J.D. & THE BIG SHOTS
Dombrowski’s winter patience with Martinez paying dividends for Red Sox during hot start
For months during the winter my friend Tony Massarotti whiled away the hours on his afternoon-drive radio show in Boston by crushing GM Dave Dombrowski and the Red Sox for not doing enough to keep up with the Yankees.
Even finally getting J.D. Martinez on a relatively team-friendly contract didn’t compare to the rivals trading for Giancarlo Stanton, as Massarotti saw it.
So naturally I had to call him on Friday, with the Red Sox scorching the earth at 17-2, to ask him if he was ready to eat his words.
“It wasn’t like I didn’t think they’d be good, but I admit I never expected anything like this,” he said. “I was all over Dombrowksi. A lot of people were.
“I thought they needed Stanton. To me he was the sure thing, and I thought the Red Sox didn’t want to spend the money. I may have underestimated Martinez but I’m not ready to say I’d rather have him than Stanton. I still think they should have gone after him.”
Knowing Tony as I do, having co-authored a Yankees-Red Sox book with him at the height of the rivalry in 2004, I didn’t expect a mea culpa. He’s from Boston, after all. And it’s still early, I’ll give him that. But let’s be real here: right now Dombrowski should be the toast of the town in Boston, mostly for being willing to take a winter’s worth of criticism while refusing to buckle to Scott Boras on the Martinez contract, as he waited the agent out and signed the slugger in February to a five-year, $110 million deal.
Boras did front-load the deal and negotiate opt-outs after years two, three, and four, but from the Red Sox point of view, so what?
They have a window to win right now, with Chris Sale under contract for two seasons, and the highest payroll in baseball. And one way or the other, their commitment to Martinez is relatively short — at least compared to the 10 years Stanton has remaining on his contract.
And Martinez looks very much like the middle-of-the-lineup bat the Sox desperately needed. Of course, it helps that Mookie Betts is killing the ball and Hanley Ramirez appears to be motivated, but as of Friday Martinez was hitting .338 with four home runs in the clean-up spot, and that was after struggling the first week or so of the season.
I’m not ready to say he’ll have more impact than Stanton this season, because I still think last year’s NL MVP will be a huge force once he settles in and stops trying to hit the ball 600 feet in every at-bat to make Yankee fans stop booing him at home.
But there’s also no question that Martinez is a better pure hitter, having hit .307 and .303 his last two seasons — while hammering 45 home runs last season in only 119 games.
Come to think of it, he would have been a nice fit in the Bronx as well. Not nearly as sexy an acquisition as Stanton, but it should be fascinating to see whether Martinez, who will DH a lot and play occasionally in the outfield, turns out to be a better investment, especially factoring in the $235 million the Yankees owe their new slugger over 10 seasons.
For the moment, he’s having more impact, but he’s getting plenty of help from a lineup that has produced the most runs in the majors so far.
In addition, Dombrowski, like Brian Cashman, changed managers after a successful season. In fact, John Farrell had led the Sox to two straight division titles, but a couple of first-round exits in the postseason were disappointing, and perhaps more to the point, there were rumblings that Farrell’s intensity and poor communicating didn’t play well in the clubhouse. Sounds familiar, right? But unlike Cashman, who took his time interviewing candidates before naming Aaron Boone to replace Joe Girardi in early December, Dombrowski seemed to have Alex Cora in mind all along, and reached an agreement to hire him while he was still finishing out the Astros’ championship run as their bench coach.
Massarotti, among, others believes the change to Cora has energized players, in particular Ramirez, shortstop Xander Bogaerts, and pitcher David Price, who
POST HASTE
Over the years I’ve seen and heard a lot of post-game interviews from players trying to explain away poor performances, but I can’t ever remember a pitcher talking proudly about how well he pitched after falling behind 6-0 in the first three innings of a game his team lost, as Matt Harvey did Thursday night.
It spoke to his level of desperation, and actually it sounded as if someone had gotten in his ear before meeting the media, urging him to stress the positivity. Scott Boras, perhaps?
In any case, a couple of former majorleague pitchers were clearly offended by Harvey’s spiel.
SNY analyst Nelson Figueroa looked almost ill as he reacted to it on the post-game show, essentially saying Harvey didn’t sound like a major league pitcher.
“We’ve heard it all before,” Figueroa said. “For him to find silver linings out of that… I don’t buy it.”
Meanwhile, Bobby Ojeda, the former SNY analyst, said that Harvey “lost cred” with his comments.
“He’s proud of (three) scoreless innings after giving up six?” Ojeda said on his podcast (#BobbyOsChangeofPace on Twitter). “Then give him that role.”
Ojeda insisted he doesn’t think Harvey is a lost cause, but needs to finally realize his glory days are gone. “He doesn’t know how to pitch, he doesn’t have a clue,” Ojeda said. “He’s never had to. It’s not about what you throw, it’s about when you throw it. It’s understanding how to get people out on any given day. That’s pitching.”
Ojeda blames former manager Terry Collins and the Mets’ brass at least partly for enabling Harvey during and even after his Dark Knight days, allowing him to think he was bigger than the team. He thinks Mickey Callaway is putting a stop to all of that.
“I’d put him in the bullpen,” Ojeda said. “I’m going to need him again but I can’t put up with this awfulness.
“What are we doing here? Are we out to win a ring or are we out to get Matt Harvey better? For years it was getting Matt Harvey better. But there’s a new sheriff in town. The free ride is over.”
HELPING ED
I received plenty of response to Ed Kranepool’s story this week detailing his need of a kidney transplant.
Fans who want to help without donating a kidney may be interested to know that Kranepool is selling off some of his memorabilia collection, at least partly as a way of defraying the cost of his medical issues.
If interested in meet-and-greet sessions with Kranepool to buy from his collection, fans should contact Martin Gover of Momentum Sports Management at 212-918-4545.