After considering retirement due to a lack of interest, the six-time All-Star found a home in Queens—and has made New York's decision to sign him well worth it.
J.D. Martinez was getting tired of waiting by the phone, so around the middle of March, he issued his agent, Scott Boras, a directive:As Martinez remembers it, the New York Mets called on Thursday.
Martinez was an All-Star last year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he hasn’t had an OPS-plus below 117 in a full season since 2013, when he revamped his swing. He signed a five-year, $110 million deal with the Boston Red Sox before the ’18 season, and a one-year, $10 million deal with L.A. last year, but he says he has never enjoyed the free-agent process, even when it ends well. And he especially did not enjoy this year’s.
“I know how much effort I put into this game,” he says. “Studying my video, going home and studying all night—it takes so much time out of my life, to actually have a life outside of baseball, that comes to the point where you’re just weighing your options.I was kind of at that point.” Martinez has quickly endeared himself to his Mets teammates by bringing his hitting expertise to the dugout. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports“I’m pretty sure he sleeps with a bat next to him,” says second baseman José Iglesias, who played with Martinez for the Detroit Tigers in 2015 and ’16.
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