February of 2018 was an exciting time to be a Red Sox fan. With a mix of amazing young talent and seasoned veterans, Dave Dombrowski made one of his biggest Free Agent signings of his tenure as Boston’s General Manager: J.D. Martinez.
Martinez was arguably one of the best hitters in the MLB at the time. He was (and still continues to be) a student of the game. He views each at bat as a single moment in time. Martinez is known for studying every pitcher he will face, knowing tendencies and understanding the flow of every pitch, each at bat and every inning.
Now its time to part ways with J.D.
Fast forward to this nightmare that is 2020. We have a 60 game ‘season’. Boston shipped off their best player and second best pitcher to the land of Dodger Blue. Their number one pitcher (FINALLY) decided to have Tommy John surgery and is out for this season and probably next. The excitement of the youth movement of 2018 has waned as we watch what we thought would be perennial All-Stars in Devers, Bogaerts and Benintendi struggle mightily. And for everything that I have seen with my eye test, J.D. has all but quit on this season. But, why would one of the absolute best hitters in the game quit on his team?
I’m glad you asked!
Martinez has a clause in his contract to opt out after this season (assuming that baseball players will start to act like grownups and stop getting the ‘rona and we actually are able to complete this season). J.D. has little to no reason to care much about this season. He saw his team streak to a 1-4 record right out of the gate while bottom feeders of the AL East, Baltimore, surged into second place behind the presumed World Series winners, New York.
So, what should be done with J.D?
Trade him. He is one of the few players in the entire Boston organization that has any value to any other team. True, he has subpar defensive skills and is about as much fun to watch catching a can-of-corn fly ball as stubbing your toe on your bed as you shuffle to the bathroom at 2:17 am, but with the new rule for 2020 and 2021 that the National League now has the Designated Hitter, Martinez now has incredible value in the NL. And with the fact that most of the major league roster along with the rest of the players who don two little red sox on their sleeve throughout the organization looking like your little cousins T-ball league, having anything of value at this point is impressive.
If the new ‘Chief Baseball Officer’ for the Boston Red Sox, Chaim Bloom, had any ability to do his job, he would trade Martinez and start to rebuild an organization that was gutted and had its soul sold by Dave Dombrowski to win a World Series in 2018.
Good-bye J.D. It was nice to know you.
Written By: DJ Paker