X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Join the Best Live Fantasy Chat Community!

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Forgot Password


LINEUP RESOURCES

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Pickups & Streamers
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

Fantasy Implications - J.D. Martinez to the Red Sox

The national nightmare is finally over. After weeks upon months of fantasy owners developing carpal tunnel syndrome from hitting F5 repeatedly, desperately searching for any new updates, J.D. Martinez has signed a five-year, $110 million contract with the Boston Red Sox.

After accumulating a .251 average and .687 on-base plus slugging percentage with 24 home runs over his first three seasons with the Houston Astros, Martinez has become one of the top sluggers in the game. Since joining the Tigers in 2014, Martinez has hit .300 with 128 home runs and a .936 OPS — the sixth highest OPS among players with at least 2,000 plate appearances over that time span.

The signing of Martinez does pose an interesting question for Boston now: Who will play where? Last season, the Red Sox sported an outfield trio of Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts with Hanley Ramirez getting the majority of the playing time at designated hitter. Now, barring any trades or injuries, all four will be on the roster in 2018, along with Martinez. So who is going to lose playing time now in Boston? As Scott Boras undoubtedly skips down Yawkey Way whistling with glee, let's take a look at the what this signing will mean to fantasy owners this season.

Featured Promo: Want a free RotoBaller Premium Pass? Check out these sports betting promo offers from the top sportsbooks! All new sign-ups get a free bonus offer on their first deposit, and a free year of RotoBaller's Premium Pass for all sports ($450 value)! Sign Up Now!

 

Heading to Greener Grass?

Splitting time between Detroit and Arizona last season, Martinez put up the best numbers of his career, batting .303 with a career-high 1.066 OPS and 45 HR. Martinez also set a career-high with a 10.8 percent walk rate, marking his fourth consecutive year of increasing his walk rate. While his strikeout rate was up almost one and a half percent from 2016, his 26.2 K% was the fourth-lowest of his career.

The one big concern for Martinez entering the season is how will his home run totals be affected by playing half of his games at Fenway Park? Last season, Comerica Park and Chase Field were two of the top-10 most hitter-friendly stadiums when it came to home runs. Fenway Park, on the other hand, was among the bottom 10 in the league. Martinez hit 24 of his 45 home runs to right-center or right field in 2017, and while Fenway's right field fence is the closest to home plate of the three parks, the distances to right-center and deep right-center field are between seven and 15 feet further at Fenway than either Comerica or Chase. In seven career games at Fenway Park, Martinez has never hit a home run there. While that will certainly change this season, fantasy owners should likely expect closer to 30 HR than 45 in 2018.

Moving into the Boston lineup, Martinez should see an increase in his counting numbers. After joining the Diamondbacks halfway through last year, he recorded 26 more RBI and nine more runs in 25 more plate appearances than his totals in Detroit. Arizona had the eighth-highest scoring offense last year, averaging 5.01 runs per game, while Boston was 10th in the league, averaging 4.85 runs per game.

With all that in mind, it seems like Martinez should be in line for roughly 35 HR, with 90 runs and 115 RBI in Boston. Our rankings currently have Martinez as the No. 8 outfielder, with a target draft range of early in the third round. Now that he's with the Red Sox, he is likely worth picking up in the late second round and might even be worth taking over Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge — our No. 7 outfielder.

As far as the effect his signing will have on the Red Sox outfield, it will primarily impact Jackie Bradley Jr. While Bradley was likely not going to have an impact in mixed leagues, he was may have had some value in AL-only leagues in 2018. Bradley hit 17 HR last year and 26 HR in 2016, and could've been in line for at least 20 HR this year. Based on his 14.5 percent HR/FB rate in 2017 — which was 3.5 percent lower than his average from the previous two seasons — 2018 could have seen a bump in his power numbers. Now barring trade or injury, Bradley will be undraftable in anything but deep AL-only leagues.

 

More 2018 Player Outlooks




LINEUP RESOURCES

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Pickups & Streamers
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

WIN MORE IN 2024

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Pickups & Streamers
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

ROTOBALLER PLAYER NEWS

RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Alexis Diaz fantasy baseball closers rankings draft sleepers waiver wire pickups

MLB Closers and Saves: Fantasy Baseball Depth Charts

Saves are an important component for many fantasy baseball leagues. Closers are one of the most volatile positions in fantasy baseball, and one of the highest turnover positions in MLB. Each year, closers drop like flies and many MLB teams make in-season changes due to injuries or poor performance. In addition to closers and saves, relief... Read More


Do These Prospects Matter for Fantasy Baseball?

The 2023 fantasy baseball season has been highlighted by the promotion of nearly two-dozen top prospects to the major leagues to impact fantasy rosters. This week's edition features one player who was called up as the piece was being written. Will these strong performers join the ranks of those who have moved to the majors... Read More


clayton kershaw fantasy baseball rankings draft sleepers MLB injury news

articles report test

this is a test


Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Welcome back! It's Week 24 of our fantasy baseball Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups series! There are just two precious weeks left, and every start is becoming more and more important as most of the fantasy baseball world is in playoff matchups. If you've made it this far, there's a good chance you don't really... Read More


Aaron Nola - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, DFS Lineup Picks

Starts & Sits for MLB Week 23 - All Starting Pitcher Matchups for Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back RotoBallers! Big week in fantasy leagues as we approach the end of the season and playoffs! As always, we are here with our starting pitcher starts and sits series to help you set those winning lineups for the week ahead! For those who are not familiar, RotoBaller puts out a weekly grid of... Read More


Gunnar Henderson - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Prospects, Draft Sleepers

Points League Hitters: Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Welcome to Week 24 and our fantasy baseball waiver wire hitters. We'll be doing this roundup of points leagues every week here at RotoBaller, with waiver wire targets and streaming pitchers being evaluated in terms of the different scoring systems of ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, and Fantrax. Player values can vary wildly from platform to platform,... Read More


Brayan Bello - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Yo, it's Jon Anderson, continuing to run the show here in terms of late-summer fantasy baseball writing. There are just two weeks left of streaming pitchers, so let's make it count! This weekly fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups column aims to identify starting pitchers expected to make two starts in the upcoming fantasy baseball week,... Read More


Fantasy Baseball Week 24 Injury News and Updates: Tyler Glasnow, Ozzie Albies, Starling Marte, Anthony Rizzo, Zack Wheeler

September is now more than half over. The baseball season is slowly coming to a close. At this point, fantasy players are pushing for their league titles or just playing for pride. Major League Baseball teams continue to do the same and injuries continue to happen, now with the dreaded term "done for the season"... Read More


Joe Musgrove - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Free MLB Betting Picks - Today's Best Bets, Expert Predictions, Odds (9/17/22)

Happy Saturday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More


DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (9/17/22): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups

Today's MLB slates are split up as is the norm for September baseball. Half the guys I think will play will not, so you have to be as flexible as Gumby to play MLB DFS in September, but that also means that there is a lot of money out there should you dare to dive... Read More


Max Fried - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Free MLB Betting Picks - Today's Best Bets, Expert Predictions, Odds (9/15/22)

Happy Friday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More


Robbie Ray - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, Draft Sleepers

DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (9/16/22): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups

Fridays are big MLB DFS days and offer a nice respite from the NFL, who command our attention on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays. This slate, like most Friday slates, is a big one as all MLB teams are in action today and 28 of those teams are on tonight's 14-game DFS slate. This was a... Read More


kyle farmer fantasy baseball rankings draft sleepers MLB injury news

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

There are only two weeks left of fantasy baseball! It's going to be very sad when the season comes to an end, but the impending end of the season means that these are the most important, and therefore most fun weeks of the year – for those of you still competing, at least. I have... Read More


TODAY’S MOST VIEWED PLAYERS

rotating JS ad test

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF