February 26, 2018

With His Deal Now Official, JD Martinez Pretty Much Calls David Price A Liar

J.D. Martinez is now an official member of the Boston Red Sox. And one of his first acts was to apparently (and freely) expose David Price as a liar.

About a week ago, on February 20, USA Today's Bob Nightengale posted a story in which Price revealed that in one of his winter conversations with Martinez, he told JD about the fickle fans at Fenway Park:
Oh, yeah, he'll get booed. I told J.D. he will love the guys here in this clubhouse but also told him he'll get booed. He's a quiet, soft-spoken guy, but he'll handle it. Besides, everyone gets booed.
Today, however, Martinez (appearing on WEEI's "Kirk & Callahan") said Price never told him anything about the fans possibly jeering him:
He never said that to me, honestly. But you always hear that. That's the thing around the league. Everybody knows that. But I get it. If I'm doing well, I'm going to get cheered. If I'm doing bad, I'm probably booing myself. ... I understand it. I'm excited to just be able to play in front of fans who feel the same way.
Martinez - who will wear #28 - also said that Boston was
never pitched to me as a tough market to play in. It was always pitched as a fun market, like, 'Can you imagine playing in front of these fans every single day?' ... From an outsider looking in, I've always dreamed of playing on a team with so much history.
Last season, Martinez sprained the Lisfranc ligament in his right foot and missed the first six weeks of the season. The Red Sox will receive some financial relief in the last two years of the contract if Martinez spends at least 60 days on the disabled list in either of those seasons or 120 days cumulative because of a reoccurence of the foot injury. Also, Martinez now has three opt-out opportunities in the 5/110 deal, after the second, third, and fourth seasons.

Fangraphs projects the Red Sox, with the addition of Martinez, to tie the Yankees for the second-most runs scored in the major leagues this year (5.22), behind the Astros (5.33). Boston was 10th among MLB teams in runs scored last year.

Hammerin' Hanley Ramirez is ready to go: "Now we're going to step on everybody's neck."... Winning the World Series? "That's our fucking goal. ... To beat everybody. We're trying to go 162-0." ... Note: The Red Sox are 5-0 this spring.

The Deal (according to Cot's):
2018:  $23.75M
2019:  $23.75M (or $2.5M buyout)
2020:  $23.75M (no buyout)
2021:  $19.35M (?)
2022:  $19.35M

1 comment:

allan said...

MLB Trade Rumors posted info from Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston:

Drellich provides even more detail on an increasingly intricate-sounding medical clause (Twitter link). The Red Sox would also receive protection in year four of the deal if Martinez spends 60 days on the DL with an injury related to his prior Lisfranc issue in year three of the deal (2020) or if he spends a total of 120 days on the DL with an injury pertaining to the prior Lisfranc issue between years two and three of the deal (including a minimum of 10 days in year three).

Drellich adds that the protection would kick in if Martinez spends 60 consecutive days or 120 cumulative days on the disabled list in the fourth or fifth year of the deal. The DL stint would have to be due to a specific ligament/joint in order to qualify — the same ligament that impacted Martinez when he missed the opening of the 2017 season with an injury related to his prior Lisfranc issue.

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