X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

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

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

Boston Red Sox OF JD Martinez is on a new team for the 2018 MLB season. Michael Grennell analyzes his move to the AL East to see whether his ADP will rise or fall.

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.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and resources:

 

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




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

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

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Tyjae Spears

to Begin the Season on Injured Reserve
Nikola Jović

Heat Have High Hopes for Nikola Jovic
Golden State Warriors

Cody Martin Drawing Interest From Warriors
Minnesota Timberwolves

Timberwolves Interested in Reunion With Bones Hyland
Kylor Kelley

Joins Lakers
Colin Castleton

Links Up With Magic
Brock Bowers

Pete Carroll Classifies Brock Bowers Among His Best Players Ever
De'Von Achane

Lingering Calf Injury Poses Concerns for De'Von Achane
Adam Thielen

Vikings and Panthers Struggling to Finalize Adam Thielen Trade
Malik Monk

Kings "Not Actively Engaged" in Trade Discussions Involving Malik Monk
P.J. Washington

Mavs Likely to Offer P.J. Washington a Contract Extension
Kenny Pickett

Raiders Acquire Kenny Pickett From Browns
Cincinnati Bengals

Bengals Give Trey Hendrickson a Raise
Amari Cooper

Signs One-Year Deal With Raiders
NHL

Jan Rutta Lands in Switzerland
Kirby Dach

Skates on Monday
COL

Tyson Barrie Retires From NHL
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Back in Toronto's Lineup
Joe Mixon

to Start Season on Non-Football Injury List
Jaylen Wright

Not Expected to Play in Week 1
Jakobi Meyers

Requests Trade
Jauan Jennings

Not Practicing on Monday, has Avoided IR for Now
Matthew Stafford

Taking 11-On-11 Reps on Monday
Zhang Mingyang

Suffers His First UFC Loss
Johnny Walker

Gets Back In The Win Column
Brian Ortega

Loses Back-To-Back Fights
Aljamain Sterling

Proves Too Much For Brian Ortega
Chris Sale

Penciled in to Start on Saturday
Waldo Cortes-Acosta

Suffers Unanimous-Decision Loss
Sergei Pavlovich

Wins Decision At UFC Shanghai
Terry McLaurin

Signs Three-Year Extension with Commanders
Kevin Borjas

Drops Decision At UFC Shanghai
Sumudaerji

Wins Back-To-Back Fights
Kiefer Crosbie

Still Winless In The UFC
Taiyilake Nueraji

Gets His First UFC Win
Ryan Blaney

Earns his Second Daytona Cup Series Win
Tyler Reddick

Locks Into the 2025 Playoffs Despite Underwhelming Daytona Performance
Erik Jones

Misses the 2025 Playoffs Despite Top-Five Run at Daytona
Justin Haley

Best Performance of 2025 Falls Short of Victory at Daytona
Chase Burns

To Throw Bullpen on Tuesday
Kyle Larson

Enters Playoffs As Co-Points Leader
Alex Bowman

Advances to Playoffs Despite Crashing at Daytona
Cole Custer

Finally Shows Signs of Life at Daytona
Daniel Suarez

Lame-Duck Daniel Suarez Delivers Clutch Second-Place Finish
Logan Gilbert

Punches Out 13 in Victory
Randy Rodríguez

Randy Rodriguez Battling Arm Soreness
Marcus Semien

Out 4-6 Weeks, Could Miss Rest of Season
Ranger Suárez

Ranger Suarez Strikes Out 11 in Win
Cal Raleigh

Sets Catcher Home Run Record
Yordan Alvarez

Likely to Return on Tuesday
Jacob deGrom

to Start on Monday
Kyle Tucker

Homers Twice in Win
Chris Sale

Likely to Return Next Weekend
Brian Robinson Jr.

to be RB2
Najee Harris

to be Ready Week 1?
De'Von Achane

Making Good Progress
Jaylen Wright

Considered "Week-to-Week"
Marcus Semien

Placed on Injured List
Jackson Merrill

Heads to 10-Day Injured List
Jordan Love

Says He'll Play in Week 1
Brice Turang

Absent on Saturday, "Touch-and-Go" With Wrist Injury
Chase Elliott

Despite Being Winless at Daytona, Chase Elliott is Probably the Best DFS Option
Ryan Blaney

Will Likely Lead a Lot at Daytona
Kyle Larson

a Poor DFS Option at Daytona
Christopher Bell

Consistent Enough to Consider for DFS
Chris Buescher

Now Must Win His Way Into Playoffs
Ryan Preece

Being One of the Slowest-Starting Fords Makes Ryan Preece a Strong DFS Option
Ross Chastain

Leads a Lot on Drafting Tracks
Daniel Suarez

Now in Desperation Mode With his Career on the Line
Chase Briscoe

Tendency to Finish Better Than He Runs May Reap Dividends at Daytona
Lamar Jackson

Should Practice on Monday
Carson Hocevar

Hard to Forecast Since He's Rarely Given 100 Percent at Daytona
Michael McDowell

has a Solid Drafting Record
AJ Allmendinger

A.J. Allmendinger Arguably Starting Too Well for Place-Differential Points
Austin Dillon

Will Likely Be Too Conservative for DFS Consideration
Matt Chapman

Activated and Starting on Saturday
Moses Moody

Warriors Not Interested in Trading Moses Moody
Kevin Durant

Rockets Expected to Agree on New Contract
Trey Murphy III

Warriors, Spurs Interested in Trey Murphy III
Zack Wheeler

to Undergo Season-Ending Surgery
Yoán Moncada

Yoan Moncada Hits a Pair of Home Runs on Friday
Willy Adames

Belts Two Solo Home Runs on Friday
CAR

Luke Kunin Joins Panthers on One-Year Deal
Auston Matthews

Says His Health is "Good" Before Start of Season
Roope Hintz

"Feeling Good" Ahead of New Season
Matthew Tkachuk

Recovering From Surgery
Marco Rossi

Wild Re-Sign Marco Rossi to Three-Year Deal
Bubba Chandler

Records Four-Inning Save in Debut
Walker Buehler

Officially Moving to Bullpen
NBA

Malik Beasley Now Drawing Interest from Teams
Brian Robinson Jr.

Traded to 49ers
Zhang Mingyang

Set For UFC Shanghai Main Event
Johnny Walker

In Dire Need Of Victory
Brian Ortega

An Underdog At UFC Shanghai
Aljamain Sterling

Set For UFC Shanghai Co-Main Event
Waldo Cortes-Acosta

Looks To Extend His Win Streak
Sergei Pavlovich

A Favorite At UFC Shanghai
Kevin Borjas

Set for UFC Shanghai Main-Card Bout
Sumudaerji

Looks To Win Back-To-Back Fights
Kiefer Crosbie

Set To Open Up UFC Shanghai Main Card
Taiyilake Nueraji

Set For His UFC Debut
Connor Ingram

Clears Player Assistance Program
Frank Nazar

Inks Seven-Year Extension With Blackhawks
COL

Victor Olofsson Signs One-Year Deal With Avalanche
Tee Higgins

has Injury Scare on Thursday
Dru Smith

Aims to Be Healthy for Training Camp
Jayson Tatum

Provides Injury Update
RJ Barrett

Considered a Trade Candidate
Golden State Warriors

Warriors "Remain Very Confident" About Signing Al Horford
Jahmir Young

Agrees to Deal With Heat

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP