Boston Red Sox 100 game Report Card: Grading a World Series contender
By Gio Rivera
J.D. Martinez (The almighty lineup savior and free agent gem)
Giancarlo Stanton? An open opportunity we had to forget about this past off-season. Thankfully it forced the front office to pull off one of the franchises best free agency signings.
J.D. Martinez instantly picked up where he left off last season. However at age 30, Martinez is looking better! Hard to believe it, but it’s true. Lifting a lineup that’s lost identity since the retirement of the great David Ortiz. It hasn’t even been a full year in a Boston uniform and Martinez is reportedly very happy here. It’s been reported Martinez is willing to re-structure his deal to remain a Red Sox, with no opt-out options.
We’re just a little over half a season into Martinez’ career in Boston. While in New York Stanton opened his pinstripe tenure with a sea of 50,000 boos, going 0-5 with 5 strikeouts.
Now I’m not some disillusion Boston fan here. I’m well aware of who the better player and am not trying to convince you that Martinez is the alpha ball player. It’s easy to bring Stanton down, playing his first season in the American League. A season where Stanton failed to get voted into the All-Star Game. Despite having struck out 131 times. Which in fact is the fourth most, just behind another Yankee. Aaron Judge with 132. Yankee fans should remain psyched for the future. Anyhow, it’s all about Martinez and Betts right now.
At this very moment, Martinez is the better acquisition. Especially when comparing the costs between the two. $110 opposed to $325 million? Absolute steal! Kind’ve weird considering Martinez has been a power threat for a while, especially as of recent.
In fact…
Between the 2017 and 2018 All-Star has been baseballs best hitter. Just look at the stats if you don’t believe me (and I can’t blame you). I mean how does such a dominant lineup presence slip up in free agency for just $110 million? Insane right? Well so are the statistics!
Between the last two MLB All-Star breaks, Martinez leads baseball in home runs(59), runs batted in(147), slugging percentage(.685), on-base plus slugging(1.069), and total bases(404). Martinez opened his first half in a Red Sox uniform in Fenway friendly fashion. 29 home runs and 80 runs batted in. That’s a solid complete season for any major leaguer. However we’re talking about a potential triple crown contender come the end of the season.
This just adds to how insanely amazing Martinez has been recently. Think about it. There have only been 15 recipients of the Triple Crown award in the history of baseball’s existence. Two of which have been members Red Sox history. However that’s a piece of hardware we haven’t seen a Boston Red Sox player come home with in 51 years. Insane isn’t it? The last celebration came in the 1967 season when Carl “Yaz” Yastrzemski won it. He finished that legendary year hitting .326 with 44 home runs and 121 runs batted in.
It’s unbelievably exciting what’s what’s in store for Martinez’ future in Boston.
Current stats: .323 BA/31 HRs/85 RBIs/.387 OBP/.633 SLG/1.031 OPS.