The market for J.D. Martinez appeared to comprise just one team -- the Boston Red Sox, who had the means, motive and opportunity to sign the outfielder/DH whom no other team seemed to come close to in terms of offers. That may have contributed to the lengthy stalemate. I think the Red Sox blinked, giving Martinez a five-year, $110 million deal that is certainly too long (the deal includes an opt-out after two years), but does improve their offense in a way no other free agent this year could have, and directly boosts their chances of repeating as division champs.

In the short term, Martinez is exactly what the Red Sox need: a power hitter to insert into a lineup that hit the fewest homers of any American League team last year -- 168, 18 home runs behind the next lowest total. The Red Sox were fifth in the AL in OBP last year, helping them to a sixth-place finish in runs scored despite the lack of home run power, but with even average home run totals they likely would have finished in the top three.

Some of their returning hitters should put more balls in the seats this year. Xander Bogaerts played through two hand injuries last year, and a full season of Rafael Devers at third should be worth more than the 17 homers they got all year from that position. But the incumbents on the roster weren't getting past 200 homers without some outside help.

Martinez has averaged 40 homers per 162 games since he became a regular in 2014. Even if you want to toss 2017 as an outlier, since he hit a ridiculous 29 homers in 62 games for the Diamondbacks, he averaged 34 homers per 162 games in the previous three seasons.

Martinez is a power hitter with strong batting averages and improving walk rates, but he brings no value on defense or on the bases. He's a well-below-average defender in left, hasn't played first base since 2009 (two games in short-season ball) and gives the Red Sox two players who really should be full-time designated hitters. There's no reason that Martinez should play in the outfield over Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts or Jackie Bradley Jr., so Martinez has to become the full-time DH, which means Hanley Ramirez becomes either the full-time first baseman or, more likely, platoons with Mitch Moreland at first. That latter solution could be incredibly productive -- Moreland has never hit lefties -- if Ramirez is willing to accept the demotion.

It seems unlikely this deal will age well, even if it doesn't age quite as quickly as the Pablo Sandoval contract. Martinez will play at 30 years old this year, 34 in the final year, and he's the type of player who tends to decline more in his 30s than better athletes or players with more defensive value. I'd put good money on Martinez spending 2022 on the bench or elsewhere, given his profile. But this deal still makes sense for the Red Sox, even with the caveat that the last year or two will probably produce negative returns because Martinez provides so much on-field value in the first few years, while the team is contending and its homegrown core is still here and relatively inexpensive.

Martinez gets the equivalent of the first part of the Hosmer deal, the portion before Hosmer's opt-out, even though he has been a much better player to this point in their respective careers. Boston won the AL East last year with 93 wins, two games ahead of the Yankees, who already have improved substantially this winter; adding a hitter who addresses Boston’s most glaring weakness is a high-return investment because of where they're likely to be in the standings this year.

The Padres, meanwhile, won 71 games last year and are the weakest team in the NL West on paper right now, with very little chance of being at or above .500 in 2018. Even if the two deals were equal, I'd still favor the Martinez deal because the Red Sox are in win-now mode and he's taking up a smaller portion of their payroll. But they're not equal, since the Padres gave Hosmer a player option for the last three years at $39 million, years when Dan Szymborski's ZiPS system has Hosmer playing near replacement-level baseball.

The Martinez deal makes the Hosmer deal even harder to understand. The better player got the smaller contract even though he went to a team with a higher payroll and a much better chance of a playoff berth in 2018 or 2019. In a market that has been surprisingly unfavorable to top free agents, Hosmer's contract stands out as the best deal for the player.