FORT MYERS, Fla. – The negotiations took three and a half months; that was long enough. But the J.D. Martinez contract wasn’t finalized for another week even after an agreement in principle was reached.
“It was a long process,’’ acknowledged Martinez at his introductory press conference. “I’m happy to put everything behind me and be here today and finally go out and just play baseball.’’
What took so long?
First, as was widely suspected, some of the delays were simply logistical.
“At this time of the year,’’ said Dave Dombrowski, “you’re in a spot where not everybody is in one place for a physical. So J.D. actually did fly to Boston (last Thursday) to get checked out there because we just didn’t have all the doctors here that we needed.
“Then it was kind of being in position to kind of complete the language.’’
And that’s where things got tricky. During the review process, the Red Sox wanted some protection against Martinez missing significant time because of a foot injury suffered in the first half of 2017.
“The goal is common, very mutual’’ said agent Scott Boras. “We all wanted to execute an agreement that we all thought was in the best interest for both J.D. and the Red Sox. The idea of it is clarity. You really have to go through every step of this and be clear, so that each of the parties understand the dynamics of what is clear medically, what is clear legally. That process took its course and there was good faith throughout.
“It was not an adversarial process. It was a process of understanding.’’
So, what happened over the last week?
- After initially agreeing to opt-out clauses for Martinez after the 2019 season and the 2020 season – the second and third years of the deal -- Red Sox agreed to also include an opt-out following the 2021 season, the fourth year.
- In exchange, the Red Sox also got some protection on the back end of the deal. With the input of a three-doctor panel, if Martinez spends 60 days on the DL in the third season of the deal, or 10 days or more in the third year, plus a total of 120 days between the second and third season because of issues related to the pre-existing Lisfranc condition in his right foot, the fourth year becomes a mutual option. In other words, while Martinez already has the ability to "opt-out,'' the Sox would have that right as well.
- The same formula above applies to the third and fourth seasons as well, leading to a potential mutual option for the fifth year.