Sox’ stove not so hot
Even with Martinez, offseason subpar
When it comes to offseason roster building, there basically are three recipes.
There’s “Big Splash,” there’s “Let’s Get Rid of Everybody,” and there’s “We’ll Just Do Nothing and Hope Everybody Gets Better Next Season.”
The Yankees (Big Splash) went out and got Giancarlo Stanton.
The Miami Marlins
(Let’s Get
Rid of Everybody) have shed everyone from the aforemen- tioned Stanton to the folks who rake the infield in the fifth inning. Center fielder Christian Yelich would be wise not to buy any green bananas at the South Beach Whole Foods.
And then there’s your Boston Red Sox, who, for now, are going with door No. 3: “We’ll Just Do Nothing and Hope Everybody Gets Better Next Season.”
Yes, the Sox are pursuing free agent J.D. Martinez and might well be setting out the chairs for the big press conference even as you’re reading this. If that’s the case — that is, if the Red Sox’ idea of moving up to door No. 1 (Big Splash) is inking Martinez and re-signing holdover first baseman Mitch Moreland — please mark me down as underwhelmed.
We all can agree Martinez is coming off his best season. He combined for a .303 average, 45 home runs, 104 RBI and a .376 on-base parentage with the Detroit Tigers and Arizona Diamondbacks in 2017. He’s the bat the power-starved Red Sox desperately need.
But where does he play? If it’s true he’d prefer playing the outfield, and that the Sox might need to pony up the extra dough in order to get him to accept a DH role, that’s a red flag. To begin with, it’s never a given that players are comfortable being a designated hitter, and here’s a guy who might already have reservations about the job before he even gets here.
That’s not how it’s supposed to work at these meet-the-new-player press conferences. We expect the guy to be issue-free as he’s holding up his crisp, new Red Sox jersey. (Fun fact: Martinez has worn Nos. 14 and 28 in his career. No. 14 is retired in honor of Jim Rice, and incoming Sox manager Alex Cora was sporting No. 28 at introductory presser, though he’d likely flip it to Martinez if need be.)
The Sox have a spotty track record in recent years in terms of finding players who genuinely want to be in Boston. In that spirit, it’s not unfair to wonder about this DH thing.
Then again, this scenario is bouncing around: The Red Sox could trade Jackie Bradley Jr., move Andrew Benintendi to center field and insert Martinez in left.
Bad idea. Bradley is just about the best defensive center fielder the Red Sox ever have had. Benintendi would be a huge downgrade were he to move to center, and Martinez would be no great shakes in left. In fact, he’s only played 284 games as a left fielder. So good luck with that.
As for the re-signing of Moreland, this needs to be said: He is no Eric Hosmer. Not even close. Not even close to being close. And yet I keep hearing this: “Moreland and Hosmer are essentially the same player, and Moreland is much, much cheaper.”
Moreland is a former Gold Glove winner, but there was nothing special about his defense with the Red Sox last season. Hosmer, on the other hand, is a flashy first baseman who won his fourth Gold Glove this past season, and I guess this is the part where you roll your eyes and point out defense isn’t why you sign a big-ticket first baseman.
Fine. But Hosmer is a complete ballplayer. He hit .318 with 25 home runs, 94 RBI and a .385 on-base percentage last season, numbers that are vastly superior to what Moreland gave the Red Sox: .246, 22, 79, .326.
In fairness, Moreland played hurt last year. But he’s now 32. Hosmer turned 28 in October.
And remember how in the past couple of seasons, the Red Sox kept making boneheaded decisions on the base paths and then kept saying they were merely being “aggressive?”
Allow me to give you an example of aggressive baserunning: In the top of the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series, Royals trailing the Mets 2-1, Hosmer scored the tying run when he broke for home as New York third baseman David Wright was throwing a Salvador Perez grounder to first baseman Lucas Duda.
Hosmer read the play magnificently, including the fact Duda can be a statue at first base.
And did I mention Hosmer had reached base on a run-scoring double off Matt Harvey? Having tied it up, the Royals won the game, and the World Series, on the strength of a five-run 12th.
Yeah, Hosmer would cost a bundle. But the Sox are all-in on winning the World Series, right?
Instead, looks like it’s J.D. Martinez as DH (or left), Mitch Moreland back at first, and a year-older Hanley Ranirez lurking in the shadows if president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski can’t move him.
Merry Christmas!