Red Sox Notebook: J.D. Martinez making sacrifices so Kyle Schwarber can stay in the lineup

With one additional year remaining on his $110 million contract, J.D. Martinez has a lot to prove before he heads into free agency after the 2022 season as a 35-year-old.

Martinez is now proving he can be a regular outfielder again.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Saturday that Martinez has made sacrifices to help the team fit Kyle Schwarber into the lineup. Since Schwarber made his Sox debut on Aug. 13, Martinez has played eight games as the designated hitter and 11 games in the outfield, where he played on Saturday against the Indians.

“I don’t want to run them into the ground,” Cora said. “Obviously, both of them can play left field, so we played J.D. a lot that week when Kyle came back and we had to DH him, and I think that worked against us. Obviously, he’ll give the best effort. He’s a smart outfielder. He makes good decisions. But, physically, he hasn’t done that in a while, and for us to maintain both guys fresh and healthy, we’ll keep doing that.”

Schwarber has played some first base of late, but Cora said flipping Schwarber and Martinez back and forth between DH and left field will help keep the red-hot Bobby Dalbec in the lineup.

Schwarber hasn’t had any trouble. He’s hitting a remarkable .344 with a 1.078 OPS and 15 walks to just 18 strikeouts since his arrival.

But Martinez has slowed down. He’s hitting just .242 with a .692 OPS since he started sharing time at DH.

“The routine is different, but in ’18 actually he had better numbers playing the outfield than DHing,” Cora said. “Small sample size. He understands where we’re at roster-wise. He understands we have to sometimes make quote-unquote sacrifices for the benefit of the team. He’s a guy that, ‘you tell me where I play, and I’ll be there.’ There’s some adjustments as far as his routine in between at-bats.”

COVID relief

Kiké Hernandez will likely be the first of the Sox players to return from the COVID-19 related injury list.

“It should be soon,” Cora said. “As soon as he gets here, the other guys will follow suit.”

Hernandez, Matt Barnes, Xander Bogaerts, Christian Arroyo and Hirokazu Sawamura, all on the COVID list, were all feeling better on Saturday, Cora said.

Despite the outbreak, the Sox entered Saturday 8-4 over their last 12 games. But they’re concerned about how the layoff will affect those who are out with the illness and have to quarantine in their hotel rooms.

“Just being in a room just doing pushups and abs, it’s not great for baseball,” Cora said. “Your cardio and all that stuff. You haven’t been able to do that. You don’t have your repetitions…

“Getting them back in the lineup sooner rather than later, is beneficial to us, but at the same time, taking care of their health is important.”

Long wait is over

After 883 minor league games, 28-year-old Jack Lopez picked up his first major league hit on Friday night.

“It felt like it was one of my kids, to be honest with you,” Cora said of his fellow countryman from Puerto Rico. “I’ve known Jack for a while, his family. I know the grind. We even recruited him to go to the University of Miami, and he actually signed a letter of intent and he signed with the Royals.”

Lopez won a Silver Medal with Team USA in the Summer Olympics.

“It’s been a great year for Jackie,” Cora said. “He’s played well for three days. For him to get that hit, it meant a lot. It meant a lot to a lot of guys in the clubhouse. There’s a lot of guys here that have played with him the last month in Worcester, and it was a real joy (Friday) when he connected and hit that double.”

Cora said he wants Lopez to continue to have an opposite-field approach, but thinks he has “sneaky pop.” Lopez got the start at second base on Saturday.

Transactions

Desperate for healthy bodies, the Sox added 31-year-old utility man Taylor Motter to the active roster and sent Connor Wong back to Triple-A Worcester. Motter has 154 games of big league experience but a .189 average with 10 home runs.

The Sox also claimed right-hander Geoff Hartlieb off waivers from the Mets and optioned him to Worcester. The 27-year-old has a 7.46 ERA over 66 1/3 innings in the big leagues.