Tigers Close To Deal With Victor Martinez By Tim Dierkes [November 23 at 9:19am CST]
The Tigers are close to a deal with catcher Victor Martinez on a four-year, $50MM deal, reports Ignacio Serrano of El Nacional (link in Spanish). Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets to confirm the report. Serrano says Martinez accepted the Tigers' offer, and there will be a deal barring an unforeseen event.
According to Serrano, Martinez turned down a four-year, $48MM offer from the Orioles and a three-year, $48MM offer from the White Sox.
Though the Red Sox hoped to re-sign Martinez, they can take solace in receiving the best available draft pick as part of their compensation. The Tigers must surrender their #19 pick next year to the Red Sox, unless Detroit also signs Jayson Werth later.
According to Rotoworld, he will serve as the primary DH for Detroit and will only catch enough to be eligible for C in fantasy leagues following year.
This is great news for guys like me who have VMart in a keeper league. He typically hits better when he is a DH/1B and should get more ABs over the course of the year. I was waiting for the day he wouldn't have to play 120+ games behind home plate, but still qualify for C.
When it comes to exaggerating, I always give 110%.
yeah, meh here too ... offense will be tough to find from the C spot, but if the Sox truly value defense then he shouldn't be back there. For 12.5 mil when he's 35. And they'll probably go hard after Beltre, which I'm warming up to, though not in love yet. Still hate the idea of giving Werth $75 mil though.
Risky. If you look at VMart's career numbers as though he's a 1B/DH, he's not really Le Sex. No seasons of .900 OPS, 2 seasons of .200 ISO. Is he going to hit better only catching 1-2 days a week? Or has his body already absorbed all those innings catching? I suppose one good thing is that he can man 1B and rest MCab. I know I wouldn't have offered him 4 years
bigken117 wrote: Still hate the idea of giving Werth $75 mil though.
You'll love it. Just leave Beltre to us. Thanks.
Cafe bets 2010: W/j24jags - Oakland A's more wins then NYM W/mweir145 - Oakland A's more wins then TOR (hat-trick?)
not sure what to think yet...liked it better if he was going to catch a significant amount...i'm sure as the years go by i'll hate the deal more and more... too bad i dont get the Detroit News, i'd like to see how buttery Lynn Hennings article is...guess i'll settle for an uber-negative Drew Sharp article
Dan Lambskin wrote:not sure what to think yet...liked it better if he was going to catch a significant amount...i'm sure as the years go by i'll hate the deal more and more... too bad i dont get the Detroit News, i'd like to see how buttery Lynn Hennings article is...guess i'll settle for an uber-negative Drew Sharp article
As for Martinez, why the Tigers spent so heavily to sign him is both obvious and defensible.
He is a lifetime .300 hitter with a career on-base percentage of .369. He can smack home runs, and he can rip doubles, with more two-baggers likely to follow at a ballpark as tailored to his stroke as Comerica Park.
But he is not Dunn, particularly against right-handed pitching, which is what teams face the vast majority of times.
The Tigers would have been better off with Dunn because of his game-breaking ability. And yet, if they add another bat to give both Cabrera and Martinez some help, Martinez's lesser power but greater hitting skills should give the Tigers a huge boost for as long as Martinez plays in Detroit.
He also has the capacity to catch 40 games in 2011 when Alex Avila, the necessary starter, gets his days off.
And, so, factor in all the pluses and the Tigers made what should be a safe and valuable investment even when the cost was high.
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by kimchi_chigae » Tue Nov 23, 2010 11:29 am 
