Hanley Ramirez has been designated for assignment to make room for Dustin Pedroia

I’m legitimately at a loss for words right now. The Red Sox, as we’ve known for a little while now, have been getting set to activate Dustin Pedroia to be ready for the start of this weekend’s series against the Braves. Obviously, they were going to have to make room on the active roster for the veteran second baseman, and there was a lot of speculation about how they were going to do that. The most common guess was that Blake Swihart would be the casualty, either by designating him for assignment for immediately trading him. That is not what’s happening. Instead, it’s going to be Hanley Ramirez. The first baseman was shockingly informed that he’s been designated for assignment Friday morning.

I really don’t even know what to say right now, and we’re going to have much more on this later this afternoon because I have been totally taken off-guard by this decision. It’s not even necessarily a bad one — Ramirez has been struggling mightily at the plate lately and this is an easy way to make sure they won’t be on the hook for another $22 million next year if his option vests at 497 plate appearances. That being said, it’s shocking given his stature in the clubhouse and it’s shocking given the fact that he’s been hitting in the middle of the lineup pretty much every day since the start of the season.

As for what happens to the roster, Mitch Moreland is about to get a whole lot of time at first base. We’ve all been clamoring for that to happen recently, and now there’s nothing standing in his way. Expect the lefty to become an everyday player, and expect this to open up more time at the position for Swihart as well. Obviously, Pedroia is also going to become a big part of the lineup moving forward as well, and defensively the infield is going to be much better.

That’s all I’ve got right now. I’ll see you in a couple hours when I start to wrap my mind around this shocking, out-of-nowhere move.