Hit fir tat
Yanks: J.D. to Sox a sign of the times
TAMPA — Even after the Red Sox agreed to a deal to bring J.D. Martinez to Boston, the Yankees remained the favorites to win the AL East, according to Las Vegas, but they are prepared for even stiffer competition from their rivals. “Obviously, it makes them a better team,” Brett Gardner said of the free agent finally going to the Red Sox on a five-year, $110 million deal. “Any team he went to was going to improve, and the fact that it’s the Red Sox will give us another challenge in the division. It’s kind of what you expect in this rivalry: We go out and get a guy like [Giancarlo] Stanton and they add Martinez.” The oddsmakers still like the Yankees’ chances, with Bovada listing them Tuesday as co-favorites with the Astros to win the AL pennant, and the Red Sox fourth, behind the Indians. The 30-year-old Martinez goes to the Red Sox coming off a career year split between Detroit and Arizona, where he combined to hit 45 homers in just 119 games.
“He is a really good player. You look at what he has done the last three or four years. I saw graphic on TV [Monday], this is a guy up there among the elite names with what he has been able to do,’’ Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, he will be a big presence in the middle of their order and a guy who will be a challenge for us. I am sure he will go there and have a lot of success for a really good team.’’
CC Sabathia has handled Martinez better than most pitchers — holding him to a pair of singles in eight at-bats — but he knows what a difference the slugger should make.
“They already had a lineup with a lot of weapons,’’ Sabathia said. “They had speed and guys that could get on base. Now you add him and that power, it’s gonna be that much tougher with another guy that can hit it out.”
Martinez had been linked to the Red Sox for most of the offseason before the two sides finally agreed to a deal after spring training already had begun in this historically slow free-agent market.
But the late arrival won’t matter when the teams meet for the first time at Fenway Park in April.
“The way he’s been swinging the bat the last few years, he’s one of the best hitters in the game,” Gardner said. “This division was already gonna be tough. It was a battle with them last year and they came out on top in the East. We want to get back there, but it’s obviously not going to be easy.”
In seven career games at Fenway Park, Martinez has been an effective slap hitter, going 12-for-27 with two doubles — and no RBIs.
Although he hasn’t faced many of the Yankees’ pitchers much, he’s feasted off Masahiro Tanaka, going 5-for-9 with two homers against the right-hander, and is 3-for-7 with a double and a homer off Sonny Gray.
Still, Sabathia is looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s always good when the rivalry heats up and it did again,” Sabathia said. “It should be fun.”