVID-19 that kept him out for nearly two weeks in August and September, he was on pace to play a career high in games. Even after the down time, Hernandez logged 585 plate appearances, qualified for the batting title for the first time and put up nearly five wins above replacement.

He also seemingly found his position. Hernandez locked down the center field role, and he has been brilliant there in October, tracking deep fly balls with aplomb, sprinting in and diving to snag tumbling line drives, and unleashing otherworldly throws that have been clocked as high as 97.5 mph. Of course, as much as his feet and glove have impressed -- as good of an impression as he has done at the position where Beltran defined himself -- Hernandez's bat remains the showpiece thus far.
 

Minneapolis Millers

Wants you to please think of the Twins fans!
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
4,753
Twin Cities
Funny that, after describing the best-in-baseball jumps that Hernandez gets in CF, they show the clip of his diving catch against HOU and Buck's call says he got a late break. The clip doesn't show his jump, but either that's a somewhat ironic example or Buck is a blowhard who just makes stuff up as he goes. (I'm leaning toward the latter.)
 

jmcc5400

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 29, 2000
5,203
Funny that, after describing the best-in-baseball jumps that Hernandez gets in CF, they show the clip of his diving catch against HOU and Buck's call says he got a late break. The clip doesn't show his jump, but either that's a somewhat ironic example or Buck is a blowhard who just makes stuff up as he goes. (I'm leaning toward the latter.)
Pretty sure Kique took a step back on that one.