The Tigers announced today that corner infielder Jefry Marte has been designated for assignment. The move clears a spot for newly signed left fielder Justin Upton on Detroit’s 40-man roster.
Marte, 24, was originally signed by the Mets out of the Dominican Republic at the age of 16. He was long considered one of the Mets’ more promising farmhands, but his career stalled at the Double-A level. He was flipped to the A’s in a trade for Collin Cowgill in 2012 and eventually released from Oakland, at which point he latched on with the Tigers on a minor league deal.
Marte did quite a bit to restore his stock in 2015, however, reaching Triple-A for the first time and batting an impressive .275/.341/.487 with 15 homers in 399 plate appearances in his first action at that level. That led the Tigers to select his contract to the Major League roster, where Marte batted .213/.284/.413 with four homers in a sparse 90 plate appearances over the season’s final three months. Marte has played third base almost exclusively in the minor leagues, though he spent nearly all of his time on the big league roster across the diamond at first base in his stint with the Tigers.
It seems like he would have been useful depth, in case of an injury to Castellanos, Victor, or Miggy. Being his first time in the majors, I am assuming he had options left. I hope he makes it thru waivers.
I doubt he will. There are probably a few teams willing to take a flier on him after his showing at AAA last year.
Brewers come to mind, as when they trade Adam Lind (which is still likely) their first base job is up for grabs and so is their third base job. Despite the low average, his hitting stats do not seem so bad for a rookie.
They traded Lind weeks ago.
They also signed Chris Carter a couple weeks ago to play 1B. Brewers have signed or traded for virtually every castoff 3B this offseason so why not another? I like Marte more than Cecchini or Middlebrooks though it’s close between Marte and another former Tiger, Hernan Perez. or Jonathon Villar.
Lind was traded a couple weeks back
Still young, not arb-eligible til 2019 and under team control until 2022. As a Brewer fan looking at no real potential at either of our corner infield positions for quite a while I say go get him.
He’d be a decent platoon guy at a corner IF position. He hit LHP pretty well last year and had some decent power. Defensively, he was pretty rough though.
Considering the only real options we have at the corners right now are Middleborrks, Cecchini, and Villar at 3B and Carter at 1B he couldn’t hurt. Only internal options we have for 3B are all too light hitting to project to stay there.
Don’t forget Hernan Perez who’s on the AAA roster but will be in major league camp or Yadiel Rivera either. Its going to be a dogfight for the 3B job.
Not enough room for all those guys at the big league and AAA level combined. Cecchini figurers to play 1B at AAA, so he’s not a realistic option at 3B.
Cecchini may have to compete with Wilkins at AAA for that 1B spot and is really just a wild card at this point. I like Rivera and Perez, bit don’t think either of them have the potential to be an everyday 3B in the bugs, Rivera due to his lack of power and Perez has seemed to be a platoon guy at best. Any of them could end up winning the job, I just like Marte’s upside a little more if they can grab him.
Yeah, but all those dogs are dachshunds, not German shepherds.
This is a shock. He still has the potential to become an everyday player. I though for sure Bryan Holaday was a goner.
Bryan Holaday still has a shot at the back up catcher job. Yes, they signed Saltalamacchia, but it was to a minor league deal. They will battle in the spring. Holaday is the better catcher. Salty has more pop. I was expecting Montreal Robinson to get the cut. Hes 26 and has just made AA. None of the Tigers minor league relief pitchers looks all that promising.
Yankees should definitely look at him as a back-up for Headley.
Ackley is the backup 2B and Castro will slide over to 3B on Headley’s day off
Yes, I know they talked about using Castro at 3B, but he’s never played there. I wouldn’t mind someone who has the experience at the position, is young, and won’t cost much. Plus, Castro is already backing up SS and will be the full time starter at 2B. Marte does make sense on the Yanks, IMO.
Yes Yanks need to get younger and cheaper so getting Marte would be a good move for Yanks on 1 year deal
Well, Sox fans Reinsdorf has found his Ellis Burks 2016