I’m not gonna lie; I was a little nervous about J.D. Martinez in Boston following the delay in his signing.
Reports indicated that the delay was due to an undisclosed injury, one that made the club feel like they needed to put provisions in his contract to protect themselves in case Martinez went down. I had been willing to overlook all of the prior red flags that already existed with Martinez; the ones that said he had never been the guy in a lineup before and didn’t break onto the scene until he was 26. At this news, though, I had to spit out the J.D. Martinez Kool Aid for just a second and consider whether he was really a player who could be a top five hitter in the league for the Red Sox. Clearly, teams around the league didn’t value him that way, as he only garnered a $110m contract from the Red Sox, a full $90m short of what his agent Scott Boras expected him to receive.
Well, let me slurp all of that Kool Aid right back up because Hanley Ramirez put my doubts to rest with this outrageously awesome quote:
When asked about the addition of J.D. Martinez, Hanley replied that “now we are going to step on everybody’s necks.”
Ya know what? I believe him. Hanley doesn’t say that unless Hanley means that. The guy shuts it down if things aren’t going his way or if he doesn’t feel like the team’s good enough--it’s one of his greatest weaknesses. And guess what? Things are going Hanley’s way and he obviously thinks the team’s good enough. The results? An engaged Hanley Ramirez who will bat in front of one of the most prolific hitters in the game of baseball.
Alex Cora knows this better than anyone. His best move as manager of the Red Sox so far was showing Hanley that he has a lot of confidence in him by batting him third in the order. That’s exactly what they need; a confident Hanley is an engaged Hanley, and an engaged Hanley is a scary good baseball player who can have a .300-30-100 season rolling out of bed.
Prepare for a monster season out of Hanley Ramirez, Boston.
(photo courtesy of the Boston Herald)
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