Tag: jd martinez

Per Jon Heyman, The #RedSox Are “Closing In” On a Deal for JD Martinez.

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FINALLY, something concrete! It’s just not speculation, folks, we have some legit news from the Boras Corp. spokesman himself, Mr. Jon Heyman. Both sides appear to be moving towards a deal, according to Heyman. Nothing has been finalized YET, but it looks like an agreement will be coming into fruition soon. The stare down between Dave Dombrowksi and Scott Boras lasted the entire offseason, and now it seems it is coming to a close. Just the other night, Eric Hosmer, a Boras client, inked an eight-year deal with the San Diego Padres worth approximately $144 million dollars. I pray this potential deal for JD Martinez does not look like that, hopefully we’re talking about a five-year/$100-$125 million dollar contract. I will have more on this if the signing happens tonight.

JD Martinez is Reportedly ‘Fed Up’ with the #RedSox.

Per Ken Rosenthal, free agent outfielder JD Martinez ‘has become “fed up” with the lack of flexibility on Boston’s part and may prefer playing elsewhere.’ This all came out last night, and it is not a good look on Martinez’s part. Whatever sense of entitlement he’s earned in his playing career, the 30 year-old is using all of it this offseason. Since free agency started, there were rumors that Martinez was looking for a seven-year offer worth around $200 million dollars in total. Last time I checked, the only offer Martinez has available to him right now is a five-year, $125 million dollar offer from the Red Sox.

Right before the World Series ended in November, Martinez left his old agency, RMG Baseball, for super-agent Scott Boras. If you were to look at the top free agents in baseball who have yet to sign with a club, you will notice that a majority of them are indeed Boras clients. The man is known for getting the largest and longest contracts for his clients and he is really putting that to the test this winter.

From the perspective of Dave Dombrowski and the Red Sox, I do not take this as bad news. If there are no favorable offers on the table for Martinez now, why would that change as Spring Training begins? I’m not an insider, but I can’t imagine a team who plans on contending in 2018 would sign Martinez to a huge deal in March if they could have done so in January or February. Realistically, the Red Sox have been the most persistent team pursuing Martinez. There have been rumors about the Giants or Blue Jays trying to lure him, but those rumors carry less weight than the Red Sox ones do.

Evaluating the market for Martinez is not even that much of a challenge. There are not many teams out there willing to sign a 30 year-old outfielder with one of the worst gloves in baseball to a deal worth more than $200 million dollars. The fact that there’s still an offer on the table worth more than $120 million dollars is crazy. Why does it matter if there’s an extra two years on it or not? Just take it and show you are worth that deal.

Martinez may be fed up with the Red Sox, but Red Sox fans are beginning to get fed up with him.

JD Martinez Reportedly Has a Five-Year, $125 Million Dollar Offer on the Table from the #RedSox.

As Winter Weekend kicks off tonight, Michael Silverman broke this little bit of news at around 3:00 earlier today:

The Josh Hamilton reminder wasn’t necessary, but it is relevant news nonetheless. When Buster Olney tweeted on Wednesday that Martinez had a 5 year/$100 million dollar offer on the table from the Red Sox, there was much speculation about that not being enough. Well, two days later, this is where things stand. $125 million over five years would put Martinez’s AAV right at $25 million per season. I’m sure any contract Martinez signs will be backloaded, meaning he will make more in the last two to three seasons then he would in the first two or three.

Truthfully, I think this type of deal would be overpaying for Martinez’s services, but I don’t have a problem with it. Time and time again the Red Sox overpay for players. They reached for Pablo Sandoval after the 2014 season and gave David Price the richest contract in Red Sox history after the 2015 season to become their bona fide ace, which hasn’t happened and probably won’t happen.

There is plenty of risk in this deal, especially when you take into consideration how much time Martinez has had to miss because of injuries throughout his seven-year career. Despite that risk, the Red Sox have the chance to sign the best power hitter and maybe the best hitter in general left on the market. There doesn’t appear to be any other teams prepared to make him an offer so the time is now. This waiting game is getting kind of ridiculous, and I would hate to go into spring training with Martinez still unsigned. Like I have been saying though, we’ll just have to wait and see. See you at WInter Weekend tomorrow.

The #RedSox Have Offered JD Martinez a Contract. I Think He’ll Turn It Down.

Buster Olney tweeted this earlier, so I thought I would share my reaction. First off, I think this can be taken as good news for Red Sox fans. Imagine the reaction if the report was they had offered him five years, $150 million? Instead, I find an Average Annual Value of only $20 million dollars a year to be reasonable. Reasonable for the Red Sox I mean, not for Martinez. There are plenty of bad contracts for outfielders out there that Scott Boras can use as leverage. If Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Heyward are making more than $20 million a year, then Martinez, a much better player, is worth more than that. You could make the case that the Cubs value Heyward’s defense more than his offense, and that is why he is making as much as he is, but I think I would take Martinez over him if I were starting a team from scratch.

Like the title reads, I don’t think Martinez will accept this offer. Not only is the offer just five years in length, it only has an AAV of $20 million dollars. To get Martinez, Dave Dombrowski will more than likely need to up that offer. At that point, it might not even be worth signing him. Investing more than five years and more than $100+ million dollars in an age-30 player has not worked for other teams in the past. Dombrowski has already stated he feels comfortable with the team in place now, saying, “So yeah, we would be content. Would we rather (sign Martinez)? Yes. But again, we have to be flexible in our thought processes because you never know what is going to take place.”

What does this mean you ask? Well, I think it means that Dombrowski is not willing to break the bank on one guy who is far from a guarantee. Putting money aside for next year’s loaded free-agency class is a good fallback option to have. I would not mind not getting Martinez if it made Bryce Harper would be patrolling the outfield at Fenway in 2019. That’s just me though, only time will tell what will happen. Martinez or no Martinez, the Red Sox still have work to do. See you at Winter Weekend.

If this JD Martinez Report Is True, the #RedSox May Need to Look Elsewhere for a Power Bat.

(Source) Top free-agent slugger J.D. Martinez and the Boston Red Sox have been engaged in a staredown/stalemate for weeks. And judging by Martinez’s commitment to the cause, it may go on quite awhile longer.

Miami acquaintances of Martinez say he is willing to “hold out,” certainly into spring training, for what he believes should be his market value. The Red Sox have offered Martinez a five-year deal, and sources suggest at least one other has, too.

The Diamondbacks still have Martinez atop their list as well, and while a D-backs person suggested he didn’t believe an official five-year offer was extended, it’s hard to imagine them still being in it for less, and they are in it.

In any case, word coming out of Miami is that Martinez, 30, believes it appropriate that he get a six-year deal. It isn’t known what kind of total dollars the Red Sox, Diamondbacks and maybe others are offering (the Jays also have been showing interest and met with Martinez at the Winter Meetings), but sources suggest that Martinez is seeking $30 million-plus annually — $200 million if he can get it but at least $180 million, following his boffo season, first in Detroit and then Arizona.

The interested teams are believed offering somewhere in the $120 million to $150 million range (yes, that’s a big range, but the offers to this point are unknown). So it’s believed he’s in the neighborhood of around $50 million short of the asking price at present. That sounds like a lot.

But Martinez’s willingness to wait is bolstered by the reality that there are multiple teams involved (Arizona’s involvement may have been underplayed to this point) at somewhat similar levels, and also the fact that there is no one comparable – at least when it comes to 2017 performance. Jay Bruce and Carlos Gonzalez have been productive offensive performers, but Martinez’s 2017 season was extraordinary while Bruce’s was just very good and CarGo’s uncharacteristically unproductive (at least until the final several weeks).

While Boston has been seen as the favorite, word is Martinez prefers to play the outfield rather than DH, which is one edge the D-backs may have, and they’ve hired his personal hitting coach, Robert Van Scoyoc, as the team’s hitting strategist.

Martinez’s asking price is based on his monster season, in which he became the first player to hit 45 home runs in fewer than 120 games (he played 119) and posted a slugging percentage at .690 overall — .741 in Arizona — that would have been the highest in a season since Barry Bonds had Martinez had a few more plate appearances to qualify.

Some have seen Justin Upton as a comp, and he received a very nice $132.75 million, six-year deal with the Tigers two winters ago. His agent, Scott Boras, met at one point with D-backs owner Ken Kendrick, but as far as Boston goes, so far GM Dave Dombrowski has been handling things, and Dombrowski appears to be drawing the line at five years.

So, this is where things stand right now. JD Martinez has offers on the table, but none of them appear to have the length he and his agent looking for. I wrote a little bit about this yesterday, about how teams are moving away from committing long-term deals to players demanding a lot of money. JD Martinez is a prime example of this. Despite all the talent and numbers he has put up, no one wants to sign him to deal that exceeds five years in length. With that in mind, Martinez is reportedly willing to hold out until March to sign a deal.

What does that mean for the Red Sox? Well, I think it means one of two things. The first being that it is now time to move away from JD Martinez and start looking at other options. Or, it could mean that if Dave Dombrowski and the Red Sox are desperate enough for a power bat, it’s time to offer Martinez a contract six-plus years in length. I doubt this would happen though. Offering one player up to $180 million dollars is a risky investment, and it would be hard to move that contract if something happened down the line.

If Dave Dombrowski does decide to stop pursuing a deal with Martinez, his other options are not as formidable. There are plenty of guys who hit for power regularly, like Jose Bautista nad Curtis Granderson, but I can’t see them taking on an everyday role with any club. Personally, I like Carlos Gonzalez. This has nothing to with numbers, because I know they have been declining, but I have always respected Gonzalez as a player. Todd Frazier is another player who comes to mind who will more than likely play in 2018 on a one-year deal. In all honesty, none of this could be needed if Hanley Ramirez performs the way he did in 2016. Guys like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts also have room to improve their power numbers. A fresh start with a new manager could energize this team enough to where they look like they can compete with the New York Yankees.

JD Martinez or not, I still believe this team can put up 90+ wins. It would be nice to have him in the lineup but if he’s playing hard to get, move on.