Die Saalfelds » J.D. Martinez speaks out about the state of free agency

http://www.marlinsfanproshop.com/authentic-starlin-castro-jersey , plus some injury updates."We are now through the first weekend of spring training games down in Florida, though we still haven’t seen a lot of the regulars out there. A good chunk of them made their debuts on Sunday, but we’re still waiting for spring to really get into full-swing. In the meantime, we do have a few news hits to talk about a little further from the last few days.J.D. Martinez isn’t happy about free agencyThis one doesn’t really have anything to do with Red Sox camp in general, at least not specifically. It is, however, being picked up nationally. Martinez spoke with WEEI’s Rob Bradford and shared his thoughts on the slow-moving free agency that has dominated conversation in the sport for the last two winters. Obviously the slugger hasn’t been involved in this winter’s market, but he was one of the posterboys for last year’s slow market before eventually agreeing to his current five-year deal with the Red Sox that includes opt-outs that start after this season. Martinez doesn’t really bring up the fact that he could be on the market next winter, though there’s little doubt that’s on his mind. Instead Nick Wittgren Jersey , he talks about the game at large and all of the issues he sees with the competitive balance in the league right now. The next CBA negotiations are going to be hell.Alex Cora offers hints into the Red Sox lineupIn the grand scheme of things, lineup construction isn’t all that important to winning and losing. As long as a manger isn’t doing something absurd and putting his best players at the end of the lineup, huge differences won’t be made. That said, in any given game any small decision can have a huge impact, which is why we tend to make more out of lineup orders than we should. So, we can get started on that early as Cora has offered some early hints as to what the lineup is going to look like. Well, at least the first half. As we already know, Andrew Benintendi will be leading off with Mookie Betts hitting second. After that, we will see some J.D. Martinez in the three-spot Julio Urias Jersey , but it seems Cora is more keen on having him hit cleanup. He, wisely in my opinion, prefers Martinez’s first at bat to either come with runners on base or leading off an inning. If Martinez hits fourth, one of the first basemen or Rafael Devers will hit third. Xander Bogaerts will hit immediately after Martinez wherever the latter slots in. The most interesting takeaway for me here is that Devers is mentioned as a possibility to hit third. That tells me they have an awful lot of confidence that he is going to make major strides at the plate this season.Photo by Elsa/Getty ImagesRyan Brasier still nursing toe injuryWe probably wouldn’t have seen him in game action by this point anyway, but Ryan Brasier is still suffering from a toe injury that is taking longer than expected to heal. Obviously the team is going to take its time with any injury this early in spring, particularly with someone who is so important to this roster. Since Boston has decided against adding more relief help, there is a big burden on Matt Barnes and Brasier this season. The good news here is that Cora is joking around saying they may have to “cut it off.” He probably wouldn’t be as inclined to joke around if there was something more serious going on. Hopefully we’ll see Brasier in games soon enough.Other NotesWe still don’t have an exact date on when Dustin Pedroia will make his spring debut, though Cora was asked and it can be deduced it will be around March 6. We’d obviously rather see him get a full spring, but it only makes sense that the Red Sox will take their time with the veteran. Expect him to get extra days off in April http://www.dodgersfanproshop.com/authentic-max-muncy-jersey , too.Rick Porcello was on Rob Bradford’s podcast and indicated he hadn’t received an extension offer from the Red Sox. That’s not a huge surprise, as the focus is presumably on Chris Sale, Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez, not to mention Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. Porcello has a good chance of being on the outside looking in by the winter. New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge is swinging a bat again.According to Coley Harvey of ESPN.com, the slugger took 50 swings鈥?5 of which were to hit the ball off the tee鈥攑rior to New York's Monday game against the Oakland Athletics. It was the first time Judge has swung since he suffered a chip fracture of his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch on July 26."It's moving in the right direction. It's definitely a big step," Judge said. "We're just excited and kind of on track with what we're going to one day accomplish. So I'm excited for the progress we're making so far."Judge said he didn't feel pain while swinging, and manager Aaron Boone suggested he could be accelerating toward a return to the field with this progress."Once we get through this weekend, and if he continues to graduate, then you start really thinking about a possible timeline about maybe getting back Chris Taylor Jersey ," Boone said.Harvey noted there is no official timetable since the original plan was for him to return in three weeks after the injury. It has been more than five weeks, and Judge won't have the option of minor league rehab games with the minor league regular season over.This progress comes at a time when the Bronx Bombers are 7.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League East and running out of realistic time to make a charge. However, they are still comfortably in the playoff picture at 4.5 games ahead of the Athletics for the top wild-card spot and 10 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners should Oakland make a charge.New York has weathered Judge's setback with Giancarlo Stanton at designated hitter, and the trade acquisition of Andrew McCutchen provides important depth in right field.Still, Judge's return to the lineup will make New York all the more dangerous in the postseason. The reigning American League Rookie of the Year and Silver Slugger winner has appeared in 99 games this season and is slashing .285/.398/.548 with 26 homers and 61 RBI.