Red Sox: What’s holding up the J.D. Martinez deal?
By Sean Sears
The Red Sox reportedly came to an agreement with slugger J.D. Martinez last Monday, but as the weekend draws closer to an end, we still don’t have any official word.
According to Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston, the hold up in the deal between the Boston Red Sox and slugger J.D. Martinez is due to medical reasons, but less about the current playing status of Martinez and more about the wording in the contract itself. A league source gave Drellich this little tidbit about the negotiations, giving people some hope the Red Sox would announce the deal.
"“I imagine that today is a day that we could have some definition,” the source said."
Of course, that didn’t happen, as fans remain in the dark about what exactly is happening between Boston and Scott Boras’ client. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports was able to shed a little more light on the medical hold ups for Martinez while making it clear the 30-year-old slugger is ready to go for 2018.
"Though sources stressed to FanRag Sports that Martinez is currently healthy and ready to play, it appears some kind of issue has arisen in Martinez’s medical reports that is delaying the official completion of the deal. Right now, both sides are being cautious and expect a deal to be completed, with the delay mainly stemming from a desire to make sure the exact language of the contract is right in light of any potential issue."
At this point, it’s unlikely the deal would fall apart, but as Heyman mentions in this article, it’s not uncommon for deals to take months to iron out. The issue is, due to the slow market this off-season, these negotiations are spilling into spring training.
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The Red Sox know how important Martinez is to their roster in 2018, but they also know that at his age he isn’t going to get better as his contract continues through his age 36-season. So, this hold up should last much longer, but the Red Sox as well as Martinez and his agent Scott Boras will still have to agree on the language used in the contract.