Tag: JD Martinez

Red Sox Looking to Temper Red Hot Yankees in the Bronx Tonight

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Starting tonight the Red Sox head into the Bronx to take on the Yankees while currently holding a 1 game lead in the AL East. After taking 2 of 3 from the Yankees in the first series of the year the Yanks have gone on an absolute heater winning 15 of 16…. all while leaning on rookies. So the Yankees lineup that was absolutely stacked with power hitters now has a rookie in Gleyber Torres who is hitting a cool .327/.357/.857 ?? Cool. I look forward to hating you soon enough Mr. Torres.

Thankfully the Sox have been taking care of business on their end as well with Mookie Betts merely becoming the best player in baseball. No big deal. And before you try and shut me down hear me out. Mookie is leading the MLB in Batting Average, Slugging Percentage, OPS, Runs Scored, Home Runs, Total Bases, and Extra Base Hits.

These two teams are FINALLY both great at the same time. We’ve said it ad nauseam but over the past decade these two teams kept missing each other, which is why they haven’t faced off in the playoffs in years. Now both are a legitimate threat to win 100 games this year. The last time I could find two teams in the same division that won 100 games was the 2001 AL West when the Mariners won 116 games and the Athletics won 102 so this division race has the potential to be historic.

JD Martinez has actually been playing great as well hitting .349/.396/1.015 with 8 Home Runs and 27 RBIs on the year. The surprise in my voice in response to how well JD is playing is a sad reflection of how badly the Sox have botched big money free agent signings in recent years. David Price (too soon?), Pablo Sandoval, Rusney Castillo, Carl Crawford etc.  So Just Dingers Martinez actually living up to the hype thus far has been a pleasant surprise on Yawkey Way Jersey Street.

There’s 16 more rounds of this left and after a benches clearing brawl in the 2nd game of the year between them this is the earliest I’ve been jacked up for a Sox Yanks game. The rivalry is back, the two teams legitimately don’t like each other, and most importantly we are each other’s biggest threat and direct competition on the path to a World Series. Hey, ESPN might even finally benefit from having them on national TV every other week.

Tonight we have Drew Pomeranz (1-1) 6.14 ERA vs Luis Severino (5-1) 2.11 ERA so that is mismatch city. The Sox beat the hell out of Severino for 5 runs in 5 innings last time around, but since then he’s sporting a 1.24 ERA with 32 Ks and 5 walks in 29 IP. This will be Pomeranz’s 4th start back from the DL so I’m not super confident, but he does have a 3-2 record and a 3.12 ERA in his career at Yankee Stadium. All things considered I’ve gotta go with Severino tonight as the guy is on a roll and is unlikely to lay an egg against the Sox twice in a row. With that being said if you gamble on individual baseball games you are a sick degenerate and I cannot help you.

Red Sox vs Yankees I: A Beatdown in Boston

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The first of 19 matchups between the Red Sox and the Yankees kicked off last night and it was a coming out party for the Boston offense. The Sox dropped two touchdowns on the Yanks in their first meeting. Thats 14 runs for those that don’t partake in American football. Going into the game it seemed like it would be a pitchers duel between two guys in Chris Sale and Luis Severino who had allowed 3 runs combined and a total of 29 K’s between the two to start the year. Chris Sale continued his excellent start to the year going 6 innings, giving up 1 run and striking out 8 while FINALLY getting his first win of the year. We all know its an arbitrary stat, but I’d love to see Sale get the 20+ wins he deserves, assuming the bullpen and the offense does their job this year.

Meanwhile Severino got curb stomped for 5 runs in 5 innings and that was before the Red Sox *really* broke it open later in the game. How the hell did Severino get hit so hard? Well the ESPN broadcast booth noticed that he might have actually been tipping his pitches, showing replays with his hands being closer to his belt or farther away depending on if he was throwing a fastball or an offspeed pitch. So while I would love to dance on Severino’s grave, I’m sure that’ll be the first thing the Yankees fix and he’ll be spinning zeroes next time he takes the mound.

Giancarlo Stanton continued his historic strikeout pace with another pair of Ks courtesy of Chris Sale. This guy looks lost out there. He looks like he’s trying to crush everything out of the park so he’s swinging out of his shoes. I’m no hitting coach, but even I noticed last night how he looks halfway out of the box before he’s even through his swing like he’s goddamn Ichiro.

I must admit this is immensely gratifying to watch as a Sox fan who was pretty bullshit the Yankees swooped in and stole another megastar home run masher in his prime when the Sox could have [and should have] had him (i.e. A-Rod).

To make it even more satisfying, our statistically similar, for a third of the price, power hitter JD Martinez broke out in a big way with a towering double that if it was hit literally 2 feet to the right would have been a grand slam. Either way it broke the game open as the Sox piled it on, including an actual grand slam later on from Mookie Betts, who was rewarded for his efforts with an awkward interview with his best friend!

Farrell has been decent in the booth, but I have to give him credit for not losing his shit on Steve Levy last night.

After getting crushed all day on the radio, specifically by Tony Mazz who went out of his way to say the guy sucked defensively, the Brock Star was flashing the leather rather impressively last night.

The Sox were firing on all cylinders though with 8 different players crossing the plate, Mookie went 4-for-4, JD had a huge double, Sale was lights out, Hanley was even stealing bases like it was 2006 for christ’s sake.

Red Sox vs Yankees II is tonight and this one might be the pitching duel we had hoped for last night as Masahiro Tanaka comes in with a 1-1 record to go along with a 2.92 ERA and 15 K’s. He’s taking on a seemingly rejuvenated David Price who has yet to allow a run this season to go along with his 10 K’s and he looks to have really built on the momentum from his dominant run as the most expensive relief pitcher in MLB history during the playoffs.

JD Martinez Introduced by Red Sox; Crisis Averted. So, Does Another 9 Figure Contract in the Clubhouse Help or Hurt?

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JD Martinez has officially been introduced by the Red Sox so everyone can safely remove their finger from the panic button.

I fully admit I was starting to get a little nervous about the Red Sox shiny new toy, despite all the Boston sports writers rushing to their keyboards to defend the honor of the Sox and say this was totally normal.

Its definitely not out of the ordinary for any team to work in a clause in a contract to protect both sides. Think of when the Sox signed John Lackey and specifically put a clause in the deal saying if he missed any significant amount of time due to Tommy John Surgery, the Red Sox would automatically get an additional year added onto Lackey’s contract at the league minimum salary.

Now that ended poorly of course as Lackey blew his elbow out, activated the clause, and then bitched and moaned about said clause, and forced his way out of town via trade. So I honestly don’t know if those types of deals are still kosher in the MLB, but working language in that can activate opt outs is nothing new. However, announcing a deal is done and then not introducing the player for 7 full days is far from normal.

Whatever, either way the deal is done. It might not ever come out what the actual language was that caused the delay, but I think its safe to say, barring a very specific injury, JD Martinez is here for the long run.

Martinez does have an opt out clause of his own after the 2nd and 3rd year of the contract, but this is a guy thats already 30 years old and couldn’t find the deal he wanted after a 45 Home Run season. So you’re telling me that guy is going to opt out when he’s 32 or 33 in hopes of that mythical $200 Million deal? Sorry my friend, the days of guys on the wrong side of 30 getting that type of money are over. You can thank A-Rod, Pujols, and Miguel Cabrera for sucking that well dry.

Martinez is a good fit here though and more importantly he’s a veteran guy who’s completely reworked his game to get to where he is now. Seriously. He got cut by the Astros in 2013 and I mean the shit-bum Astros that lost 111 games that year, not the sexy 2017 World Series winning Astros. Then he signs with Detroit, reworks his entire swing and breaks out in 2015 with 38 Home Runs making his first All-Star team. Then in the midst of his career year, the Tigers ship him off to Arizona where he puts on a hitting clinic and finishes the year with 45 dingers.

So while he may not have that playoff/big market experience, he definitely has the adversity thing down pat. (Does that concern me in terms of consistency? 100%) My point is, a rough stretch should be no big deal to this guy. That could be very valuable in a club house that was filled with more dickhead diva types than blue collar types that willed their way to success. There were too many instances of guys like Mookie or Xander hitting a cold streak and instead of working it out, they went into the tank and had massive slumps en route to hugely disappointing years.

Hopefully another 9 figure contract walking into the clubhouse has the balls and really just the gravitas to tell some of these guys whats up rather than letting David Price run the joint all by himself. Think about it, theres not a lot of guys on that team that are 1.) good enough and 2.) paid enough to demand that immediate respect. Thats why this role has seemingly defaulted to David Price once David Ortiz was no longer around. Sure you could say Chris Sale, but I honestly think he’d rather be a lead by example type of guy. Pedroia threw his teammates under the bus last year with the whole Adam Jones scenario. Hanley Ramirez isn’t engaged enough to be a leader. Bogaerts seems to want no part of it and the rest of the team is full of young guys or part-timers. Your best bet is either Mookie taking on the role like he’s said he wants to or JD Martinez coming in and being THE guy. Only time will tell, but I am fired up to see this team on the field together.

David Price Doing His Best to Deter Free Agents from Signing With the Red Sox

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ESPN –  J.D. Martinez had no shortage of information to consider before agreeing Monday evening to sign with the Boston Red Sox. But ace David Price tried to make the slugger’s decision a little bit easier. “I’ve talked to him a couple of times,” Price said recently. “I told him we’d love to have him here.” Price, Martinez’s teammate with the Detroit Tigers in 2014-15, elaborated in an interview with USA Today Sports that was published Tuesday. “I told J.D. he will love the guys here in this clubhouse, but also told him he’ll get booed,” Price told the newspaper. “He’s a quiet, soft-spoken guy, but he’ll handle it. Besides, everyone gets booed. I heard Big Papi get booed many times in Fenway.”

Jesus christ this guy just can’t get out of his own way. Just lie to us. Just lie. Don’t tell me that you told a Free Agent Boston is a great place to play, but then follow that up IMMEDIATELY by saying its a negative shit hole and all the fans will boo you and are mean on Twitter.

“It’s tough here,” is how Price described his first two seasons in a Red Sox uniform, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “There’s just so much more negativity.”

And whats all this about booing David Ortiz? Many times? I mean maybe some fans did in 2009 (the only year from 2004-2013 he didn’t make the All-Star team) when he hit .238? That was also a cool 7 years before Price played for the Red Sox. Did fans boo Big Papi many times in the one season they played together in 2016? Ya know the year Ortiz hit .315 with 48 Home Runs and 127 RBI’s on his retirement tour? The year he had a 1.021 OPS, the 4th best of his entire 20 year career?

I call Kangaroo Court.

But, I digress. If anything, this tells you what JD Martinez thinks of David Price’s opinion. Oh its a miserable, negative shit hole? I’m in.

Meanwhile we have Rick Porcello going the complete opposite direction in his assessment of Boston when asked by Martinez:

“It’s honestly a pleasure playing in Boston,” he explained. “Yeah, there are tough times if you’re not playing well. You’re going to hear about it. But what’s wrong with that? Who doesn’t want to hear about it? Because when you are playing well, it feels like you’ve got the entire world behind you, and that’s all you can ask for as a player. That’s fair.”

Little tidbits like this make me wonder just how divided this Red Sox clubhouse really is. You have guys like Porcello and Chris Sale talking about how they love the pressure and accountability of Boston, which is the antithesis of Price who bitches about everything every chance he gets. I wonder if one of the veterans is going to, if they haven’t already, tell Price to just STFU.

Before the negative attitude infects all of the good young players on this team and they think its natural, encouraged even, to piss and moan to the media every time Dan Shaugnessy writes a mean word about you.

This is what guys like Price say they understand, but they don’t really get it. If you 1.) play hard and 2.) perform well you’ll be scotch. Hell even if you can’t do #2 but you still do #1 then you’re good in my book. Trot Nixon is a goddamn legend in this town. People to this day still lovingly refer to him as a dirt dog. The guy with a .274 career batting average and 137 Home Runs. That guy is revered around here because he played his balls off every day.

I’m not saying you can’t complain or you can’t get mad because that’s only human, but channel that negative energy man. Use it. Get pissed off. Pitch well for an entire season. But don’t cash those $31 Million checks every year while whining about every little perceived slight every single time there’s a mic in your face. And definitely do not tell prospective Free Agent signings that they will get booed by the fans if they sign here. Christ.

I Think the Red Sox Yankees Rivalry May Finally Be Back

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Its been a tough decade for the so called blood feud between the Red Sox and the Yankees. Neither team has really been very good at the same time recently. After the epic postseason clashes of 2003 and 2004 the two sides haven’t played each other in the playoffs even once. Before last year, both teams hadn’t even made the playoffs in the same season since 2009. In 2007 when the Sox won it all, the Yankees got smoked in the divisional round. In 2009 when the Yankees won it all, the Sox got swept in the divisional round. And in 2013 when the Red Sox went the distance again, the Yanks straight up sucked and missed the playoffs winning only 85 games.

The guys much smarter than me over at fivethirtyeight.com actually put together a graph last year, based on each team’s World Series odds, to measure how meaningful games between the Sox and Yankees actually have been over the years.

“From 2007 to 2016, the typical Yanks-Sox contest was only about as important as any old opening-day game. In other words, it was fun but no big deal.”

So we’re on the up ladies and gentlemen. Last year Boston won its second straight AL East crown and the Yankees came within a game of advancing to the World Series on the back of young, homegrown talent. All of that was BEFORE New York added the best power hitter in the game in Giancarlo Stanton. The Yankees, who featured a guy in Aaron Judge who hit 52 home runs AS A ROOKIE, just added a guy who hit 59 home runs. Ridiculous.

Well, thank god the Sox finally responded by signing one Julio Daniel Martinez.

It took a lot longer than most expected, but it sure is nice to take a team that won 93 games and then add this guy: .303 BA/.376 OBP/ .690 SLG with 45 Home Runs and 104 RBIs.

And for all the Yankees fans in my timeline talking shit already (its not even St. Patty’s Day yet) I’m just going to quote my man Jared Carrabis:

“After finishing last in the league in homers last year, the Red Sox added the player who is second in the MLB in slugging percentage (.574) since the start of the 2014 season behind Mike Trout (.579) with a minimum of 300 games played.”

A consolation prize he is not.

My point being though is this could be the first time we see Boston and New York square off in the playoffs in more than a decade. Both teams are stacked, young, and trending upwards. Sure the Patriots have taken the No. 1 spot in town and the Sox have won 3 titles since 2004, but I honestly don’t think thats why the venom between the Red Sox and the Yankees has dissipated. No, its because both teams haven’t been trying to kill each other for that next ring. If the Yankees and their loudmouth fans in the Bronx are standing between Chris Sale and a World Series appearance, you better fucking believe fans are gonna be fired up.

All we need is the opportunity, and thats what we have here tonight.

The Red Sox Finally Sign JD Martinez

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Update: The JD Martinez deal is $110 Million over 5 years with opt outs after the 2nd and 3rd year.

LETS GO! According to Pedro Gomez of ESPN the Red Sox just signed JD Martinez after months of blue balling each other.

The total dollars have yet to be reported, but years wise it seems like a good deal for both sides. The $200+ Million deal Martinez was hoping for never materialized and he chose to wait it out hoping someone would get stupid and swipe their Free Agency credit card. Never happened and you can imagine JD is less than pleased with Scott Boras for setting those expectations.

But a 5 year deal is perfect for the team and if JD continues to hit 40+ home runs every year then he can opt out after 2 years and try his luck again.

Depending on who you listen to the Sox were offering anywhere from $100-$125 Million and as a Red Sox fan I am more than happy with that. I mean its not my money so I could care less how much these guys actually get paid, but as we’ve seen in recent years when the team buries itself with bloated contracts it hamstrings them in potential future deals. An abortion of a $95 Million deal for Pablo Sandoval, a $217 Million contract for media combatant David Price, and of course the $72 Million deal the Sox handed out to Rusney Castillo after seeing his And1 Mixtape. All huge commitments with the most successful of the 3 having been as a middle relief pitcher in the playoffs. That my friends is what they call a less than ideal ROI.

So assuming the JD deal is in that reported $100-$125 Million range, the Red Sox have set themselves up really well for the present without strapping themselves for cash in the future when guys like Mookie Betts come due for big money deals.

Dealer Dave finally got one right and I’m sure everyone in Dunkin Donuts will hear all about it Tuesday morning.

 

Reports: Red Sox Are a “Lock” to Land One of These Three Superstars

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WEEI – So, as the meetings kick off Monday, with Dombrowski offering his first update at approximately 5 p.m., such rumors as the ones involving Giancarlo Stanton shouldn’t be pushed aside. Sure, some are saying the Red Sox are all hot and heavy for the outfielder, while others suggest St. Louis and San Francisco are the favorites. No matter. Pay attention to every minute of it. As we found out with Sale a year ago, the end-game might not be found during the GM meetings, at least there will be a legitimate road to conversation. It is almost a lock-solid certainty that at least one of the top names in this offseason’s rumor mill — J.D. Martinez, Eric Hosmer, Giancarlo Stanton — will be holding a Red Sox press conference in December.

So Rob Bradford just reported that he believes the Red Sox are “a lock” to land one of these three guys: JD Martinez, Eric Hosmer, or Giancarlo Stanton. Now obviously Stanton is hands down the best player of the three, he also is the only one thats not a free agent so he would require a boat load of players and prospects to acquire. Not to mention the nearly $300 Million left on his deal. While I think he’s hedging a bit by including Stanton with the other two guys mentioned, all three are power hitters. Bradfo is pretty in the know so if he’s saying it you can bet the Red Sox have at least privately acknowledged their desperate need of a power bat. Now lets break down each player and see what the fit would be.

JD Martinez – Hit 45 Home Runs while batting .303 so he would definitely fill the power vacuum the Sox have, but he’s also reportedly looking for a $200 Million contract. I don’t know if Dave wants to give out yet another 9 figure contract. Especially for a guy thats only topped 23 HRs one other time before this year over the previous 6 seasons. Plus he’s an outfielder so he’d have to DH and slide Hanley back to first base, who all but refused to play the field last year, or the Sox would have to make room in the OF by dealing someone.

 

Eric Hosmer – There’s something to be said about a player that knows how to win and Hosmer fits that bill. He’s played in two World Series (and won one) over the past 4 seasons. And the WS the Royals lost went 7 games, so Hosmer has some serious experience in the pressure cooker that is October. And thats what the Sox need; a guy that isn’t going to crumble under the pressure of the playoffs, which about half of the current Red Sox roster has done the past 2 postseasons. Not quite the power stroke of Martinez, but he still hits 20-25 HRs a year and he also plays first base, which is where the Red Sox happen to have a vacancy. He’s also a stud defender, having won the Gold Glove four out of the last five years. Plus he dates resident NESN royalty Kacie McDonnell so that shores up my confidence argument.

 

Giancarlo Stanton – I don’t know much about Stanton the person, aside from the fact that before he was Giancarlo he used to go by Mike.

So he’s got that going for him. But I don’t need to remind anyone here that the guy can MASH. He’s up for NL MVP, which will be announced on Thursday night after hitting 59 HRs with 132 RBIs and an OPS of 1.007! The guy had a WAR of 7.6 for christ’s sake. I’m sure he’s a great dude too, but hitting 60 fucking home runs will make up for a lot of shortcomings elsewhere. Manny Ramirez was a complete dickhead most of his time here, but the guy was mashing 40/140 every year so nobody gave a shit. But I just can’t see the Red Sox pulling the trigger on a deal with the amount of players and prospects they’d have to give up before even mentioning the $295 Million left on his contract. Buster Olney said earlier today that even baseball execs are saying the asking price from Jeets is “out of touch with reality.”

The fact of the matter is the Red Sox finished dead fucking last in the American League in Home Runs. Dead. Last. Thats a sentence I never thought I’d type. I grew up watching guys like Mo Vaughn, Nomar, Manny, Ortiz, and all the other power hitters that have come through Fenway. The Sox have always mashed and more or less pissed on the idea of bunting and playing small ball. So to see such an anemic offense (OBP was top 5 though!) was shocking to see. However John Henry, Dave Dombrowski and the crew decide to do it, just bring me the power. Bring the bats and the rest will fall into place.

If I had to guess? I’m saying Eric Hosmer. Positional fit at first base, character guy, tons of playoff experience, provides some power, gold glove defense, and a (comparatively) reasonable contract.