J.D. Martinez: 'Writers would never allow' DH to win MVP

J.D. Martinez doesn't believe the Baseball Writers' Association of America has any intention to see a designated hitter win an MVP award.

Martinez served as the primary DH for the Boston Red Sox last season and put up monster numbers but finished a distant fourth in MVP voting. He still isn't happy about it.

"The writers would never allow (a DH to win)," Martinez told Chris Mason of the Eagle-Tribune. "They'd get blackballed. There's a reason why a lot of people didn't. You've got to think of it like this: Writers want to be what?"

Martinez said BBWAA members - the writers who decide regular-season awards - have ulterior motives in voting for certain players.

"They want to work where? They want to work in the front office," he said. "They want to get jobs with teams and (expletive). These guys that do all the analytics and all the stuff like that. To me, that's what they look at. That's what they're going to value.

"That's my opinion. If you go against the grain and you're the guy that says that, then you have everybody saying you're bad at your job. It's easier to go with the crowd."

The 31-year-old implied that writers make decisions as a group, rather than think individually.

"Everybody wants to be like, 'Oh yeah, well that's the most valuable thing,'" Martinez said. "But why? 'Oh, because this guy won it.' If you're a writer and you care what you say, then why don't you write your story for how you see it, not for what everybody else does? Because to me, it just follows the trend."

Martinez slashed .330/.402/.629 in 2018 with 43 home runs and an MLB-leading 130 RBIs last season. However, he finished 10th in the majors in WAR, according to FanGraphs, and watched his teammate Mookie Betts claim the AL MVP award.

A full-time DH has never taken home the honor.