Martinez focused on the present
‘Would not want to be a free agent’ after 2020 season
On pace to finish his worst individual season since 2013, when he was released by the Houston Astros, J.D. Martinez doesn’t want to talk about it.
“Listen, we’re going to talk,” Martinez said in a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday afternoon. “First, I’m going to say my statement before you guys come at me. OK? I don’t want to talk about the past or the history. I want to talk about the present and moving forward. All right? We’re good? You guys don’t like that one very much, huh?
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
“That was it. That’s my statement. ‘J.D., you’ve been terrible?’ We’re not going that route. Today is a new day. Starting today, I’m 0-for-0, and the season starts tonight. All right.”
Martinez had no interest in discussing his first 33 games of the season, in which he hit .218 with a .692 OPS, 12 doubles and three homers in 124 at-bats.
The slumping designated hitter has been a big reason why the Red Sox haven’t gotten going this season, though with their pitching staff it stands to reason that even a monster year from Martinez wouldn’t have made much of a dent in the team’s 12-25 record.
“Even when I’ve been good and you guys have told me how great I’ve been, how good I’ve been, I’ve always told you guys the same thing,” Martinez said. “That was in the past, I’ve got to worry about today, I’ve got to worry about what’s in front of me today.”
Martinez’s poor season makes it almost a lock that he won’t opt out at the end of the year. He’s due to make $19.35 million in 2021 and 2022, and can opt out after 2020 and 2021.
“At this point in my life and this point in my time and what I’m thinking about is not even about the opt-out or even anything like that,” he said. “I’m really focusing on right now.”
He wasn’t shy about his feelings on free agency after the pandemic limited the season to just 60 games without any tickets being sold.
“I would not want to be a free agent during this time for that reason,” he said. “You just don’t know. You really, there’s no, everything is up in the air for guys like that. It’s just weird.”
Several MLB owners went public during the shutdown about how much money they were losing in 2020, adding to the speculation that free agents would struggle this winter.
“I mean, you can’t really read into that either I think,” Martinez said. “I feel like the owners have been saying that for as far as I’ve been playing baseball. They never have money and they’re always scuffling for money. I feel like you can’t read that far into that.”
It seems unlikely he’d opt out, but if he does, adding the DH to the National League will give Martinez 15 more teams who could use him.
“I love Boston,” he said. “I love playing here. I’ve always said it from the beginning that this fan base suits my passion for the game. I always say when you get booed, I’ll be booing myself more than they’re booing me. I really don’t read into the — no offense to the media — I really don’t get caught up in all that, either, which is easy to get caught up in in this city.
“I just love the passion that’s here and obviously I’d love to stay here. I always feel that Boston is always going to be good, they always have a chance to win every year. Right now we’re going through that period, that transition of 2018 to now, with everybody leaving and stuff like that. That’s not saying in a year or two or two or three years they’re going to be back on top again.”
Dalbec can’t catch up
Bobby Dalbec’s struggles through three games have been hard to overlook.
The rookie first baseman is 2-for-12 with eight strikeouts and one home run.
“He had that good first game but if you don’t continue to do that you start to question and then start to press,” manager Ron Roenicke said.
The most obvious issue is
Dalbec looks behind on every fastball. Even the homer he hit on a 92-mph heater was a late swing that sent the ball over the fence just near Pesky’s Pole.
“I looked at it in spring training and saw the same things,” Roenicke said. “He starts his hands too late, the timing of it, which is what happens to most guys. It’s all about timing the fastball. If you can time a fastball, then it means that you don’t have to rush to get to it and then all of a sudden not see that off-speed pitch.
“Be on time for the fastball, start your hands on your load in time to get a fastball and then you’ll be OK with the off-speed.”
Eovaldi pushed back
It sounds like there’s a chance Nathan Eovaldi could miss the remainder of the season with a calf strain, though the Sox haven’t decided anything definite.
Eovaldi had his start pushed back again as the team looks to be extra careful considering they’re already out of the playoff race and trending toward the worst record in MLB.
“Especially if it sets him back to where he was a couple weeks ago, it could cost him the rest of the season,” Roenicke said. “We don’t want that to happen. That’s why we keep pushing him back. So right now I think he’ll throw another bullpen Sunday and then we’ll see how that goes and maybe Tuesday he may throw another bullpen and if he comes out of that then I think we’re ready to feel better about it putting him in a game and that this won’t flare up again.”
Zack Godley will start the first game of Friday’s doubleheader with the Blue Jays while Chris Mazza will start the second.
Kyle Hart landed on the injured list with a painful hip injury, Roenicke said.
Hart felt the injury in the seventh inning on Tuesday, then pitched the eighth inning and allowed five more runs.