A week after reportedly agreeing to terms, J.D. Martinez is officially a member of a Red Sox.
Martinez was introduced in a press conference Monday morning at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, and prior to the press conference members of the Red Sox spoke about the signing becoming official.
Left-hander Chris Sale is excited to have Martinez in the lineup.
"I don't see how you couldn't be -- best player going into the offseason, and he's on your team now, a guy I've played a lot against," he told reporters. "Someone said I've faced him the most of anybody, so I'm glad that's over with."
Added Sale: "I remember him playing in Houston, and then he comes over to Detroit and really blew up. That wasn't an easy lineup to face it was, with Prince [Fielder] and Victor [Martinez] and Miggy [Miguel Cabrera], Ian Kinsler dropping tanks right out of the gate, too. He just made it that much tougher, kind of like what he's going to do here. We have a hell of a lineup without him, and when you put him right in the heart of it, it makes everyone else that much more dangerous, because they're going to have to pitch to somebody, so it's going to be a little bit of pressure taken off the guys. It's going to be fun watching baseballs go over that fence."
Hanley Ramirez said it will help the entire lineup.
"It's just going to make it easier on everybody in the lineup," he said. "It is cool when you have a guy like that in the middle of the lineup and we'll see what happens. Maybe he will hit behind me, behind Mitch [Moreland]. It's not a big deal. We just have to do our job."
As for will it help against the Yankees, Ramirez said the team cannot just focus on New York, as there are a number of other good teams in the league.
"What can I say? Definitely," he said. "That's a good player. That is a good player. There's [plenty] of more teams. It isn't just the Yankees. We can't keep worrying about the Yankees when you have more teams and they are dangerous, too. We're going to treat everyone the same way. It is a big league and anybody can beat you. We have to go out on the field and step on everybody's neck."
Martinez will get on the field with his new teammates Monday morning.
