NEW YORK -- J.D. Martinez needed only to glance around the clubhouse to find examples of high-profile acquisitions who have struggled in their Red Sox debut seasons. There's starter Rick Porcello, Martinez's former teammate on the Tigers, who had a rough first year in Boston in 2015 following a trade from Detroit before capturing the American League Cy Young Award the following season.
Another starter who played with Martinez in Detroit, former AL Cy Young Award winner David Price, had mixed results during the 2016 regular season and then had a rough outing in that year's postseason after signing with the Red Sox for seven years and $217 million.