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There’s less than three months remaining until Opening Day, and the Los Angeles Dodgers look decidedly different than they did at the beginning of the offseason.

For starters, the front office was stripped down and replaced with a new regime headed by president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi.

The metrics-minded duo wasted little time revamping the roster, trading away several popular players in an effort to improve the team in less noticeable ways while saving money and replenishing the farm system.

Los Angeles also saw other players walk away, either for a lucrative deal elsewhere in free agency or simply because they were no longer wanted.

It has been one of the busiest winters for the Dodgers in recent years, and there’s still time for more moves to be made before the regular season begins. For now, though, here are the winners and losers from the first three months of the team’s offseason.

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Three-time All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez won’t be staying in L.A. for the long haul, as he’s opted to flee in free agency to the Boston Red Sox.

The team confirmed the deal on Tuesday:

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports outlined the details of the contract:

ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes provides a year-by-year breakdown:

GM Ben Cherington commented on the signing via the Red Sox and Alex Speier of WEEI.com:

Ramirez talked about his return to Boston via Speier:

David Ortiz welcomed Ramirez back to Boston via his Instagram account:

Ramirez commented on his relationship with Ortiz via MLB.com:

According to Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Boston Red Sox and Ramirez had mutual interest and he shared the details of the reported deal. One day later, Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com reported the two sides had finalized the agreement.

Bill Baer of HardballTalk.com initially reported as early as November 2013 that Ramirez and the Dodgers were conducting negotiations, citing ESPNDeportes.com’s Dionisio Soldevila.

However, all the Dodgers could muster was a one-year, $15.3 million qualifying offer before Ramirez hit the free-agent market this offseason. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times highlighted the implications of the gesture:

So at least L.A. receives something in return for Ramirez leaving town, yet it does sting that the club didn’t get more out of the dynamic player when he was around.

In Ramirez’s first full season in L.A. in 2013, he managed to play in only 86 games due to a myriad of health ailments, though he did bat .345 with 20 home runs and 57 RBI. Then this last season, Ramirez was out of the lineup for 34 games with nagging injuries.

Ramirez’s talent has never been in question, but he has endured a bit of a roller-coaster career.

After going through the Red Sox’s farm system as a top-notch minor league prospect, he was traded to the Miami Marlins franchise in the deal for pitching ace Josh Beckett, where he played the majority of his career to date.

Following several stellar years with the Marlins, the most difficult stretch for Ramirez came in 2011, when he appeared in just 92 games and hit only .243 while getting caught stealing 10 times in 30 attempts—the worst rate of his career. An ailing shoulder was to blame, and it required surgery after the year was over.

Miami acquired Jose Reyes that offseason, which forced Ramirez to switch over to third base. It was a change Ramirez didn’t fully embrace. Combine that with no playoff appearances in Miami in his prior five seasons, and the time was ripe for the Marlins to trade him.

Los Angeles acquired Ramirez in a July 2012 trade, but it wasn’t enough to push the club to the playoffs. With Ramirez healthy and playing rather well in the past two postseasons, it’s drawn optimism that he can thrive as he enters the back half of his career.

Given the injury history, this leap of faith by Boston conveys the organization’s faith that Ramirez’s health will be intact enough to ultimately help them deliver a World Series title.

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The Boston Red Sox had a busy day on Monday, working out deals with both Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval, arguably the top two hitters in free agency. The rest of the offseason could be just as busy, especially given that this club is hoping to go from worst to World Series winners all over again.

Ramirez, the former Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop, has an agreement for $88 million over four years with a vesting option for a fifth year (at the same $22 million per), according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com.

The switch-hitting Sandoval, meanwhile, is leaving the San Francisco Giants, with whom he won three titles and established himself as one of the premier postseason players around over the past five seasons. The third baseman is getting a five-year deal in the range of $100 million, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

Two major moves in one day means a number of ramifications—and even more still to come from the Red Sox and general manager Ben Cherington, whose wheeling-and-dealing evoked memories of his fast and furious efforts at the July 31st trade deadline.

Immediately, Boston’s bats are much, much better than they were in 2014, a season in which the team finished 71-91—last in the American League East—and ranked in the bottom five in the AL in runs (634), home runs (123) and on-base plus slugging (.684).

While Sandoval will take over as the starting third baseman, a position that has posed problems for the Red Sox in recent years, it is not yet known what the plans are for Ramirez. He won’t be playing shortstop, a position that belongs to 22-year-old Xander Bogaerts.

“One option is that Ramirez—who turns 31 next month—could move to the outfield,” Ian Browne of MLB.com writes. “Though Ramirez has never played the outfield in the Major Leagues, he certainly seems to have the athleticism that would be necessary to make that transition.”

While that may still be TBD at the moment, one thing is not: The Red Sox, who entered the offseason with some excess hitters, now have all kinds of surplus on the position-player front.

As Buster Olney of ESPN (subscription required) writes:

Elite hitters are scarce, which is why the Red Sox landed Sandoval even after getting a deal done with Ramirez. Assuming i’s are dotted and t’s crossed, the Red Sox will sign the two best hitters in the free-agent market. …

…Possessing good hitters is like holding gold, and the Red Sox have a stack of commodities from which to deal.

This has led to immediate speculation that Cherington has more up his sleeve, because, frankly, he has to.

The additions of Ramirez and Sandoval make Boston better, but they also make the roster even more unbalanced than it was 24 hours ago. The Red Sox have a surplus of outfielders, cornermen and designated hitter types but are severely lacking in proven pitching.

To wit, the only pitcher on the entire 40-man roster with more than 50 starts to his name is Clay Buchholz, the 30-year-old right-hander who brandished an unwieldy 5.34 ERA in 2014 and has been as enigmatic and inconsistent as any starter in baseball in recent years.

The other potential members of the five-man rotation include Joe Kelly (48 career starts), Rubby De La Rosa (28), Allen Webster (18) and Brandon Workman (18), as well as rookies Anthony Ranaudo and Matt Barnes, who haven’t even combined for 50 innings total.

In other words, after trading away 80 percent of his rotation in July, Cherington’s biggest priority at the outset of the offseason—starting pitching—is still his biggest priority. The good news, though, is he has plenty of pieces with which to work to address this need.

There have been no indications yet whether Monday’s deals will impact the Red Sox’s ability to bring in former ace Jon Lester, whom they traded away in July for slugging outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. The club put an offer on the table last week to the left-hander in the neighborhood of $110 million to $120 million over six years, per Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe.

“We need to add to our rotation,” Cherington said, via Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston. “[Lester is] obviously a known commodity, a proven guy in our market. He’s of obvious interest.”

Speaking of Cespedes, he has been mentioned as just one of many trade chips—and perhaps the most likely to go—in the wake of this action.

As Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes:

If you assume Ramirez plays left and [Rusney] Castillo either center or right, then Boston would have the following for outfield depth: Cespedes, [Allen] Craig, Shane Victorino, Jackie Bradley Jr., Daniel Nava, Brock Holt and Mookie Betts. The Red Sox have made it clear Betts is pretty much untouchable.

Also, with Sandoval in the fold, Boston has third baseman Will Middlebrooks to deal. Middlebrooks has not fulfilled his promise, but he still projects to have righty power, which is in demand. Also, the Red Sox could conceivably make first baseman Mike Napoli available and switch Craig to that position. In addition, well-regarded third base prospect Garin Cecchini, who played briefly in the majors last season, is now blocked and potentially available.

Given the demand for offense at a time when baseball is being dominated by pitching more and more, the Red Sox are in a very enviable position at the moment.

Plus, there’s plenty of depth and talent in available pitching. Max Scherzer, James Shields and Lester are out there on the open market, waiting to be plucked.

On the trade side, there are possible candidates like the Philadelphia Phillies‘ Cole Hamels and Oakland Athletics‘ Jeff Samardzija, as well as Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister of the Washington Nationals, Johnny Cueto and Mat Latos of the Cincinnati Reds and Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner and Ian Kennedy of the San Diego Padres.

Landing two or more from the above names (or any others that are available) is now atop Cherington’s to-do list.

By snatching up Ramirez and Sandoval, the Red Sox made two major moves on Monday. The scary thing is, they’re far from finished.

In fact, they only just got started.

Statistics are accurate through the 2014 season and courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted. Contract information courtesy of Spotrac.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11.

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After not making the playoffs for the second year in a row, it is clear the New York Yankees will have to make some moves this winter if they intend to compete in 2015.

It’s the Yankees, so you know that is exactly what their intentions are.

This is a talented free-agent class, headlined by players such as Jon Lester, Max Scherzer, James Shields, Pablo Sandoval, Nelson Cruz and Hanley Ramirez. All of these guys are sure to cash in this offseason when the time comes for them to sign a new contract.

The race to sign these players and others will be a competition among countless teams. With needs at shortstop, third base and in the rotation, the Yankees may just have to get creative when it comes time to decide who it is they are going to bring in.

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The talent-laden Los Angeles Dodgers fell short of their ultimate goal after a strong regular season. Now the front office must make some key decisions about how to move forward. One of the biggest surrounds free-agent shortstop Hanley Ramirez.

He’s played a key role for the Dodgers over the past two-and-a-half seasons. The question has been whether Los Angeles wants to make a significant commitment to him, try to keep him on a short-term deal or move on completely.

While awaiting the decision, the rumor mill is starting to heat up. Specific interested teams have yet to surface, but CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman passed along the latest information about what may lie ahead for the infielder:

Free agent star Hanley Ramirez, one of the best offensive shortstops in baseball over the last nine seasons, is telling interested teams he is willing to play “wherever there’s a need,” a clear signal he’d switch to third base and perhaps even elsewhere on the diamond, which could potentially open up his market to several more teams.

Ramirez’s invitation to play a different position has been taken by interested teams to mean he’d even consider a corner outfield spot or perhaps even first base for desirable teams in winning situations, multiple executives with interest in Ramirez say.

Ramirez’ willingness to move away from shortstop is surprising, but it also could generate more interest from teams looking to add his bat to the lineup.

Since coming over from the Miami Marlins during the 2012 season, he’s continued to make an impact at the plate. He’s hit .299 with a .368 on-base percentage—right in line with his career averages—in 278 games to go along with 43 home runs and 31 stolen bases.

Yet, he’ll turn 31 during the offseason, and there’s cause for concern in a couple different areas.

The most important one is his health. He appeared in 157 games in 2012, which was split between the Marlins and Dodgers. He’s played only 214 of a possible 324 games (66 percent) during his two full seasons in Los Angeles, though.

It’s been rare to see him go any extended stretch of time without having to fight through the pain of a nagging ailment. Those type of issues usually don’t get better as a career goes on.

Then there’s his defense. It’s never been his strong suit, but there were some troubling signs this season to suggest it’s becoming a serious liability. His -10.3 UZR and -9 DRS (via Fangraphs) were his worst numbers in those respective stats since joining the Dodgers.

Again, defense isn’t normally something that gets better with age. Players begin to lose a step and then another. For a player who was never more than an average defender to begin with, it’s something L.A. and other potentially interested teams must take into consideration.

That doesn’t mean he won’t generate a lot of interest if the Dodgers ultimately decide to go in another direction. His offensive upside should still create a solid market. The type of offers those teams would be willing to make might be impacted, however.

For his part, Ramirez has expressed interest in staying put. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com provided comments from him before the season wherein made that stance clear.

“I want to be a Dodger for life,” he said.

A lot can change during the course of a long campaign, but he reaffirmed his feelings as he headed home to Miami for the offseason:

The Dodgers may have other plans. Corey Seager, the team’s 2012 first-round pick, has been making his way through the system and hitting at every stop. He may need another full season in the minors, but his arrival is on the horizon.

That’s why a short-term deal would work best for the organization. They wouldn’t have to rush the rest of Seager‘s development but also don’t have to make a major investment in Ramirez. The other option would be a position change for the veteran.

It’s a situation that will surely generate plenty of attention in the weeks ahead.

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In what is their penultimate game of the 2014 regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers entertained the worst-case scenario for a short time after Hanley Ramirez exited Saturday night’s game against the Colorado Rockies in the fourth inning.

Ramirez looked to have injured his leg after fouling the ball off his left kneecap. While he finished the at-bat, manager Don Mattingly replaced him with Miguel Rojas, per Pedro Moura of the Orange County Register:

Entering the night, the three-time All-Star boasted a slash line of .283/.369/.449 with 13 home runs, 71 runs batted in and 14 stolen bases. According to Baseball-Reference.com, his 3.5 WAR was fourth on the team.

Having come to within two games of the World Series, the Dodgers only have eyes for the franchise’s seventh title.

While Ramirez isn’t the most important offensive team, Los Angeles doesn’t have a wealth of run-producers offensively. It can ill afford to lose the shortstop now.

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The big-money stars just might be coming on at the right time.

For nearly the entire season, the Los Angeles Dodgers could not get health or consistent, steady production from the bulk of their highly priced core, especially the men whose primary job is hitting.

But as the final week of the regular season begins and the postseason starts to yawn and stretch as it wakes, the Dodgers appear to be hitting full sprinting speed despite a 13-inning loss Monday night that kept their magic number to win the National League West at three.

From Aug. 31 through the start of Monday’s game, the Dodgers had one of the most devastating offenses in the majors with a .308/.369/.478 slash line and an .847 OPS. As a team this month, the Dodgers are second in the majors with 120 runs scored (three behind the leading Los Angeles Angels), leading with 27 home runs, second with 341 total bases and second with an .820 OPS.

That is monstrous production, and it’s the stars leading the way:

• Since the All-Star break, Matt Kemp, one of the game’s best all-around players in 2011 and part of 2012 before a shoulder injury sapped him, has hit .304/.363/.580 with a .943 OPS, 15 homers and 49 RBIs. In September, he has hit a major league-leading seven home runs and went into the week with a 1.044 OPS.

“He’s been great,” manager Don Mattingly told Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. “It seems like a lot of our guys have been stepping up. He’s certainly one of those guys.”

• Since Sept. 5 and going into Monday, Hanley Ramirez has been red hot. He hit .451/.509/.588 with a 1.097 OPS, seven doubles and 11 RBIs in 15 games. He was also hitting .511 on balls he put into play.

• Adrian Gonzalez has joined the romp since the break. He went into Monday hitting .326/.378/.561 with a .939 OPS, 11 home runs and 52 RBIs in his previous 59 games.

• Yasiel Puig, the most polarizing player in the sport, had been going through a prolonged slump since Aug. 4. In 31 games from that date, Puig hit .186/.289/.212 without a home run and five RBIs. But from Sept. 13 to the start of Monday’s contest, Puig was 17-for-40 (.425) with a 1.152 OPS and two home runs in nine games.

• Finally, since Aug. 10 and entering the week, Carl Crawford was hitting .411/.449/.579 with a 1.029 OPS, seven doubles, three homers, 20 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 34 games. He also homered Monday.

Dodgers offense exploding at the right time. pic.twitter.com/yJqudqX8P6

— Angel Gonzalez (@angel_G96) September 20, 2014

Those five players have contracts worth a combined $568 million, although the Dodgers haven’t paid all of that money since Gonzalez, Crawford and Ramirez were acquired through trades after those deals had been finalized. Also, the bargain that is Dee Gordon has been back on track lately, hitting .312/.318/.385 in his previous 22 games before Monday.

“Hanley’s swinging better, Yasiel’s swinging better, Dee’s getting his hits, Adrian’s been the same all year,” Mattingly told J.P. Hoornstra of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on Sunday. “Our guys know what’s at stake.” 

Right now, that’s a second consecutive NL West title. After this week: the franchise’s first World Series title in 26 years. That is why this team was built the way it was once the Guggenheim Baseball Management group took over ownership from the despised Frank McCourt in 2012.

This was the blueprint. This was what things were supposed to look like, how they were supposed to work. The Dodgers broke payroll records this year to field a team that trotted out expensive superstars at nearly every position. They spent so there would be no real breaks in the lineup for opposing pitchers, and they spent for pitching so that they could still walk away with victories even when the offense wasn’t running at optimal levels.

On that pitching front, Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu—they make a combined $398 million—have done their jobs. Dan Haren, on the other hand, has been a liability for a good portion of the season, but even the 34-year old veteran has learned to pitch with his declining tools. Over his last nine starts, including Monday, Haren has allowed 14 earned runs in 54 1/3 innings for a 2.32 ERA, making him another guy getting his act together at the right time. His start Monday kicked in a vesting option for 2015 that would pay him $10 million, the same as his salary from this season.

This Dodger club has no excuses. It’s relatively healthy—Ryu’s status for the postseason is still up in the air—and could gain home-field advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs if things fall right.

And for maybe the first time since Guggenheim got its receipt for the team, everything seems to be moving as planned. All that’s left is another month of production, and this could be the team that breaks the championship dry spell for one of the game’s storied franchises.

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News, and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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Health becomes even more important as the MLB season enters the stretch run, and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Hanley Ramirez are finding that out the hard way.     

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times and Ken Gurnick of MLB.com filled fans in on the details regarding Ramirez’s latest ailment:

Although Ramirez would eventually make an appearance in the top of the 6th inning as Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register points out: 

Ramirez would strike out. 

The Dodgers are four games up on the San Francisco Giants in the National League West race and could certainly use Ramirez’s bat in the lineup. He is hitting .278 on the 2014 campaign with 13 home runs, 69 RBI and 14 stolen bases.

He is hitting .340 in September and has bounced back from a rather lackluster July. If Ramirez continues to hit at an impressive clip, it makes an already dangerous Dodgers lineup all the more formidable entering the postseason.  

He has to stay healthy first, though.   

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If Hanley Ramirez knew what was good for him, he wouldn’t be playing shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That’s not to say Ramirez shouldn’t be wearing Dodger blue. He should, however, consider wearing it at a different position.

Namely, third base.

That’s not a new idea. Before Ramirez came off the disabled list August 24, he made headlines by taking grounders at the hot corner. Was a positional switch in the works?

Turns out, no.

“I think he thinks, moving forward in his career, that he’s a third baseman,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told JP Hoornstra of the Los Angeles Daily News.

But, Mattingly insisted, there’s been “no real talk” about making the change this year.

“He likes making everybody raise their eyes and making me answer questions,” the L.A. skipper added.

Since being traded to the Dodgers in 2012, Ramirez has played just eight games at third base, and none in the last two seasons.

In fact, he explicitly told the Dodgers upon arriving that he didn’t want to move around the diamond in-season, Hoornstra notes.

In his days with the then-Florida Marlins, Ramirez was adamant that he was a shortstop. “Hanley doesn’t want to play third base and the Marlins were informed of that,” an unnamed source told Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com in 2011.

Still, the 30-year-old has started nearly 100 games at third in his MLB career.

So far his current club has honored his desire to remain one half of the keystone combo. Entering play Friday, all three of Ramirez’s starts since coming off the DL have been at shortstop.

Yet, why not make the switch now—or at least seriously entertain the notion—for the good of the Dodgers and Ramirez’s own future?

For Los Angeles, the primary consideration is defense. As Hoornstra points out:

Miguel Rojas, who’s been playing the majority of innings in Ramirez’s stead, ranks first among major-league shortstops in UZR per 150 games. Ramirez ranks 37th, above only two other shortstops.

UZR, or Ultimate Zone Rating, isn’t the final word on defensive ability. But most every defensive metric puts Ramirez at or near the bottom of the league, per FanGraphs.

That should at least give the Dodgers pause.

Los Angeles, after all, is pushing toward the postseason. Their primary concern should be to put the best possible team on the field. Period.

Justin Turner, who’s been getting the bulk of the action at third base with Juan Uribe on the disabled list, is hitting .321 in 284 at bats. So it’s not as if the position is caught in a black hole.

But Ramirez is a known commodity. His .270/.359/.443 slash line and 12 home runs aren’t the production L.A. was hoping for, but the Dodgers want his bat in the lineup.

Yet he’s fielding less and less like a quality big league shortstop. Which brings us to Ramirez’s best interests.

While it behooves the Dodgers to slide Hanley over, it behooves Hanley just as much.

An impending free agent, Ramirez would automatically hit the market as one of the more attractive third-base options, possibly eclipsed only by Pablo Sandoval (assuming the San Francisco Giants don’t make a last-minute move to lock up the Kung Fu Panda).

Ramirez could go a long way toward solidifying his value if he gave prospective suitors (including the Dodgers) an extended audition in the heat of the pennant race.

It’s a risk, certainly. If he shows rust at a position he hasn’t played in nearly two years, or if the move disrupts his performance at the plate, his value could take a hit.

It’s a risk worth taking, though. Both for Ramirez’s future and the Dodgers’ present.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez were bored Monday night.

After a weekend of painful plunks to their respective left hands, the two Los Angeles Dodgers found themselves confined to the dugout for their away opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Like kids stuck inside on a rainy day, they fussed about restlessly before deciding to invent their own entertainment: annoying SportsNet LA reporter Alanna Rizzo.

The two men stuck their hands up and made faces during Rizzo’s live-air segment at the top of the sixth. Puig made a finger mustache, and Ramirez mouthed the lyrics to “Soul Man.”

A professional to the end, Rizzo played along with the distraction.

“Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez continue to not leave me alone,” Rizzo said.

Some people found Puig and Ramirez’s gimmick entertaining.

Puig and Hanley are going to do the things Puig and Hanley do, but there comes a time when they need to let the other pros do their jobs.

The good news is that the kids might not be be cooped up for long. J.P. Hoornstra of InsideSoCal.com reports that Puig and Ramirez didn‘t suffer any broken bones after each was hit by a pitch over the weekend.

On Monday, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told Hoornstra and fellow reporters that Puig and Ramirez are sore and their timetable for return remains fluid.

“Hanley’s sore. Yasiel is still a bit sore,” Mattingly said. “Hanley, we’re not going to try to do anything with. Yasiel, as the day goes on, we’ll see if he can do anything.”

Please, Don. If they can play, get them back on the field. Do it for Alanna. When they’re hurt, she hurts.

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