Boston Red Sox Rumors: 3 star players that could get traded this season
The Boston Red Sox first month or so of the 2022 season has been, well, horrible. Rather than competing for the top spot in the American League East with the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, and Toronto Blue Jays, they are currently battling with the Baltimore Orioles to stay out of last place.
It’s still early, but Boston is running out of time to save their season. And if the results don’t turnaround soon, they could end up shipping off some of their star players midway through the season. Here are three such players who could become trade targets for other teams if Boston continues to lose and decides to become a seller.
Boston Red Sox player who may get traded No. 3: J.D. Martinez
J.D. Martinez decided to opt into the final year of his contract with the Red Sox, and so far he’s been one of the only things keeping their offense afloat. So far this season, Martinez is batting .333 with five homers and 19 runs batted in. Not bad for a guy who will turn 35 later this season.
Martinez is set to be a free agent after the season ends, and Boston simply may not need him after this year. Given how this season has gone so far, there could be a large scale rebuild on-hand starting this upcoming offseason, and bringing back the aging Martinez, who really cannot play in the field, just doesn’t fit that course of action.
If the Sox continue to lose throughout the season, it may be best for them to try to dump Martinez off to a contender for a prospect or two. Martinez has said he wants to finish his career in Boston, but with the way things have been trending recently, that may not be plausible.
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With the designated hitter rule being implemented throughout the league now rather than just the American League, there would most likely be a bit more of a market for Martinez than there would have been before.
Boston has other options to fill in at DH, and could eventually shift Rafael Devers there, so if that’s the plan, there’s no sense holding onto Martinez to play through a losing season. Trading Martinez if Boston is still towards the bottom of the AL East at the end of July would be the best course of action, even if the team doesn’t want to undergo a full scale rebuild.