The Red Sox are now a last-place team following their loss Tuesday to the Guardians. Last-place teams typically sell at the deadline.
ESPN’s Buster Olney said recently on the “Baseball Tonight” podcast that J.D. Martinez is “out on the trade market.” The slugger is in the final year of his contract.
Martinez, who will turn 35 next month, would be one of the best bats available prior to the Aug. 2 deadline. Fresh off his fifth career All-Star appearance, he’s slashing .302/.368/.481 with nine home runs this season.
Last year, Martinez hit 28 home runs and led the league with 42 doubles.
The Red Sox signed Martinez to a front-loaded five-year, $110 million contract in 2018. He wound up being arguably Dave Dombrowski’s best signing, smacking 43 home runs and knocking in a league-best 130 runs for the Red Sox in their championship campaign.
With roughly $7.5 million remaining on his deal, Martinez would also be an affordable middle-of-the-order bat for any team that’s looking for an offensive boost.
If the Red Sox are listening on Martinez, it’s fair to surmise they could also be exploring deals involving other players in the final years of their deals, including Nathan Eovaldi. ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote Wednesday Eovaldi’s status is dependent on how the Red Sox perform this week.
So far, they’ve been swept by the Blue Jays, and split their first two with Cleveland.
On Tuesday, Red Sox president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom said on NESN the Red Sox are “trying to make the postseason.”
Putting Martinez on the trade market doesn’t help them accomplish that goal. The 49-49 ed Sox are currently 3.5 games out of a playoff spot.
