Would J.D. Martinez come to the Chicago White Sox?

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - APRIL 05: J.D. Martinez #28 of the Boston Red Sox warms up on deck during the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on April 05, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - APRIL 05: J.D. Martinez #28 of the Boston Red Sox warms up on deck during the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on April 05, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The Chicago White Sox are going to have a busy offseason as they prep to be a good team in 2020. Could one of the MLB’s best hitters be an option?

The Chicago White Sox are about to end their third year of a rebuild where they stripped their roster down to the bone. They are improved over where they were a year ago as you would expect, but there is still a lot of growing to do. Guys like Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson have taken some major steps forward. Eloy Jimenez came in and made an immediate impact, and there are guys like Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal set to make their MLB debuts in 2020.

The White Sox are going to have a busy offseason. There are plans with guys within their own organization that will be arriving at the big club, but they likely will want to spend a little bit of money too in free agency. There are some fans that believe they won’t spend in free agency, but those people could not be more wrong. They didn’t offer Manny Machado more than 250 million dollars because they felt he doesn’t deserve 300 million guaranteed and they are looking like they are right.

Machado had a chance to earn more with the White Sox based on performance bonuses, but he took the guaranteed money with the San Diego Padres. Moncada is just fine at third and the same goes for Anderson at shortstop which are the two positions Machado could have played. Bryce Harper would have looked good in right field for this team, but there could be a plan B for missing on him.

During ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, a conversation sparked between the broadcasters about J.D. Martinez‘s future. He has the option to opt-out of his current Red Sox contract if he wants to. Martinez has had a lot of success since going to Boston and has been one of the best hitters in the league. They are in the middle of a really tough season a year after dominating their way to 108 wins and a World Series title.

While discussing Martinez’s future, former MLB star Alex Rodriguez brought up the White Sox as a possible destination for the superstar slugger. He is 32 years old so he would definitely fit as a veteran presence on this young team but wouldn’t be a long term solution by any means. He also fits based on his positional needs. He can play right field and be a designated hitter, which are both spots in the lineup the White Sox would like to fill.

Martinez is having a fantastic season on this underwhelming Red Sox team. He is slashing .310/.387/.581 with an OPS of .968. He currently has 35 home runs and 94 RBIs. He is probably going to finish with over 40 Home runs and 100 RBIs which would look really nice in the middle of the young White Sox lineup.

On Sunday night, they announced the firing of their President of Baseball Operations, Dave Dombrowski. This could mean that they are taking the team in a direction that nobody saw coming. Dombrowski has done everything they wanted him to do as far as using prospect capital and free agency money to get the team a World Series title. That includes sending Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech to the White Sox for Chris Sale.

This change could mean that Martinez opts out of his contract and is looking for a new team. If Alex Rodriguez is right and the White Sox ended up with Martinez, that would be amazing for a lot of guys and their development. He would be the best pure hitter they had in a long time and the guys hitting around him would definitely benefit. It may be a long shot as lots of teams will pursue him, it would sure be fun to see.

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