J.D Martinez described what he thinks will be a ‘weird’ free agency period

Martinez signed a five-year contract with the Red Sox in 2018.

Red Sox's J.D. Martinez discussed impending free agency on Thursday. AP Photo/Tommy Gilligan

September 4, 2020

2 minutes to read

Red Sox slugger J.D Martinez could opt out of his contract at the end of this season or in 2021, but with numerous teams losing revenue from a shortened 60-game season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, would he want to?

Martinez said on Thursday that joining free agency in this market right now would not interest him. There’s a level of uncertainty for a player, like the Astros’ George Springer, who has “struggled” this season and has hit .194/.331/.388.

“Honestly, that’s above my pay grade. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Martinez said. “I honestly feel [like] I would not want to be a free agent during this time for that reason. You just don’t know, everything is up in the air for guys like that, it’s just weird.”

https://twitter.com/bradfo/status/1301848805080535041?s=20

Martinez was then asked if anything could be assumed from that statement — specifically about his status as a free agent and the possibility of him remaining in Boston.

Martinez — who jokingly compared the question to a slider pitch– said don’t read between the lines.

“Negative,” he said to the media. “That was a slider, did you stay back on it or you swung through it?”

“You can’t really read into that either,” he added about the markets. “I feel like the owners have been saying that since as long as I’ve been playing baseball. They never have money and they’re always scuffing for money. You can’t read that far into that.”

Martinez, who is in year three of his five-year, $110 million contract he signed in 2018, also said that he enjoys playing in Boston and suiting up for the Red Sox.

“I love Boston. I love playing here. I’ve always said it from the beginning that this fan base suits my passion for the game,” he said. “I just love the passion that’s here and obviously I’d love to stay here. I always feel that Boston is always going to be good. They always have a chance to win every year.

“Right now we’re going through that period, that transition of 2018 to now, with everybody leaving and stuff like that. That’s not saying in a year or two or three years they’re [not] going to be back on top again.”