Red Sox continue to evaluate Martinez's physical, delaying his debut
Four days after agreeing to a reported five-year, $110 million deal with the Boston Red Sox, outfielder J.D. Martinez has yet to be introduced by the club or take the field with his teammates.
And now, the speculation as to why is heating up.
MLB Network on Friday reported the club is still studying the free-agent slugger's physical, which took place on Wednesday. Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told ESPN's Scott Lauber via text that Martinez "continues to take his physical."
Dombrowski added he was unsure if Martinez would work out with the Red Sox on Friday.
On Thursday, MassLive.com's Christopher Smith reported the team did not expect the physical to be completed "until at least Friday."
The delay sparks particular interest considering Martinez's injury history, plus the size of the contract and the amount of time it took to get done. Boston's courtship of Martinez seemed to sour at times this offseason, an offseason in which the free-agent market was unusually slow to develop.
Martinez, 30, is a career .285 hitter with 152 home runs and 476 RBIs in 772 games with Houston, Detroit and Arizona. But his stock really took off at the end of last season, when he hit 29 home runs and drove in 65 in only 62 games with the Diamondbacks following a trade.
A knee sprain and wrist injury limited Martinez to 86 games with the Astros in 2013, and he also missed more than 40 games in each of the last two seasons. In 2016 he suffered a broken elbow crashing into a wall, and foot injury sustained in spring training cost him the first six weeks of last season.
--Field Level Media
