OT- Tigers re-sign Victor Martinez

Submitted by WMUgoblue on
On my phone so feel free to link any tweets below. But it looks like it's a 4 year $68 million deal. The years are obviously too many but $68 million seems like a deal considering what he could have gotten from somebody else on the open market.

93Grad

November 12th, 2014 at 5:51 PM ^

This will be another tough contract to deal with at the end, but V-Mart is pretty critical to the lineup.  Things could get really ugly in a couple years when Cabrerra needs to be DH'ing, but they might as well go for it while they still have a window.

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johnthesavage

November 13th, 2014 at 12:13 AM ^

Team's biggest problems were bullpen (HORRIBLE) and defense. They were one of the best hitting teams in baseball, and that wasn't worth much. Giving this money and years to a 36 year old who hardly ever even puts on a glove is not a wise move. I hate it, personally.

Sure, if the budget is infinite, it's great to have him back. But it's not.

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BlueCrowns

November 12th, 2014 at 5:39 PM ^

Good signing, we need him behind Cabrera.

Should be interesting how this works in a few years, since Miggy probably won't be a viable option at first through the term of this contract. Hopefully he can keep hitting and we'll be able to trade him.

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umchicago

November 12th, 2014 at 10:32 PM ^

ya, it's tough to play 1B at age 33. give me a break.  if anything, miggy will improve there over the next couple years.  experience helps in making those common scoops at 1B, etc.  i could cite scores of players who shifted to 1B in the middle of their career only to improve defensively going forward.

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BlueCrowns

November 12th, 2014 at 10:50 PM ^

Miggy will actually be 34 and 35 for those two seasons, and it's not like they don't know this isn't a real possibility. Hopefully he can still play first then, but he's never been great defensively, and his health has been touch and go (at best) the last few seasons. If they think keeping him off the field will keep him healthy (which it obviously would), and that the defense needs to be better in that corner (which definitely wouldn't hurt next season, either), they'll move him sooner than later.

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LSAClassOf2000

November 12th, 2014 at 6:02 PM ^

I do believe this was a key objective for the Tigers this offseason, to get V-Mart back in the fold, so it is great to see that they've succeeded. I couldn't see a scenario where they replaced that production in the lineup, and Martinez makes everyone who bats near him in that lineup look much better, which to me demonstrates the need to have him in that role. 

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JamieH

November 12th, 2014 at 6:09 PM ^

if the Tigers wanted any shot to win next year.  There was no one on the Free Agent market to replace him if he walked.  If J.D. Martinez is actually for real, and Cabrera can come back from surgery 100% (big ifs) the Tigers could have the best 3-4-5 in baseball. 

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ca_prophet

November 12th, 2014 at 6:14 PM ^

I think we'll be fortunate if he's worth 34M combined in years 1-2, and over the moon if he's worth 68M over the deal's lifetime. That said, it's not my money, and it's always a good sign when ownership authorizes the GM to spend where they see fit. It's not clear if there was a better place to put 68M - it's not like Trout's a free agent after all - and it does give us better odds than yesterday of making the playoffs (although he just had a career year; he'll be worse from here on out). It's just not a good bet, and it's at a position where, say, Ryan Howard for free (e.g. The Phillies pick up his entire deal and we give up a used tissue) might work out better in the long run. (That Howard deal is a huge cautionary tale here, btw.)

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JamieH

November 12th, 2014 at 6:22 PM ^

Yeah,it was a career year, but even if we only get his career averages of .306/.373/.475 going forward the deal is probalby worth it. 

The dude is remarkably consistent.  In 10 full seasons, he's hit over .300 eight times and hit 20+ homers six times.  There aren't many guys who can do that. 

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JamieH

November 12th, 2014 at 6:44 PM ^

Edgar Martinez had great seasons at age 37 and 38, and a solid year at age 40.  Hopefully Victor can be like that.  

 

Not playing in the field every day reduces a lot of the wear and tear on the body that really drains you as you get older.  All Victor has to do is swing the bat and run the bases 4 or 5 times a night. 

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BlueinOK

November 12th, 2014 at 7:04 PM ^

His plate discipline is why I think he can be successful late into his career. I love this deal. Now they just need to add a CF and some help in the backend. 

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Rodriguesqe

November 12th, 2014 at 7:16 PM ^

I was surprised how many people didn't think this would happen. Illitch isn't going to start pinching pennies, DD gets his man, and Victor was irreplaceable and critical. The 4th year is tough, and the point about blocking miggy from dh'ing is valid. But why worry about 4 years from now now?

Supposedly they're hot on Melky Cabrerra's trail. Not a huge fan of his, but he'd be a nice replacement to Hunter.

edit: also, Victor seems to love the franchise, as do most people who work/play for the team. We have a first class ball club in Detroit.

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rob f

November 12th, 2014 at 8:00 PM ^

VMart is such a good hitter that he may surprise many of us in the back half of this contract.  Outstanding plate discipline, rarely strikes out , rarely has a wasted at bat.  I don't have the stats right here at hand, but what Victor does with a 2-strike count is just off the charts, far better than anyone else in baseball.  And since VMart, as DH, rarely has to play defensively more than once a week on average, he won't be subjected to the wear and tear most players do over a long season.

Next job for Dombrowski?  Fix that f'n bullpen!!!

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SFBlue

November 12th, 2014 at 8:00 PM ^

Great, but it's a bullpen overhaul that is necessary in order to win in the playoffs.  You could buy a pretty good bullpen for half that much.

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Rodriguesqe

November 12th, 2014 at 8:20 PM ^

agreed fixing the bullpen is critical. but they renewed soria, who was possibly the best reliever in baseball when he wasnt a tiger. nathan is probably worth giving the closer job to start the year, and they have that huge dude (forget his name, but young guy out of the farm who had tommy john) coming back i think. bullpen might not get as big of an overhaul as everyone wants, but it might not need it either.

the bullpen wasnt neglected last year, its that every move dd did blew up in his face. not pointing the finger, just sometimes thats how it goes.

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WolverineinSB

November 13th, 2014 at 1:52 AM ^

I wanted the White Sox to get him but not at that money. Tigers are willing to spend tho. Year 4 may be rough. No way he will be worth it at 40. Great player tho and will be very good in the short term.

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TheLastHarbaugh

November 13th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^

I feel like this is a signing that will make everyone happy but ultimately isn't a good decision.

The Tigers' biggest strength last year was hitting, while their biggest weaknesses were defense and the bullpen. This signing does nothing to address either of those issues while severely limiting the amount of money we have to spend on free agents.

Detroit's financial commitment for next year is already at $163 million. Last year's was $164 million - the largest in franchise history. From all indications the Tigers are not looking to exceed that amount by much, which means we're still going to have some pretty major holes in the bullpen, in addition to a gigantic hole at third base.

IIRC, Nick Castellanos was the worst defensive player in baseball last year with a dWAR of -2.7. He is horrific. We can't have him as our everyday third baseman. Yes, he's young, but he's so bad it's singlehandedly destroying our defense. He's a black hole.

It just seems like this money could have been put to better use, adding a solid defensive third baseman, and maybe a couple of quality pieces to the bullpen.

Instead it feels like we're bringing back a lesser version of the same team (with Max being all but gone) who struggled to make the playoffs and was swept in the divisional series.

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