We've Got An Old Fashioned Standoff Between The Red Sox And Scott Boras Over JD Martinez

If you’re a Red Sox fan, you’re likely growing impatient with how Boston’s offseason has gone to this point, but context is important.

The Yankees acquiring Giancarlo Stanton certainly put an added element of pressure on the Red Sox to not only address the lack of power in their lineup, but to do so in a way that counters Stanton to the Bronx. Stanton, if you’re not familiar with him, hits baseballs really far and he does that quite often, actually.

Dave Dombrowski was faced with the task of trying to fill the void in Boston’s lineup that was created when David Ortiz retired, and passed on Edwin Encarnacion last winter, who then signed with the Cleveland Indians and hit 38 homers and drove in 107 runs. So while, yes, it’s still “early” in the offseason, Red Sox fans’ impatience doesn’t derive from the fact that we’re only six weeks into the offseason and the Red Sox haven’t done anything. There’s still plenty of time to do something impactful. It’s that they’ve yet to add the power bat that they’ve needed since the end of 2016, and the Yankees got the bat that was a luxury to them and a necessity for the Red Sox.

That brings us to JD Martinez, an obvious fit for the power-deprived Red Sox, but at what cost? When a player hires Scott Boras as their agent, they’re not looking to take a hometown discount. They’re looking to get paid, and handsomely at that. Martinez hired Boras on November 1, right as he was about to embark on free agency as the number one bat on the market. Money isn’t an object for the Red Sox — or at least it shouldn’t be as it was last winter — but Boston has been burned a number of times on the kind of contracts that Martinez is looking to score in the coming days and maybe even weeks.

Carl Crawford and Pablo Sandoval come to mind as the best examples of that. I’m not ready to place David Price into that category, as he was much better in 2016 than he got credit for, experienced somewhat of a partially lost season in 2017, and the jury will be out in 2018 as he can opt out after the end of next year. Hanley Ramirez, I’m sure will get mentioned, but 2016 bought him some forgiveness.

And I also will not stand for Adrian Gonzalez — who was just traded to the Braves and immediately DFA’d — slander on this website. Yes, he was a whiny baby and his trade facilitated one of the most important championships in the history of the city of Boston, but he still hit .321 with an .895 OPS in his 282 games with the Red Sox. And because Gonzalez was really good in Boston, that’s the whole reason why the Dodgers agreed to take on Crawford’s contract in full, along with Josh Beckett in full, who had worn out his welcome in Boston.

Regardless, if you’re reading these reports that Martinez wants a seven-year commitment from the Red Sox and you’re feeling apprehensive about that, then I can assure you that your feelings are very much valid. Seven-year deals for players who are already in their 30’s come with a great risk, mostly with the backend of their deals, of course. But the Red Sox have an advantage here, and that would be Martinez’s market as it currently stands today.

When you want to get an idea of what Martinez’s market is, look no further than the teams that missed out on the Stanton sweepstakes. The Dodgers were interested, but couldn’t make it work. The Cardinals made an offer that was actually accepted by the Marlins, but Stanton rejected it and they moved on to acquire Marcell Ozuna from Miami. The Giants also made an offer for Stanton that was accepted by the Marlins and rejected by the slugger. San Francisco also traded Matt Moore to the Rangers last night and saved $9 million by doing so, but that puts them in a better position to sign a player like Jay Bruce over Martinez. Still, they should be considered a potential landing spot.

The Diamondbacks, Martinez’s most recent team, was rumored to be shopping Zack Greinke in an attempt to unload his massive contract, which would free up the funds to bring Martinez back to Arizona. Until they’re able to pull that off, which seems highly unlikely that a team would actually take on a large portion of that contract given that Greinke is now 34 years old, then the Dbacks shouldn’t be considered a legitimate threat to sign Martinez.

So, if you’re the Red Sox and you’re looking around at a potential market for Martinez, what are you really seeing? Not a whole lot. Boras can insist on seven years for his client, but if it’s really only Boston who’s hot on his trails, then there has to be some sort of compromise, no? Martinez told the Red Sox that he’s willing to DH, but that other teams would sign him as an outfielder, which he prefers. With Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts already established as Boston’s outfield, Martinez would have to, according to him, take on a role that isn’t his first choice, so there’s that.

There are a couple of different ways this could play out. One, the Red Sox could trade Bradley and move Benintendi to center to make room for Martinez in the outfield if that’s such a sticking point for him. The second scenario is that they’d have to aggressively outbid the rest of the pack and make him an offer that he couldn’t refuse, much like they did with Price when it seemed like he was headed to the Cardinals and then got an offer from Boston that was much more lucrative than the one he had on the table from St. Louis.

Either way, the Red Sox are smart for waiting this thing out. Let’s just say, hypothetically, that the Red Sox want to sign Martinez to a five-year deal and Boras is looking to get him seven years — perhaps five with an option or swallowing their pride and making it six years is what gets it done. Yes, the Red Sox desperately need a guy like Martinez in their lineup, but they’re wise for not outbidding themselves. If Boston’s offer isn’t what Boras is looking for, but it’s still the best offer that Martinez gets, then the whole seven years thing won’t be as big of an obstacle as it appears to be right now.