2010 Season, Contracts, Free Agents

News & Notes: 11-23-10 The Victor Martinez Edition

19 Comments

Lots of stuff to get to…

– Rumor is that Tigers and Victor Martinez are close to 4 yrs/$50M.   Terry Francona is already weighing in on the loss of Martinez.

– Tigers declined arbitration on Bonderman, Seay, Laird, Damon and Ordonez, and thus forego any compensation picks if any of these players are signed by another team.

– Aburey Huff resigned with the Giants today, 2 for $22M.  Which is a real indictment on what they thought of Renteria.

– AL MVP Voting coming shortly…
UPDATE: Hamilton wins in a landslide, receiving 22/28 first place votes.

(sorry for the brevity, I’m looking forward to everyone’s feedback, to be updated later)

19 thoughts on “News & Notes: 11-23-10 The Victor Martinez Edition”

  1. Reportedly Martinez turned down a four-year, $48MM offer from the Orioles and a three-year, $48MM contract from the White Sox. That makes his signing twice as good–we get him and the White Sox do not.

    1. Wow your not Kidding. Sounds like he wanted to come here. Dont know why and dont care. Good signing and a good guy. Ill take Jeter for a year and Adam Dunn for 4

      Any one else in?

      2. I’m imagining something like this:

        Agent: I’ve got you a deal! White Sox, 3 yrs, 48 million
        Vmart: But the Tigers are offering 50 million
        Agent: But that’s for 4 yrs, the White Sox offer is for 3 yrs
        Vmart: 4 yrs is better
        Agent: Not if they are paying less
        Vmart: But the Tigers are paying 50 million, that’s more money
        Agent: But not per season
        Vmart: I want more money…
        Agent: But…
        Vmart: Tell the Tigers yes

  2. In other signing news, the Reds have signed Dontrelle. I hope the train can get back on track someday.

    1. I dunno, Vince. Where would Dunn play now that VMart is on board? I’m not sure Martinez can still catch (Avila is much better defensively) and I shudder at the thought of Dunn fumbling around the outfield at Comerica.

      1. I think we go after 1) Werth, 2) Ordonez. Crawford would trump both of these, but I don’t think that we have the cash to get that done.

        1. We need to sign any of those 4 guys mentioned and we need to pull off a trade one of these days. We could have a really solid team with just a couple more moves.

          1. Right now probably:

            Verlander
            Scherzer
            Porcello
            Coke
            Galarraga

            I would love them to go after another starter and move Coke back to the pen. Why not take a chance on a one year, incentive laden deal with Ben Sheets, Aaron Harang, or Brandon Webb?

      2. Well, Avila is still a big ? in the lineup, while Martinez definitely is not. If Avila actually turns out to be able to hit, then that is a big bonus. My guess is the plan is to start VM at C about 90-100 games with Avila doing the rest. VM can rotate between DH and the occasional 1B start with a liberal number of days off. Dunn would DH and yes, fumble around in LF a bit, but you pull him for defense (Raburn? 8)) late in the game. He could also fill in at 1B a bit. I have no problem with someone else playing 1B from time to time since Cabrera is not exactly a Gold Glover over there (maybe if he goes to NY later in his career).

        The added punch from those two would more than offset defensive liabilities IMO. Leyland will fiddle with the lineup anyway and I’d rather he be confused about whether Dunn or Martinez was going to DH on a given day than whether it should be Rhymes, Boesch, Santiago, Frazier, etc., etc. If Martinez is only used at DH, then another catcher will have to be added to the roster. FA market for remaining catchers isn’t something to jump for joy about (we just got the best one!) and I suppose we could try and trade, but for who? I guess we could just plug in “Crash” St. Pierre.

        Unable to count on Ordonez and Guillen for next year, and with 2B, 3B and SS straining themselves to get much over .300 OBP, the Tigers may still be somewhat short in offense. And who is going to bat 2nd? There’s a lot of work left to be done to beef up this offense. Ah, for the good old days of the 1000-run offense.

        And then there is the pitching staff, but I guess we’ll get to that later.

  4. V-Mart signing is a great one for the Tigers although it probably means the end of all the Adam Dunn rumors. Detroit’s last shot at a big time free agent is probably Jayson Werth. Crawford will be too expensive so unless they sign Werth they may have to go the trade route to find another big bat.

  5. I understand why Hamilton won, but call me a homer – I still believe Cabrera was the best player in the American League this year. Had the Tigers won the Division, he would have almost certainly got the award.

    That’s one thing about the current awards’ system that pisses me off. The MVP should be the POSITION player that has had the best season. Miggy clearly the best, most consistent and productive year of any American League player.

    Wonder if he were playing in Boston or New York if he would have won? Me thinks so.

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