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Red Sox: Five players that can replace Mookie Betts in right field

By Brendan Mizgala

CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 23: Mookie Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after striking out during the ninth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on September 23, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 23: Mookie Betts #50 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after striking out during the ninth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on September 23, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /
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SAN DIEGO, CA – AUGUST 25: J.D. Martinez #28 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after striking out during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park August 25, 2019 in San Diego, California. Teams are wearing special color schemed uniforms with players choosing nicknames to display for Players’ Weekend. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

No. 3: J.D. Martinez

Of my five options, this one is probably my least favorite but there’s some logic behind the choice. Though J.D. Martinez is known for hitting monster bombs and smacking in runs, he is also a veteran outfielder. During this past season, we saw former manager Alex Cora shake things up from time to time, which saw Martinez in rightfield.

J.D. is more than capable of patrolling the rightfield grounds but it isn’t his strong suit and not where I’d ideally like to see him in the lineup. We saw miscues from the DH in both the 2018 postseason and 2019 regular season. Then there was that awkward moment where he misplayed a ball in right where the wall gets short and, uh, “met a fan”.

In a perfect world, Martinez would remain the everyday DH and would only step onto the field defensively is absolutely necessary. His .959 Fld% from 2019 isn’t atrocious but it also isn’t up to snuff compared to Benny and JBJ. Again, he’s much more valuable to the Red Sox at than he is using his glove.

It’s impossible to predict how this upcoming season will play out and as we all know, the injury bug loves visiting Boston. It may not be up to the next manager on whether they use J.D. in rightfield. If even one of the true options to replace Mookie goes down, we very well could be seeing Martinez flashing the leather.

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