The
Boston Red Sox agreed to a five-year, $110 million deal with J.D. Martinez on
Monday, giving them the slugger they yearned for all offseason. Martinez hit
.303/.376/.690 with 45 home runs and a 166 OPS+ for the Detroit Tigers and Arizona
Diamondbacks last season. He was traded
to Arizona at the trade deadline—where he smashed 29 homers and slugged .741 in
just 62 games, helping the Diamondbacks reach the postseason.
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| J.D. Martinez is the newest member of the Boston Red Sox. (Christian Peterson/Getty Images) |
In
two years, Martinez will have collected $50 million in this frontloaded
contract and will possess the ability to leave in free agency. He has an
opt-out clause after year three, as well, and can test the open market then if
he so pleases. But whether Martinez stays in Boston for two, three, or five
years, this was a necessary signing by Red Sox president of baseball operations
Dave Dombrowski.
The
Red Sox had to add pop to a lineup that ranked dead last in the American League
in home runs (168) last season.
Expected
to be the team’s designated hitter in 2018, the 30-year-old Martinez is of two
players to hit over .300 with at least 125 home runs and a .550 slugging
percentage since 2014—the other, according to ESPN Stats and Information, being
Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, a two-time AL MVP and six-time All-Star.
Martinez
is the most potent power hitter to be featured in Boston’s lineup since David
Ortiz retired in 2016. He is the guy the Red Sox needed in order to keep pace with the heavy-hitting
New York Yankees—now rostering arguably the two best home run hitters in
baseball with Aaron Judge and the recently-acquired Giancarlo Stanton—the Cleveland
Indians and the World Series champion Houston Astros in the loaded American
League.
