J.D. Martinez Is Perfect Big-Money Red Sox Splash to Solve Home Run Void

In the year of the home run, a Houston Astros team that hit plenty of them just won the World Series. Meanwhile, in Boston, a Red Sox team that didn't hit enough of them just brought in a guy from Arizona with some home run history.

Do you think Tony La Russa might be able to bring J.D. Martinez along with him?

If nothing else, the new Red Sox vice president and special assistant has seen in person how Martinez's power can affect a team. In his prior role as the chief baseball officer of the Arizona Diamondbacks, La Russa saw Martinez hit 29 home runs in just 62 games after a midseason trade to push the D-backs into the playoffs.

The 2017 Red Sox were the only team in the American League that didn't have anyone hit 25 home runs for the entire season. A year after David Ortiz retired, it was the first Red Sox team since 1992 without a 25-homer guy and the first Red Sox team since 1993 to finish last in the league in home runs.

Do you think Martinez might be able to help?

"That's a perfect fit," one American League scout who knows the Red Sox well said Thursday. "That's what I've been telling people. Trade Jackie Bradley Jr. Move [Andrew] Benintendi to center field. Sign J.D. Martinez."

Sarah Sachs/Arizona Diamondbacks/Getty Images

Simple, except this doesn't figure to be as easy a transaction as the one Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made when he signed Martinez three-and-a-half years ago to play for the Detroit Tigers. Back then, Dombrowski got Martinez on a minor league deal after the Astros released him (one of their rare very bad decisions).

Martinez is available again, one of 149 players who automatically became free agents Thursday, the day after the World Series ended and the baseball winter officially began. But he won't be anywhere close to free this time around, and the reason is clear when you look at the other 148 names on that list.

We won't bore you by listing all of them, but trust us: It's not filled with power hitters. An already thin market got even thinner Thursday when Justin Upton (who could have opted out) signed a new five-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels.

If the Red Sox want a powerful first baseman to replace Mitch Moreland, who hit 22 home runs, the best free-agent options are Eric Hosmer (who hit 25) or Carlos Santana (who hit 23). Jon Heyman of Fanrag Sports suggested Thursday Hosmer could be their target. There's a power-hitting third baseman they could sign in Mike Moustakas (38 in 2017 with the Kansas City Royals), but in 21-year-old Rafael Devers, the Red Sox have that spot covered.

That leaves outfielders, which in this free-agent market means either Martinez (45 home runs in 2017) or Jay Bruce (36).

You could say the outfield is covered as well with Bradley, Benintendi and Mookie Betts, but if the Red Sox are going to add a bat, somebody is going to have to move. And while adding Martinez would be a step down defensively, he should be able to handle playing left field in Fenway.

"Just play on the warning track and come in on everything," the scout said.

Duane Burleson/Getty Images

He should love hitting there, too, even though, in seven career games as a Fenway visitor, he has no home runs. Martinez is strong enough to hit it out to all fields, but what right-hander wouldn't want to take a shot at the Monster 81 times a season?

Dombrowski isn't one to tip his hand this early in the winter, but on Thursday's conference call to introduce La Russa, he did acknowledge the obvious.

"We'd like to add offense," he said. "Hopefully, we'll get another bat that helps us do that."

The baseball winter has just begun. Martinez, according to a Wednesday tweet from Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, has just hired Scott Boras to handle his free agency. Martinez figured to hit the open market even before switching to Boras. The D-backs seem to have interest in keeping him, but budget concerns make it unlikely they would move fast.

"He's a fantastic player," D-backs general manager Mike Hazen said at a mid-October news conference, according to Nick Piecoro of AZCentral.com. "We wouldn't be where we got to without him. He changed the middle of our lineup significantly, in a way that we've obviously recognized. … We'll certainly stay engaged with him."

Martinez did change the D-backs lineup. He could change the Red Sox lineup just as much if not more.

In a division where the rival New York Yankees hit the most home runs in baseball in 2017, the Red Sox need a power boost if they want to hold onto their AL East title.

Signing J.D. Martinez would be a good start to finding it.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.