Red Sox 'cautiously optimistic' about Hanley playing 1st base

The Boston Red Sox didn't get to see the "Hanley Ramirez at first base" experiment come to fruition this season after he was sidelined with right shoulder inflammation at the end of August, but the team still feels he has potential to defend the position next year.

"I guess I'm cautiously optimistic," Red Sox infield coordinator Brian Butterfield said. "He's played infield; that’s a bonus. I don't think he's going to have any problems catching the ball. He has always caught the ball well on the ground.

"There's a lot in front of him. We don’t know. We don’t know for sure. But we're hopeful. He got enough work to see some positive things. Hopefully with a little bit more of a workload in spring training, we'll see a lot more."

Ramirez spent the majority of his career at shortstop before signing a a five-year deal with the Red Sox last offseason. Boston's plan to move him to the outfield didn't turn out as hoped but with another $90 million owed to him in the next four years, the team hopes a move to first base will last.

"One thing we feel good about is he played shortstop. He looked different catching ground balls at first than he did in left field," Butterfield said. "He looked more natural, he looked more comfortable. We were limited just because he wasn’t physically 100 percent. We had to limit our reps because of the physical stuff. It's still a wait-and-see."

The 31-year-old batted .249/.291/.426 this season with 19 home runs - 10 of which came in the first month of season.