SPRINGFIELD -- Now, that Major League Baseball is done with its investigation of the Houston Astros, they've moved on and begun looking into the 2018 Red Sox.
J.D. Martinez isn't worried about them uncovering anything, despite a report in The Athletic earlier this month that detailed how the team used its video replay room to decode opponents' signs and transmit them from the dugout to runners on base. Martinez expressed confidence that the Sox weren't in the wrong.
"It sucks, to be honest with you,'' said Martinez, appearing at the team's Winter Weekend, of the scrutiny the Sox are now facing. "It does suck. But I'm excited for the investigation to get over just so they can see that there was nothing going on here.''
When a reporter asked: "That's what they'll find?'' Martinez responded: "I believe that, yes.''
Pressed as to why he was so confident the Sox will be absolved, Martinez said: "Because I was there. I saw that the game was straight up. Everyone seems to forget that in 2016 and 2017, this team was a really good team. This team won 93 games those two years and then we just got better. I'll wait. We're really not allowed to comment on it, so we'll see what happens.''
Other teammates this week have insisted that the 2018 World Series win hasn't been tainted and Martinez concurs.
"One hundred percent,'' said Martinez. "I've been on a bunch of teams in my career and (of all the) team I've been on, this is the hardest-working team, the team that studies the most, the team that's the most prepared for a game I've ever been on.''
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