J.D. Martinez, power for Boston
Even though many started to think that J.D. Martinez was staying forever as part of the free agents, the truth is that there was no chance that the third big hitter of the MLB in 2017 remained without a contract just when the new season is about to start. Finally, the Cuban-American signed with the Boston Red Sox, a team that guarantees power for the middle of the line-up after being the fifth with less home runs in the MLB in 2017 (only 168) and last of the American League, which could have been the reason of the team’s bad results when facing important ones like the New York Yankees or the Houston Astros.
In the end, Boston could make it to the postseason thanks to its roster (Betts, Benintendi, Bradley, Bogaerts, Devers, Pedroia), but they lost the Division Championship against the Houston Astros. Now the Red Sox will face a new season with illusions, but also with some caution. The team’s new manager will be Alex Cora (former bench coach of the Houston Astros) who will face this kind of responsibility for the first time.
He will try to guide them to the triumph. To keep the steady pace, Boston thought that J.D. Martinez, a player that can bat more than 40 homers in the middle of the line-up as designated hitter would be an important asset. The Cuban-American outfielder waited the whole winter to get a contract, probably because of his very high demands, but in February and still with nothing in hand he decided to return to the American League after playing the first part of the last year with the Detroit Tigers.
Exchanged in the trading deadline to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Martinez was the third banger of the MLB (45 homers) and he hit .303/.376/.690, his career-best results so far. These stats are the ones that make Boston’s managers think that he can make the same or a better performance to fight the aggressive movements of the New York Yankees, which now count with the strength of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez as the most feared threesome of the MLB. Martinez knows the League, but he has never lived the pressure of the Red Sox-Yankees classics, so his response in clutch situations is yet to be seen.
The outfielder, who will spend most of the time as designated hitter, signed for the coming five seasons in exchange of a little more over a 100 million, an agreement that was inferior to what he was waiting for. His agent, Scott Boras, had dreamt of a mega deal of two hundred million for eight to ten seasons, but being thirty years’ old he could not aspire to that.
