Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez left tonight’s action with what has been diagnosed as a non-displaced fracture of the radial neck of his right elbow, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free-Press reports (Twitter links). Martinez will undergo a CT scan tomorrow to further assess the injury, but he’s already headed for the 15-day DL, per MLB.com’s Jason Beck (Twitter link).
Preliminary expectations are that Martinez will miss four to six weeks, though it would appear that we’ll need to await a full assessment before the timeline is fully clear. Youngster Steven Moya will return to the majors to take his place.
[Related: Updated Tigers depth chart]
The injury occurred when Martinez reached out to brace himself as he chased a ball into the right-field corner. He appeared to make contact with the wall at a funny angle, and immediately reacted in pain.
It’s a big loss for the Tigers, who are fighting for position in a tightly-bunched AL Central. Martinez continues to provide big-time offensive production from the heart of the order. The 28-year-old, once a reclamation project, has now established himself as one of the game’s most consistent sluggers who won’t easily be replaced.
Even if Martinez is able to make it back relatively quickly, it seems he’ll be out for most or all of the run-up to the trade deadline. That hurts the team’s chances of staying in the hunt and also may make it tough for the organization to assess its needs, though presumably the Tigers will at least have a good sense by that point of when Martinez will return.
Better luck next year Tigers.
Oh, that will be a bad loss.
So names of Bruce and Kemp surely will be thrown out. Think one GM has called yet?
Just call up Moya, kid’s a beast
Agreed Moyà time is now
go with Moya!
Teheran for moncada
That’s not enough to get Teheran.
Trade for wil myers
I’d think Bruce makes a lot of sense here. Possibly for something like a Derek Hill/Joe Jimenez package. The Reds would get a nice relief prospect and a speedy CF to replace Hamilton in a few years, when the time comes to part ways with him.
The Reds would be lucky to even get one of those guys let alone both
The market will say otherwise. Bruce will be one of the most coveted names during the trade deadline and neither of those guys is a top 100 prospect. Bruce might even command more depending on who else is put on the market (CarGo, Beltran, Braun, other).
Idk about this, I’d rather part with Ravenelle, and get more from the Reds, also we don’t know how long J.D is out if it’s for the season then yea I can see this being plausible, if it’s only 6-8 weeks then I don’t see this happening and the Tigs go with Moya.
Moya has been up with the Tigers earlier and the only reason why he was optioned to Toledo was he needed at bats every day. He’d be the logical one to replace J.D. I don’t see them going outside the organization to replace Martinez.
It’s like Belushi in Animal House. The Tigers aren’t trading for a replacement, they have Moya, but let them go, they’re on a roll. It is a trade rumor website, after all. In this case, heavy on the rumor part.
Good point about the length of absence, but broken elbow doesn’t say to me quick return. I might be wrong, but he could easily be out for quite a while and possibly the season.
I think Hill they can be talked out of…..he looks like a guy with a slow learning curve.. Jimenez isn’t going anywhere. The tigers have blown 3-4 WS run caliber teams from closers losing their minds…they aren’t trading a guy like Jimenez who is bejeezus filthy for a stop gap OF, or at all for that matter.
Wasn’t Bruce Rondon also once bejeezus filthy and the closer that was going to take the Tigers to the next level? Yeah he flopped. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
Well this is a big loss for the Tigers!
Pirates are going down further and further each day. Wonder if they will call about McCutchen? Affordable, constant MVP caliber player, having a down year but still under 30. Maybe a package of Michael Fulmer, Verlander (while eating a lot of his salary), with some filler players thrown in could work. Detroit has a pretty watered down system though. McCutchen could maybe benefit from a change of scenery and give that team a boost.
Tigers wouldn’t trade Fulmer, and certainly not for a guy who’s really stinking it up. Let them go with Moya, and hopefully Upton is breaking out of it.
Fulmer seems to have a bright future but isn’t a highly regarded prospect outside of the Tigers’ org. If a GM wouldn’t give him up for Andrew McCutchen…LOL.
He was a top 50 prospect in Keith Laws ranking at the beginning of the year
You don’t have the first clue what you speak of about Fulmer .not being highly rated. After his first start where he got timed on his fast stuff and needed to throw a changeup but didn’t, he’s been Historically Good. Not as a rookie Historically but All PItching History. Cutch is a great player but he’ll want the moon and the Tigers have too many big contracts as it is. They have to have young guys that are cheap that play major roles to balance that out (Fulmer, Norris, Jimenez soon, Castellanos). Just a bad fit, team construction-wise
No, McCutchen for 6 years of Fulmer is not something Detroit would do. If the Tiger’s had enough pitching ( they don’t ) to spare him, you could start with Meadows or Polanco. 6 years for 6 years.
Fulmer is not an ace guys. He’s also not historically great.
Meadows or Polanco… LOL. No way the Pirates would trade proven talent (Polanco) or their future CF (Meadows) for an above average pitcher.
He looked unhittable the couple games I watched, deadly slider he has
Which is the real Polanco, last year or this year? Proven, maybe. Consistent, absolutely not. Fulmer seems to be “proving” something. Its that he wont be traded for an expensive short term rental. McCutchen, LOL. No way the Tigers would trade their cheap TOR pitcher for a rental outfielder who will be too expensive to resign. (Actually, they need pitching too much to trade him).
no way .
Another huge “break” for the White Sox involving a Central Division rival. They need to capitalize, and soon before some of those key players return to the active roster.
No chance the Tigers trade for another big piece. They already called up Moya who brings a left handed bat with pop to a right handed heavy lineup. He will get everyday at bats.
What?! No mention of trading for Jon Jay?
Perhaps they should just get the best defender possible and mix and match.
VMART got 3 HRs yesterday, he can pick up a bit of the slack short term.. Upton has been horrible, due to heat up now.
And…
One ridiculous fact about Miggy.: His AVERAGE BA/HR/RBI over his 8 years has never been exceeded by any other AL player in even one of those years. Seriously!
Really?! You’re repeating Rod Allen comments. Bad enough I will have to hear him repeat that the rest of the year, but I definitely don’t need to see them repeated on this site.
Maybe they need to cut back to a 7 man bullpen, and also call up JaCoby Jones. He and Moya can platoon in right, plus since Jones can play SS, he could PH for Iglesias, Aviles, or Romine, when they need a long ball threat off the bench. Their current bench of Romine, Aviles and Saltalamachia doesn’t offer much in the way of the bat.
Not sure many outside of Detroit understand how awesome Fulmer has been so far.
1. He’s one of two pitchers in the last century with four straight starts with three or fewer hits and no runs allowed. The other: the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta. (ESPN Stats & Info)
2. Fulmer is the first rookie pitcher with four straight scoreless starts since Grover Alexander, in 1911.
Crazy to me that some stat heads try to look him on 2015 prospect lists and say he is not that good. How about actually watching him pitch? You may notice that his change up is totally new. He is a true 3 pitch pitcher.
If I was the Tigers I wouldn’t spend a dime, I have a feeling Moya Will find his way, get well soon JD
What if your feeling is wrong? The Tigers are rapidly aging and their window for playoff contention is going to be closed in probably a year or two, three at the most. Do you want to risk a really good chance, maybe the last chance of the decade, over a feeling that Moya might do okay? The Tigers are exactly the team that needs to acquire a Jay Bruce type. They are going to have a major rebuild anyway in a couple of years because their farm system is very poor. Holding onto prospects now makes no sense.
Ray Ray,
You need to look up your numbers. The Tigers are not aging rapidly. They were a younger team than KC coming into the year. Even the veteran Maybin is only 29. What they have is a nice mix of youth and veterans. Adding Bruce would make them older, and more expensive. While other teams have done complete teardowns, the Tigers have slowly added young talent at C, SS, 3B, LF, CF, RF and starting pitcher. They have young talent available at the positions of need, just a matter of if they perform when needed. If they don’t, that’s when they should look outside the organization.