Email a copy of 'Tigers, J.D. Martinez Have Mutual Interest In Extension' to a friend
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By Jeff Todd | at
Email a copy of 'Tigers, J.D. Martinez Have Mutual Interest In Extension' to a friend
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Halo27
Wonder why Houston gave up on JD?
Draven Moss
Because he wasn’t very good for them and they had better options on the roster.
Jeff Todd
It has been pretty well documented. He had struggled through multiple chances, was removed from the 40-man, and then overhauled his swing. Houston did have an opportunity to keep him after he began showing improvement in winter ball, but released him in late March of 2014. JD ended up signing with the Tigers and the rest was history.
This piece is from that winter, and seems rather prescient in retrospect: fangraphs.com/blogs/rule-5-dark-horse-j-d-martinez…
Halo27
Thanks for the history.
donniebaseball
JD is a beast. Really hope we can extend him longer.
tigerbulldog13
Wondering what it would take to extend JD. I would love to get him for five more years, he could move over to DH if needed. 5/55 seems reasonable, and as a Tigers fan I would hope we would pull the trigger
Jeff Todd
Sounds light to me. If he gets close to 8 next year, he could be set up for something like 14 the following year. So 55 over 5 would be selling the FA years at something like 11 mil annually.
Consider that guys who actually have lesser overall offensive output over the last two years – Upton, Cespedes, Davis – will be earning low-20-million-dollar AAVs for upwards of 6 seasons on their FA deals, and you can see why they probably won’t be too anxious to give away those seasons at that price. Freddie Freeman’s extension, to take one example, values his FA years in the 20-22 mil range.
Never know, but I think it would have to be a good bit higher than that. He’s too close to the open market for a really cut rate. Bautista isn’t a bad place to look (should’ve put him in the post). He was a 5+ player, but signed for 5/65 after just one year of huge production. That’s an old number given the salary inflation we’ve seen since.
tigerbulldog13
Thanks Jeff, that makes a lot of sense. If it does end up coming closer to the 18-22 mill annual range, still think the Tigers will/should pull the trigger?