Not too much buzz
No Martinez movement overshadows solid deal
FORT MYERS — For those of you who long for the Red Sox to make a big splash and send a powerful message to the New York Yankees that they mean business in what is expected to be a rough-andtumble fight for American League East supremacy, Dave Dombrowski has listened and acted.
Eduardo Nunez is coming back to town.
When last we saw Nunez, the veteran infielder was buckled over at home plate in Game 1 of last fall’s Division Series. The Red Sox had tried to rush Nunez and his crunched-up right knee back to action, but it proved to be a disastrous decision when one swing of the bat produced a stunning fall to the dirt.
Now Nunez is back. A free agent following last season, Nunez rehabbed his knee over the winter and strode into camp yesterday morning after signing a one-year contract with the Sox.
Happy now, Red Sox fans?
Hello?
Hello?
Sure, bringing back Nunez is a good move. He did, after all, hit .321 in 165 at-bats last summer when Dombrowski obtained him from the San Francisco Giants for some minor-league spare change, and he projects as the everyday second baseman until Dustin Pedroia returns from off-season knee surgery.
The one problem with Eduardo Nunez, however, is that his name is not J.D. Martinez.
The offseason has been abuzz with talk, with speculation, with rumor, with innuendo, that the Red Sox are going to sign the slugging Martinez. Problem is, the offseason has not been abuzz with an announcement the Red Sox are about to call a press conference.
The so-called offseason free agent “logjam” loosened up yesterday — not because Nunez signed a one-year contract with the Red Sox but because first baseman Eric Hosmer has agreed to an eight-year, $144 million deal with the San Diego Padres.
Surely this loosening of the logjam would lift Dombrowski’s spirits, and thus inspire him to lift up the phone and speak with Martinez’ agents.
Let’s start with the Nunez signing. Now that that’s out of the way, is Dombrowski ready to speak with higher-priced free agents?
“I really wouldn’t want to get into it,” was the standard-issue Dombrowski response.
OK, what about the Hosmer signing?
What about the, you know, logjam?
“Well, we haven’t had many free agent conversations over the last time period so I can’t really say there’s any difference, other than Eduardo’s case,” he said.
“But it’s apparent it’s starting to break with Hosmer signing,” he said, referring to the free agent logjam. “And (Yu) Darvish (with the Cubs) last week. There’s still some big name guys out there, but there are some of those other guys starting to sign. So overall it looks likes it’s starting to happen.”
Dombrowski’s reaction to the Hosmer signing?
“I was sitting upstairs in my office early this morning and I saw it and I just continued forward the rest of the day,” he said.
But surely there was a rush of excitement in baseball ops, no? Meetings? Emails? Phone calls? Texts?
“I usually don’t disclose what texts I send out or don’t send out,” said Dombrowski. “But I think my next step was I think I’m going to finish my cup of coffee and go for a jog.”
And so while Dombrowski was finishing his coffee, J.D. Martinez was out there in the baseball wilderness, a man without a job.
It’s important to remember, again, for the 20th time, that it was Dombrowski who several months ago conceded the Red Sox needed to punch up their offense.
This was Dombrowski in October, after the Sox had been chloroformed by the Astros in the Division Series: “You know, it’s easy to say, ‘We need to score more runs.’ I didn’t supply the players that would give us enough runs. I think we do need that. That’s part of our offseason goal.”
In fairness, Dombrowski was correct the other day when he pointed out that back in October he had said the Red Sox could look internally for offense. In his October address he brought up Hanley Ramirez, saying, “Hanley’s one of the guys that we look for to have a bigger year for us from an offensive perspective. But really, some of that is going to come from an internal perspective, and then you can look to add somebody from outside to help you somewhere.”
So, no, Dombrowski never announced the Red Sox would hand a blank check to the first slugging free agent who knocks on the door of Red Sox Headquarters at 4 Please Change the Name Way. But he did speak of “somebody from outside to help you somewhere,” and by that I assume he wasn’t referring to re-signing free agents Mitch Moreland and Eduardo Nunez.
Then again, it doesn’t really make much difference what Dombrowski said in October, for the simple reason that everything changed the moment the Yankees swept in and acquired Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins.
If the Sox don’t sign Martinez, their answer to Stanton moving to the Bronx will be hoping Hanley Ramirez returns to being the hitter he was two years ago.
Take that, Yankees.