J.D. Martinez has a lot to say
SEATTLE - J.D. Martinez has done the routine before. Five previous times, to be exact.
So when it comes to the art of bobbing and weaving through the 45 minutes of questions every All-Star has to endure, Martinez knows the drill. It can oftentimes be an opportunity explain the past, analyze the future, and a little bit of both.
That was certainly the case the last time he sat at the podium in a Red Sox uniform. With the Red Sox three games over .500 heading into that 2022 break - two games out of the Wild Card (sound familiar?) - Martinez pushed his cards to the middle of the table as the Sox headed toward an uncertain Trade Deadline.
"If I was allowed to bet," Martinez told WEEI.com at Dodger Stadium, "I would have bet on us." At it turned out, he would have lost.
The Red Sox didn't win enough or really lose enough in those last few weeks of July, resulting in Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Nathan Eovaldi all playing out their contracts with Boston.
Monday, it was time for Martinez to assume the position again, this time donning a Dodgers uniform after signing a one-year, $10 million deal with Los Angeles. This time there was reflection ... plenty of it. What happened in those days after doubling down on his club, how Martinez fixed his swing to the point of landing back at the All-Star festivities, and a look at a few days in the offseason that pushed him away from the Red Sox and toward the Dodgers.
"It was one of those things where we had a string of bad luck where we were in it and all of a sudden there were injuries. Sale coming back was supposed to be a big thing and then you have a line-drive off his pinky and then another freak thing happens. It was just like one of those things where it was a plague, that’s what it felt like. It was a tough stretch. I still feel like we had a great time. I think if we had some help it could have been a different year."
He added regarding the Deadline, which saw the Red Sox only significant deal involving shipping out Christian Vazquez, "I felt like as soon as we traded Vazqy it was kind of like that cue where it was like, ‘OK, we’re selling.’ And understandably so. Me leaving. Nate leaving. Xander leaving. Christian leaving. If you are ever going to do it that’s the time to do it. It was kind of one of those things where we did neither. It was weird."
Then there was when Martinez actually left the organization he had been with since 2018. As he explained it, the Red Sox seemed to be prioritizing Justin Turner, paving the way for Martinez to become a proactive.
"It was one of those things where I remember getting a call from the Dodgers and them offering me a certain amount of money," Martinez recalled. "I just remember reaching out to the Red Sox, and that’s when I got wind that they were interested in Turner and this and that. I was asking the Red Sox if they were going to go back, what’s going happen. Kind of no comment and then ‘Yeah, yeah, we’re interested,’ but nothing happened for a couple of days, three days. Obviously they want this guy, and that’s fine. I didn’t want to get stuck out there in the middle of nowhere and be sitting there and now I’m fighting to go to a team that might not be in contention, that might not have the chance to go the playoffs. I want to be on a winning team and to get a chance to play in LA, another historic franchise. I have been fortunate to play in one of the biggest teams in the Central with the Tigers, the Red Sox in the East and now going to the West, playing for the Dodgers. Not a lot of guys can say they did that. It’s an honor. It is a great franchise and a historic team.
"It was like a two or three day thing. It was like, ‘Hey, this is it.’ That’s usually how it happens. I remember how it happened in 2018 when I signed. It was like nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing for months until January hits. And then spring training starts and they’re like, ‘Hey, here you go.’ I was like, ‘Wait, what happened?’ Things happen quick."
They certainly do, both off the field and on. It's why Martinez was able to live the life of an All-Star once again.
As the final weeks of the 2022 season arrived, it was difficult to imagine Martinez finding a swing that would allow for another All-Star-type of season. He had struggled mightily just after the "weird" trade deadline, hitting .214 with a .601 OPS in August.
But after finding at least somewhat of a fix later in the season, Martinez started down the road that put him back in the middle-of-the-order conversation once again. Next thing he knew, the 35-year-old had hit 22 home runs and totaled an .872 OPS to earn the start for the National League ... hitting cleanup behind another former Red Sox, Mookie Betts.
"Getting a chance to work with (Dodgers hitting coach) Rob (Van Scoyoc) again, once I got out to Cali he was able to see something I hadn’t even thought of. It never even crossed my mind and he couldn’t see on video and he saw in person," Martinez said. "It really propelled me. Like, ‘Oh, snap!’ This is real. I had gotten back into a bad habit of not rotating my chest as much. I had hit so many balls to right field, I was trying to stay inside and stopped rotating as much. When I started opening up my chest more I got my power back. I was like, ‘Oh crap! There it was. Where has it been?’ It just felt completely different.
"It was one of those things I had fallen in love with it because I wanted to hit the ball the other way. It was like, ‘OK, you can hit the ball the other way but you have to do it the right way.’ You can’t stall your chest out to do it because you will lose all your power. That’s exactly what happened. Then I started doing it and I was like, ‘Oh crap, there you go. Ball is flying again.’"
One year after that last All-Star sitdown, both the Red Sox and Martinez have landed in different situations, with hints of familiarity. Currently, it seems to be working out for all parties involved.
As the Dodgers' All-Star said, "I just felt like it’s me being able to be me again."