Detroit Tigers: Victor Martinez could be nearing end of the road
By Tim Haberin
A season-ending heart procedure, combined with age and declining production, present mounting obstacles for Detroit Tigers DH Victor Martinez.
Any hope of Victor Martinez playing again in 2017 came to an end yesterday when it was announced that the Detroit Tigers designated hitter would need to undergo a heart procedure, per Evan Woodbery of MLive.com. Martinez was placed on the disabled list on Aug. 27 with an irregular heartbeat. He landed on the DL for the same issue back in June.
The surgery is known as a cardiac ablation, a low-risk procedure which eliminates a small area of tissue causing a rapid or irregular heartbeat, according to the American Heart Association. Woodbery says that Tigers manager Brad Ausmus believes Martinez will be ready to go for Spring Training and the 2018 season.
However, given his age, rapidly declining performance and this latest setback, it’s worth wondering just how much V-Mart has left in the tank. He’ll turn 39 years old in late December and has one season at $18 million left on his contract. Ausmus claims that retirement is not on the table for the veteran slugger.
Regardless of his health, Martinez’s recent offensive production has been plenty concerning in its own right. He has endured a frustrating year at the plate, slashing .255/.324/.372 with 10 home runs and 47 RBI in 107 games. For a player who’s sole job is to hit, that’s certainly not good enough. This is the second time in the last three seasons in which Martinez has posted a wRC+ under 100.
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Of course, the 15-year vet has shown an ability to put up good numbers even at a relatively advanced age. Just last season he hit a healthy .289/.351/.476 with 27 homers and 86 RBI in 154 contests. In 2014 he was even better, slashing .335/.409/.565 with 32 long balls and 103 runs batted in. That was the last year Martinez made the All-Star team, and he also led the AL in on-base percentage and both leagues in OPS. Not bad for an age-35 season.
Detroit will hope V-Mart can bounce back again, but at this point it seems far less likely than before. There’s also the fact that in trading Justin Verlander and Justin Upton last week, the Tigers clearly turned the page on the previous era and shifted their gaze toward the future. Martinez is very much a part of that old guard. The team probably wouldn’t think twice about offloading him as well if he wasn’t due to make another $18 million.
Martinez has full no-trade protection, but it would be just about impossible to deal him to another club unless Detroit covers virtually all of his salary. The Tigers are pretty much resigned to keeping him around next season. If he’s healthy, they’ll see whether he can get his bat going again. But if he continues to struggle like he did this year, it wouldn’t be a shock to see them eventually cut him loose, even if it means just eating the money. For a rebuilding club, it makes little sense to take at-bats away from younger players and give them to a past-his-prime veteran.
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If Martinez is indeed nearing the end of his journey, he’s definitely had a career to be proud of. He currently owns a lifetime .298/.364/.462 slash line with 2,036 hits, 237 home runs and 1,124 RBI. Whether those totals climb much further remains to be seen. For now, V-Mart can only focus on returning to the field for what could be one last go-around.