Last month after trading baseball's number one prospect for Chris Sale and swapping Travis Shaw for bullpen stud Tyler Thornburg, the Boston Red Sox made a far less sexy transaction by signing Mitch Moreland to a one year, $5 million contract. As everyone may know by now, there was a gaping hole in the heart of the Boston offense created after the retirement of David Ortiz. But after landing left handed Moreland and his 2016 Gold Glove Award, Dave Dombrowski now has flexibility on how he intends to patch that hole in 2017.

But after a rather disappointing offensive season for Mitch Moreland (.233/.298/.422), what can we expect from the 31 year old in the Red Sox lineup that scored the most runs in the league in '16, and what are the further implications that this signing has on his teammates?

I am so glad you asked.

Editor's note: Be sure to also check out our 2017 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. It's already loaded up with tons of great rankings articles and draft analysis. Aside from our tiered staff rankings for every position, we also go deep on MLB prospect rankings, impact rookies for 2017, and dynasty/keeper rankings as well. Bookmark the page, and win your drafts.

2017 Fantasy Outlook

The obvious move here for the Sox would be for Moreland to man first base and let Hanley Ramirez attempt to fill the massive shoes left at DH. This instantly helps the Red Sox as Moreland finished his Gold Glove campaign with 7 Defensive Runs Saves (DRS), while Ramirez- despite holding his own for a former SS/3B/LF, sat at -5 DRS. Not only is this good news for the Red Sox pitching staff, but it will also ensure Moreland gets plenty of playing time as the Sox take defense seriously, and look to improve on the fifth ranked FPCT in the league.

Despite having the best defensive season of his seven year MLB career, Moreland unfortunately watched his slash drop from .278/.330/.482 in 2015 to a measly .233/.298/.422. The optimistic will see his 11th lowest BABIP in the league (.266) and see plenty of room for that BA to bounce back, but the pessimistic will see that in 2013 he managed an even lower BABIP (.255) and had almost mirrored stats to those in 2016. So maybe 2015 was an outlier offensively, but 20+ HR power in an explosive lineup can certainly generate fantasy relevance.

According to RotoChamp.com, this is the 2017 projected lineup for the Sox:

I could see this being the lineup on Opening Day, but also believe Moreland sees plenty of time ahead of Pablo Sandoval in the five spot this year also. This would put three players who scored over 100 Runs in 2016 ahead of Moreland, and if the Red Sox DH position still holds even a little of the tradition left behind by Big Papi, Hanley will receive plenty of easy passes on base as well. Last season, Boston produced the fourth most RBI out of the five spot, and the ninth most Runs. Of course that was mostly Hanley Ramirez, but a lot can still be credited to the lineup, which bodes very well for Moreland in 2017.

As I mentioned earlier, the signing of Mitch Moreland gives the Red Sox a little flexibilty as far as a platoon at first base. This is where the downside of Moreland comes into play. Even though he actually experienced a reverse split last season (.277/.320/.479 vs LHP, .221/.293/.407 vs RHP), he still owns a career .378 SLG against southpaws. Unless his defensive prowess is just absolutely out of this world, there really is no reason the Sox would not move Hanley to first and let LHP-mashing Chris Young DH on days when facing left handed pitchers. In 2016, Young hit a ridiculous .329/.410/.589 off the lefties. That is hard to leave on the bench. So with the rather safe assumption that John Farrell leaves his elite outfield untouched despite what hand the pitcher uses, Moreland should be losing out on 250-300 AB.

The last ripple the Mitch Moreland signing has for the Red Sox, pertains to their top five prospect Sam Travis. If you were anything like me, his name was the first thought that entered your mind when David Ortiz announced his retirement. He has received comparisons to Edwin Encarnacion, and has hit nine HR to go along with 19 SB and a .307 BA in the minors and should be ready for the start of the upcoming season after recovering from a torn ACL. The fact that Moreland's deal is only for one year proves the Red Sox already have their first baseman of the future, but also tells me that pending disaster, they are not in any rush to get Travis to the bigs in 2017. If you are in a dynasty league however, now would be the time to stash him.

RotoBaller's Expert Rankings currently have Mitch Moreland as the 31st ranked first baseman, which would land him as a free agent after your draft. But as we saw last season, I believe anyone in this potent lineup is worth a spot on your fantasy roster. Moreland's modest power and countless RBI opportunities will make him a solid back up 1B or value CI if you've spent big on a few stars elsewhere, especially in daily-roster leagues where you can plug him in against non-elite RHP.