Detroit Tigers Right to Consider Trading J.D. Martinez
By Matt Snyder
The Detroit Tigers would be right to explore trades of J.D. Martinez and other soon-to-be free agents as they look to cut costs heading into 2017.
The Detroit Tigers have seen year over year opening day payroll increases in 10 of the last 12 seasons, but it doesn’t appear that the 2017 season will bring with it another budget increase.
General manager Al Avila spoke to the media this week and made a big point about the team not figuring to factor into the free agent market this offseason as they look to rein in the payroll and angle for the future.
Similarly, the Tigers don’t appear anxious to lock up any of their soon-to-be free agent players to long-term extensions. Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports that Al Avila isn’t aiming for a long-term deal at this point.
"I’m not going to rule out that we wouldn’t consider a long-term deal, but sitting here today, we’re not thinking that way right now."
Martinez is scheduled to hit free agency following the 2017 season so the Tigers are faced with a three options: extend him, trade him, or let him walk for nothing. An extension would be ideal if the Tigers had payroll space and a roster poised to compete for the next several season, but that isn’t necessarily the case right now.
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Fenech is correct to suggest that these factors make Martinez an ideal trade candidate. The Tigers are likely entering some sort of rebuild mode whether they want to call it a reset, a reboot, or retool. I doubt they’re about to enter total sell mode, but they’re going to have to get smarter about financial decisions while keeping an eye toward the future.
J.D. Martinez is an excellent player — the Tigers’ lineup would suffer without him — but he’s also the type of player who could bring back a decent haul of prospect talent. The Tigers came up short of the postseason in 2016 but would have (probably) been nowhere near the playoffs had they not traded Yoenis Cespedes and David Price at the 2015 trade deadline.
If the Tigers indeed need to run leaner budgets in 2016 and beyond, their best option for cutting payroll is find buyers for players like Martinez (or even Ian Kinsler) who have enough value that teams would be willing to part with plus prospect talent to acquire them.
Losing one year of a J.D. Martinez is tough to swallow, but getting six years of (cheap) team control on someone like Michael Fulmer makes it all worth it in the end.
Next: Cameron Maybin Crucial to 2017 Success
Al Avila’s task is a difficult one. He’s going to be asked to keep the Tigers on the fringes of contention while limiting his payroll budget and building a roster that can compete for years down the road.