J.D. Martinez ‘probably not’ opting out of Red Sox contract
By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez does not expect to opt out of the final two years of his five-year, $110 million contract.
“I guess that’s up to [agent Scott Boras],” but I think given the situation and everything, I’m probably not leaning that way,” Martinez said Friday. “That’s something where I need to talk to Scott.”
The ‘situation and everything’ is easily explained: It’s a terrible market for upcoming free agents, as a 60-game season and crowd-less games will straight-up destroy deals for non-superstars in the immediate future, and barring the 2020 rules becoming permanent moving forward, Martinez only appeals to half the league as a designated hitter.
And given the 33-year-old’s struggles this season, with a .218 average and six homers in 52 games this season, there’s an almost zero percent chance he would get a contract that pays him anything close to the nearly $40 million he’s due over the next two years in Boston. Martinez is struggling beyond the raw numbers, too, with his average against fastballs straight-up plummeting from 2019 to this season, dropping from .318 to .198, according to BaseballSavant. His struggles against offspeed pitches have been just as brutal, too, with a 2019 to 2020 drop of .403 down to .235, per BaseballSavant. (YEESH.)
Martinez hasn’t exactly shied away from his struggles (his exact words were, “I’ve sucked”), but he did note the mental grind of playing through a global pandemic, according to MassLive Red Sox reporter Christopher Smith.
Red Sox' J.D. Martinez: "You’re expected to perform at elite levels when there’s an entire epidemic going on in the world. It’s not really an excuse but it’s tough. It’s a lot to ask.”
— Christopher Smith (@SmittyOnMLB) September 25, 2020
Martinez, bounced around between Houston, Detroit, and Arizona before landing in Boston, where he won a World Series in 2018, has hit .303 with 85 homers and 260 RBIs over his three seasons with the Red Sox.