At this point in the MLB regular season, many teams are bringing in rookies and vets to see if they can fill a void until the trade deadline next month.
The Detroit Tigers are one of those teams, as they’ve made a couple of bullpen additions over the last couple of weeks in hopes of finding lightning in a bottle. However, several vets are still searching for an opportunity to play this season, even though we are only weeks away from the All-Star break.
One of those vets is ex-Tigers slugger J.D. Martinez. The 37-year-old Martinez has not signed with a team this season despite hitting .235 with 16 home runs and 69 RBI in 2024 with the New York Mets.
The last thing we heard about the former Tiger was that he was “hitting and staying ready while waiting for a job” in April, according to MLB insider Jon Heyman.
JD Martinez is hitting and staying ready while waiting for a job. No good reason he doesn’t have one yet.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) April 10, 2025
Well, Heyman has a new update on Martinez, who is generating interest from an AL West club.
Ex-Tiger J.D. Martinez Receives Offer From Texas Rangers
Heyman reported on Friday that the Texas Rangers have made a non-guaranteed offer to the veteran slugger.
Heyman: Rangers have made a non-guaranteed offer to JD Martinez.
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) June 27, 2025
If you aren’t familiar with a non-guaranteed contract, it means players on Minor League or split contracts are not fully guaranteed their salaries, according to MLB’s Glossary.
Therefore, if Martinez were to accept the Rangers’ offer, it would give him a chance to play for the team as he’d likely have to ramp up in the minor leagues. However, if things did not go well, Texas could part ways without much financial backlash.
The Rangers could use a bat like Martinez’s as they are struggling to score runs (3.64, 26th in the majors) this season. Texas is also hitting .226 as a team; the only other teams with a worse batting average are the Los Angeles Angels (.226) and Chicago White Sox (.221).
Even though Martinez hit a pedestrian .235 last year, which was his lowest average since 2020 with the Boston Red Sox (.213), he would give them some pop. That said, the ex-Tiger will likely not be moved by a non-guaranteed offer to play this season.
That said, it will be interesting to see if the Rangers make their offer more enticing or if another team jumps into the mix.