Tomase: Can Martinez follow Ortiz as Red Sox' next long-term DH?

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Like an automated sorter that ruthlessly separates good eggs from bad on a conveyor belt, the Red Sox are taking a binary approach to their roster -- you're either a long-term piece of the future or you're as expendable as Brandon Workman, Mitch Moreland, and Andrew Benintendi.

Coming off a last-place finish, one of those piles is a lot bigger than the other. Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, and Alex Verdugo should expect to be here for the long haul. Nathan Eovaldi, Adam Ottavino, and Michael Chavis, maybe not so much.

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Then there's J.D. Martinez. The All-Star designated hitter turns 34 in August and is coming off the worst season of his career. With only two years remaining on his five-year, $110 million contract, he's a prime candidate to be moved to a contender seeking offensive help before his deal expires, especially if the National League adds a DH in 2022.

And yet . . . what if Martinez has more like six or seven productive years left? Might that make him a valuable piece of the future?

Martinez is certainly thinking that way. An insatiable student of hitting, he believes he could follow the trail blazed by former Red Sox DH David Ortiz or current offseason workout partner Nelson Cruz and remain a viable middle-of-the-order threat into his 40s.

"One hundred percent," Martinez said. "I think I feel at least like I'm in one of those unique roles where I feel like I could do the same thing. I feel healthy. I feel like I take good care of myself. I feel like I study enough where I can keep myself at a certain level. So, like you said, I think those guys honestly, they give me motivation."

Red Sox fans need no reminder of Ortiz's exploits. He improved with age, delivering one of his best all-around seasons during his age-40 swan song in 2016. He hit .315 and slammed 38 homers while leading the American League in doubles (48), RBIs (127), slugging percentage (.620), and OPS (1.021).

Cruz, meanwhile, just re-signed with the Twins after finishing sixth in the AL MVP voting. He averaged 41 homers per season from 2014 to 2019, and was on roughly that pace again last year. He turns 41 in July.

A favorite of Ortiz, who openly lobbied for the Red Sox to sign him multiple times roughly a decade ago, Cruz spent part of the winter in Miami with Martinez, who didn't bypass the opportunity to talk shop.

"I was just picking his brain the whole time," Martinez said. "I was like, 'Nelson talk to me, how do you do it?' Dude, I don't know how he does it. It's amazing to me. He's been more productive the last two years then he's been, I feel like, his whole career. That's impressive and it gives you motivation because in your mind you're like, 'Well, if he can do it, why can't I?'"

Cruz and Ortiz aren't isolated cases. Hall of Famers Dave Winfield, Harold Baines, and Edgar Martinez remained productive DHs into their 40s, too. While Martinez will be sure to draw free-agent interest in two winters if he rebounds as the Red Sox expect from last year's dismal .213 average, there's no questioning his fit in Boston, where the Red Sox have consistently received well-above average production at DH from Ortiz in 2003 through Martinez today.

He's a luxury they can afford, and maybe it's even for the long haul, as a centerpiece of the next great Red Sox team.

"I mean, that's what I'm hoping," Martinez said. "I've hoped that since the first time I signed here. This is a special organization. A lot of guys don't get to play for the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Dodgers the Cubs, those historic franchises.

" ... Especially when you've been there for a while and you win, you become one of those names where you're known forever. Everyone in Red Sox history will forever know David Ortiz and Pedro Martinez, and those guys that have been here for years, so it's one of those things that would obviously be a dream."

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