Newly signed Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez figures to spend most of his time at designated hitter, though the team is planning how to set up its outfield when he does factor in as a defender. “At home he’ll play left field and if somehow he plays somewhere on the road here, he’ll play right field,” manager Alex Cora told Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald and other reporters Saturday. Cora went on to reveal that right fielder Mookie Betts could move to center during road games in which Martinez plays the field. Of course, it’s unclear how often this will come up for Boston, which already has an excellent outfield trio of Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. (center) and Andrew Benintendi (left). Unlike those three, Martinez has struggled of late in the field, where he has posted minus-27 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-24.9 Ultimate Zone Rating since 2016.
More from the East Coast…
- Mets shortstop Amed Rosario exited their game Saturday with left knee irritation, but it seems he dodged a serious injury, Tim Healey of Newsday relays. Both manager Mickey Callaway and Rosario indicated afterward that pulling the 22-year-old was merely a precautionary measure. Relatively minor injuries have been the story early this spring for the Mets, who have seen a few key players (including Rosario, Jacob deGrom, Yoenis Cespedes and Juan Lagares) deal with various issues. The team as a whole trudged through a disastrous, injury-plagued campaign in 2017, during which the highly touted Rosario debuted with a .248/.271/.394 showing across 170 plate appearances.
- Like his new team, Mets first baseman Adrian Gonzalez went through a season to forget in 2017. Back problems limited the then-Dodger to 252 PAs and a .242/.287/.355 batting line. Despite his recent struggles and his age (he’ll be 36 in May), Gonzalez said he drew interest from other teams and had “secure options” before signing a low-cost deal with the Mets in January, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Gonzalez is the Mets’ top first base choice for now, but if he gets off to a slow start, that might not last for long, Sherman notes. In the event Gonzalez doesn’t rebound, the Mets could shift outfielder Jay Bruce to first once Michael Conforto comes back from shoulder surgery. Bruce hasn’t worked at first this spring, though, and he doesn’t believe he’d be be adept at the position without getting more practice there. “I believe I can be a quality first baseman,” Bruce said. “Do I think I am right now? Absolutely not.”
- Last season didn’t unfold as hoped for Phillies outfield prospect Mickey Moniak, who struggled to a .236/.284/.341 line in 509 Single-A plate appearances a year after going No. 1 in the draft. Moniak has plummeted in prospect rankings as a result (MLB.com dropped him from 19th to 88th, for example), though the 19-year-old isn’t sweating it. Rather, Moniak told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday, “I’m actually grateful for last season, because it’s the first time in my life that I had to bear down after struggling for a while.” As for his prospect luster somewhat wearing off, Moniak declared: “I’m kind of happy about that. Leading up to the draft, people didn’t buy into what I was as a baseball player, and right now, people aren’t fully sold on me, so I’m definitely using that as fuel. I’m excited for this year.” The Phillies are exercising patience with Moniak, writes the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Matt Breen, who points out that he was among the youngest players in his league last season.
Cant JD be trained at 1B and platoon there with Moreland and Hanley? Why put him out in the outfield when you have 3 Gold Glove caliber guys with speed. I mean, JBJ does go into long funks, but he saves his pitchers and I bet he hives them a ton of piece of mind
From what I understand they will be using him to give the regular trio some days off. Also, Benintendi is significantly better against RHP.
It’s called rest days for the 3 outfield starters, dumb@ss.
I apologize master baseball mind. Didn’t realize the got rid of Brock Holt or any other perso with a glove. Good thing you were here today to clarify.
The Red Sox open in TB and then play 2 in FLA. They also play the Nats, Braves and Phillies on the road. 10 games vs the NL on the road. It may be nice to have a place to play your clean up hitter in those 10 games.
Right, that is why I suggested 1B as opposed to OF
Martinez playing left AND right, and otherwise serving as an expensive (albeit good) DH. That doesn’t sound like a great option for the Red Sox.
Seems like Boston might have been pressured into the signing by MLB. They have a better rotation without him.
Overpaying for guys based on offense while completely ignoring defensive fit… that’s been Dombrowski’s MO for 2 decades.
They play in the AL. If he’s bad out there he can just DH.
Teams pay for Offense. Take a look at Billy Hamilton. One of the best OF defenders in the league with a rare speed skill set on the bases only a handful of players have. Reds can’t trade him for a bag of Doritos. Why? He can’t it.
The Giants tried to pick him up in the offseason but the Reds wanted Heliot Ramos and only Heliot Ramos. I don’t think they tried very had to get rid of him.
The old saying still applies….”You can’t steal first base.”
Injuries will occur. Off days will be need. Players might not perform. It’s gonna work out. Promise.
I agree doesn’t Hanley get injured a lot? The idea of hike playing some 1B seems to make sense.
The worse that happens is the Red Sox trade from their OF surplus for something of need. Perhaps a stud relief pitcher (can’t have too many of those).
There’s no way they trade any of those guys for a reliever. That would be silly.
Bradley for a reliever makes a lot of sense. Betts or benintendi could move over no problem and whoever they bring in won’t be that much worse than Bradley at the plate
Boston was offered offered Puig for JBJ earlier in the offseason for what it’s worth, and “the offer was quickly declined, so there were never any substantive conversations to advance a possible exchange.”
Odd that they’ll use him in left and only at home. The wall has ate up better outfielders than him. Much less ground to cover compared to RF I guess is their thinking. Straight platoon option too if Benintendi struggling against the lefties. I suspect he’ll DH 90% of the time.
I hope J.D. Martinez becomes the Big Papi Bat, Boston’s been searching for, since Big Papi retired. Lol
Rivalry on
It was Tito who discovered Ortiz after they got him from the twins where he was dying. Pairing him with Manny was. Fearsome duo. No one can replace Papi but they are improved with JD in the line up.
Ortiz had a breakout year in Boston before they hired Tito, fwiw.
It was not Terry… it was Manny juice & Grady!
This guy pasha2k doesn’t seem to know his own team let alone enough to troll Yankees articles like he does. The time Ortiz started to play well of if course steroids and you’re right his association with Manny…
Ortiz was tested a minimum of three times every season and twice every offseason. So until you have some proof that he used, well, it’s speculation without a trace of evidence. The leaked survey doesn’t count, because there was no policy in place then.
I’d like to see the proof that he was tested that often. Also wasn’t random testing so if it’s scheduled test he could have planned for it or masked it with something. There were PEDs that were not tested for. The policy that was not in place at time of leaked survey was testing policy. Steroids were already illegal. If you think Boston is what gave Pappi the power in his bat you are clueless.
You beat me to the how often he was tested part of the post because testing is confidential.
I’d like you to provide the proof for the “Ortiz was tested a minimum of three times every season and twice every offseason”. Please don’t use the old..Ortiz said…
The CBA calls for a minimum of three tests during the season, five tests for a player that has tested positive before, and the testing is random. Even if it was scheduled, steroids take a long time to leave your body, and that’s not how steroids work anyway – you don’t just pop a pill and hit a homer; it just allows you to maximize your workouts. That’s why pro wrestlers and bodybuilders use them.
Well, Boston is a great park for left handed power, it was a huge home-run era and as we see right now lots of players can and do alter their swings to hit more home runs. That isn’t a new thing; teams just have more data now about the best way to incorporate it. The idea that steroids help players hit home runs is an overstatement anyway. Look at the names in the Mitchell report. – it’s almost entirely scrubs. Neifi freaking Perez used steroids. This absurd idea that you could just take any scrub, pump him full of chemicals, and -boom – instantly great – is complete bunk.
Its ironic that the Yankee fans get on Papi’s case about potentially being a steroid user when two of their best starting pitchers (Clemens and Pettitte) and two of their premier hitters of the mid 2000s (A-Roid and Giambi, amongst others) were admitted steroid users.
Its called Ortiz building the Ortiz legacy without question!
Ortiz was in Boston before Tito ever got there!
They were using stuff that wasn’t being tested for at the time or masking agents that wasn’t tested for then !
Oh. Ok, so there’s proof? Why weren’t all the players who got caught use the same masking agent?
Tito made a fixture in the lineup before he was just a platoon.
Excuse me was I thinking bout Arod, Clemens, Petite, Gianni, Sheffield. And a host of others I don’t feel like writing.
Bravo
Actually the steroids are used to maximize muscle recovery time.
Bonds never tested positive and neither has Papi…..you got to have positive tests and not speculation before ruining somebody’s legacy….Yankee fans have zero room to talk they had A-Roid and Clemens (after he “miraculously” became dominant again in the late 90s after Boston said he was washed up)….A-Roid has tested positive and Clemens wife was injecting herself, so it’s not ludicrous to think he used as well.
Right field at fenway park is much harder than left field. I know Mookie makes it look easy but it’s not.
“….and if somehow he plays somewhere on the road here, he’ll play right field,”. Wow the new manager seems enthusiastic about the possibilities.
“LOL HAHA” I like JD’s bat but still … haha
Boston cant DH him when playing interleague games on the road. They will need his bat.
Don’t forget JDM needs some days off during the season too. 10 NL games sounds like a reasonable fit.
Amen! The only thing about those is that they are back to back games. You want to find 10 games but spread them out. Now, if he end up playing 10 games in OF and 30 at 1B then he DHs the rest of time. That should be good.
I’m probably a bit too high on JBJ, but I don’t think it would be very smart to trade him for a reliever straight up (unless it’s a really good reliever).
A reliever and a prospect? Maybe
Even though there is nothing about the Braves in this post it does say east so I am posting this here.
How is Renfroe not a Brave yet with their pitching staff it makes to much sense for a Newcomb or Folty centered deal to happen. AA needs to make it happen.
There is no need to make anything happen. He needs a longer look on Newcomb/Folty and I’m sure SD wants to be patient on someone with the upside of Renfroe – I don’t see either side really willing to push for a trade to happen right now.
You guys have watched Renfroe play, right? I am a Padres fan, the guy has some power but has zero plate discipline and the defense is just bad. Yes, he has a strong throwing arm,, which he often likes to show off for no reason, resulting in tons of throwing errors I doubt he has much trade value. He isn’t really that good and he’s not even really that young anymore – he just turned 26.
JDM will start whenever possible. FACT!
They will be creative in where they play him. FACT!
If he bombs defensively, at any position, they will limit his use there. FACT!