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NICK CAFARDO | ON BASEBALL

In J.D. Martinez, Red Sox put a huge piece in place

J.D. Martinez had a huge second half in 2017 after being dealt by the Tigers to the Diamondbacks.Ross D. franklin/AP/File

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Maybe the Red Sox would have been just fine without J.D. Martinez. Maybe we even believed that they would be a better team, simply because David Price was healthy, that some of the hitters who had injuries would be better, and that they had a better offensive approach with new coaches.

But we all knew two things to be true: the Red Sox were a boring team with no home run bopper, and there’s no way they were on a par with the Yankees lineup.

So now with Martinez, the Red Sox are suddenly a better team to watch. Everybody loves sluggers. Part of David Ortiz’s “charm,” if you will, was that he could hit the ball out of the park anytime. If you watched Martinez at all last season, he became an event. Every time he came up, you’d watch to see whether he could hit the ball out of the park.

There’s something dynamic, compelling, and exciting about a power hitter.

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Yankees fans saw that last year with Aaron Judge, who hit 52 homers. They will have it twofold this season with Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup. All he did was hit 59 homers last year. Martinez hit 45 last year with Detroit and Arizona.

Homers matter. They are quick runs. They are, at times, multiple runs. They are exciting, and it seemed as though the Red Sox were one of the few teams in baseball that didn’t enjoy this excitement with their fans last year.

Did the Red Sox overpay for Martinez? Probably, but he was definitely a missing piece.

Have they matched the Yankees lineup? Maybe not, but consider that if Price is healthy, he and Chris Sale have had success offsetting Judge and Stanton.

There’s a possibility that the Red Sox pitching will be better than the Yankees pitching, and there’s now a possibility that the Red Sox offense with Martinez will at least be in the same conversation as the Yankees.

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If the Red Sox fell short on Martinez, they might as well have done nothing, because there really wasn’t another bat out there that was comparable. Didn’t we all know this would happen? Didn’t we always know that the stalemate would be broken?

We knew the Red Sox felt that Martinez fell more along the lines of Justin Upton at five years, $106 million. We all knew agent Scott Boras would try to get Yoenis Cespedes money for Martinez, an average annual value of $27.5 million. In the end, with Martinez not really having as many choices as one would think, he settled for Boston’s offer, which was for five years and approximately $110 million.

There had been rumors of Arizona digging deep to find the money to retain him. There was even a story that Martinez would go back to Arizona, where he loved playing, on a one-year deal and then go back on the market next year.

But he would be a year older, and he would be competing against a free agent class that included Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, and Josh Donaldson, so how realistic was it that he would get the kind of deal he wanted?

Plus, Harper is a Boras client. The last thing Boras wants is another one of his players out on the market. It was hard enough this season with Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, also Boras clients, on the market.

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Now all that has to be done is figure out whether Martinez will like being a DH, because that’s where he’ll play predominantly. We suppose there will be times when the Red Sox want to sit a lefthanded-hitting outfielder against tough lefthanded pitching, so Martinez could play left field over Andrew Benintendi if Benintendi moves to center while Jackie Bradley takes a seat.

As Martinez mulled over his situation, according to major league sources, he had to get used to the fact that he would no longer be a full-time outfielder. That’s always tough for a positional player to accept, but he certainly is aware of the adulation Ortiz received over the years in Boston. He knows that if he does what he did in Arizona, he will be beloved in Boston.

Fenway Park is built for a righthanded slugger.

It just is.

Forget this stuff from some coaches and managers that, “Oh, he’s always best when he hits to right-center.” Baloney. You want Martinez pulling the ball out of the park.

Martinez was made for the Red Sox. And judging by conversations I’ve had with D-Backs personnel Mike Hazen, Torey Lovullo, and Dave Magadan, he is a hitting savant. He loves to hit. He makes in-game adjustments about as well as any hitter in the game.

Another thing we’ve discussed in past columns is his ability to hit velocity. Martinez hit .364 against pitches 95 m.p.h. and better. That’s no small ability for a hitter (and the Yankees can bring velocity). With pitchers hitting higher velocities by the year, to have a hitter who isn’t fazed by it is huge.

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If Martinez is right, healthy, and accepting of the DH role, this will be an exciting signing. He could hit third or fourth in an order that will be made better by his presence.

His presence also will create some tough managerial decisions for Alex Cora. What will he do with Hanley Ramirez and how will his platoon with Mitch Moreland work? Will the Red Sox now seek to move Ramirez somewhere and eat some of the contract? If Ramirez is healthy and hopeful of having a good season so he can make his vesting option (he needs 497 plate appearances), will he accept a reduced role?

But good problems to have.

What the Red Sox have done is suddenly create excitement around their team. They have also sent a message to the Yankees that they don’t own the market on power hitters.

No, the Red Sox have one now, too.


Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickcafardo.