SATURDAY: Martinez will have chronic ablation surgery and will miss the remainder of the season, Fenech writes (all Twitter links). He will be placed on the 60-day DL tomorrow. The Tigers do expect Martinez to play in 2018.
SUNDAY 6:42pm: The Tigers do not have insurance on what’s left of Martinez’s contract (around $21MM through 2018) if he cannot be cleared to return, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press tweets.
10:58am: Martinez had a rapid heartbeat after the Tigers’ game in Chicago on Saturday and had to stay overnight at a hospital as a result, according to Jason Beck of MLB.com (on Twitter). The expectation is that Martinez will be released from the hospital today, after which he’ll head back to Detroit. The Tigers won’t decide on a timetable for a potential return to the field until they determine what’s causing Martinez’s heart issue, Beck adds.
10:22am: The Tigers announced that they have placed designated hitter Victor Martinez on the 10-day disabled list with an irregular heartbeat and recalled outfielder JaCoby Jones from Triple-A Toledo.
This is the second time this year Martinez has landed on the DL with an irregular heartbeat since he was diagnosed with the condition in mid-June. Martinez required a short stay in a Detroit-area hospital then, but he was able to return to action in under two weeks. The hope is that the 38-year-old Martinez will be able to make a similarly speedy recovery this time around, and MLBTR extends its best wishes to the respected and accomplished veteran.
How long will a team allow a player with a heart condition like this to continue trying to play if this were to keep occurring?
Just a thought:
news.heart.org/dodgers-pitcher-kenley-jansen-isnt-…
Based on health and performance it would seem his career is winding down. One year left on his contract. I think he’ll be a great coach.
Vmart has nothing to share. He is not the kind of guy you want as a coach,
You know him personally and have asked him this question yourself?? Cool! Can you get me an autograph please??
His career is coming to a close. You had a good career victor.
Well then, see you in 2018
I wanna go to a Tigers game with a sign that says “Victor makes my heart skip a beat.”
I wouldn’t do that
I get it. It’s cute. But I think it can be taken the wrong way by too many people.
Too many sensitive people in the world to allow that.
That’s awesome lol
You can sit with Steve Bartman.
Hope he’s healthy for his future and his family. Great career
Please retire, Victor! It may save your life! You’ve had a great career, now time for you to rest easy!
And save the tigers $20 mil while you’re at it. I thought a heart condition might force a guy into retirement. Anyway it’s probably tough for him to walk away from that kind of money next year.
This contract isn’t costing the Tigers or their fans anything. Instead of leaving $6 billion to their kids the Illitch’s are leaving $5.950 billion and taking care of someone who took care of them on and off the field.
They are a class act, who appreciate a class act when they see one.
Vmart is the epitome of not classy. Sorry. Known him since he was a teenager and he is not the guy I would be holding up as an example of class act. The sooner he is off the team, the better off the team will be.
He is nearly 40, and you want people to hate him based on how he was as a teenager? Cmon…
Your comment is nonsense. The tigers are a baseball team that mike illitch wanted to see win a WS before he passed away so he spent all he could trying to make it happen. It’d be great for tigers and tigers fans if he hung it up after this year. He has every reason to go out and get his money next year but don’t try to act like mike illitch was rewarding a “class act” that’s ludicrous. If illitch was alive he’d dump that deal off if he found a sucker to take it. Which he obviously couldn’t.
You obviously don’t know anything about Mike Illitch, Victor Martinez or the Tigers. Mr I told VMart he would take care of him immediately after the last game of the 2014 season.His words, not mine It was witnessed by the Detroit media at the time and widely reported in Detroit at that time.
Whether he plays for the Tigers or someone else, he and his family would get paid. That’s obviously what the owner wanted.
The owner could have spent that money on anyone available in his effort to get a ring. He thought VMart was the one he wanted.
Also, the idea he spent all he could is ridiculous. The man was worth $6 BILLION. He spent what he wanted on who he wanted. Good for him.
To think that winning is all Mr Illitch cared about does a great disservice to the man. He and his wife have been charitable their whole lives, way before they were rich. He cared about the city of Detroit and invested heavily in it’s rebirth. He cared about loyalty and creating and maintaining a family atmosphere in the Tigers.
You my friend are light years beyond delusional.
Known him since he was a teenager, yeah, ok…Hold on, there’s someone @ my door…Ok, I’m back…it was Justin Verlander and Kate Upton, we’ve all been besties since I was knee high to a grasshopper and I have them come over every so often
Who names a kid JaCoby?
Did the hospital accidentally hit the Caps Lock button and his parents left it that way?
PS- Get well, ViCtor MaRtiNeZ.
I think it’s more emphasis on the C, but honestly it’s just a subjective stylistic choice I guess.
I mean James McCann’s last name has the capitalized C, whereas I know a girl whose last name is Mccann.
I’ve never seen McCann (or any Mc name for that matter) not have a capital third letter…
5 people really hate Victor Martinez, I guess.
His parents did. He has a cool name, more people should name their kids that or JaCob.
Says forwhomjoshbelltolls, the guy who made fun of C. Trent Rosecrans–one of the finest baseball writers around, which “josh” didn’t bother to research–because “josh” thought it an odd name, and therefore something worth ridiculing on this site.
“Josh”, if you must continue to nitpick at people’s names, of all things, add an “r” to that “tolls” and make it “forwhomjoshbell…trolls”. And please go over to MLB.com or ESPN or Pettypeople.com and do it.
Back to your glass house!
Says the guy with a bucket of stones, and always ready to sling them.
Heh. I see you too have crossed paths with thegreatcerealfamine, Mr. Nightfly. Lotta sound and fury signifying nothing coming from that direction.
Actually, they deserve each other although “lester” does up with some great zingers on occasion.
This site does attract an um, unusual mixture of fans. From complete sabermetrics geeks to the old fashioned, sports talk radio types. Not sure how all of us are supposed to coexist without some basic rules. So far I’ve only seen lester’s amusing side vs. tgcf’s fangs and drool. So if I have to choose sides….
Heart issues can be serious hopefully the tigers shut him down for the year. They aren’t playing for nothing anyway.
Get well Victor. Heart rythym issues are not fun at all.
While he is out, I would like them to give Hicks a shot, full time. Move him and Miggy between DH and 1B. He has been a pleasant surprise. Time to find out if it’s for real.
He has young kids. Hang em up Victor. 2000 hits, career .300 avg. Very nice career. But hang em up and be well.
I believe his father died of a heart attack. Do NOT want to mess around with this stuff. Hope he gets better soon.
At an early age too His mother raised him Nobody wants to see that for his kids. He has a lot of pride though. I’m sure he wants to leave feeling he has earned the money and I really doubt Mr I would want him to walk away from the money. He wanted Victor to have it.
He wanted V Mart to earn it….Big difference
Do you think a guy who started out with a family pizza restaurant and turned into a $6 billion pizza, entertainment and real estate empire didn’t know the risk involved in giving out that contract at the time?
I’d bet he knew the risks and was perfectly willing to accept the outcome no matter what it was.
I sure hope he gets better. I’m gonna try to get into his mindset by saying that he probably wants to retire on his own terms.. No athlete wants to end a career on an injury. that being said, wouldn’t surprise me if he retires after 1 at bat on opening day next year .
That would be typical Vmart. Putting himself above the needs of the team.
Do you have an example of that?
You are an imbecile. Quite possibly the stupidest person to ever post on here. Why don’t you take your sad, pathetic life over to Facebook, with the rest of the children, and leave the sports to he adults
Tigers can hope that he has to retire. Vmart is the kind of guy you don’t want in your clubhouse or on your bench. He has always been a me first player.
Not at all true. I dont know what your personal distaste for vmart is or why you have this need to badmouth him. He is a great Tiger. He was loyal to the Illitchs for one, and hes been a huge part of the Tigers org. Great man,great ballplayer.
He was loyal by taking a bloated contract? You act like you drafted and developed him
10 of his 15 big league years were spent on other teams
You know nothing about him, at all. How sad can one person be?? Oh wait, I know! You
Kenley Jansen has a heart condition that required an ablation and he’s certainly still able to play at a high level.
A reoccurring condition is different from something that’s already been fixed.
Look to caffeine intake and/or any inhalants used for asthma conditions. The heartbeat may stabilize itself once the body chemistry is stabilized. Failing that, stopping the heart and restarting it may restore regular rhythm. Otherwise, if something is going on within the heart to cause the irregular heartbeat, there are minimally invasive procedures – going up through a vein in the thigh – which involve freezing or heating portions of the heart that may correct atrial fib. He will probably have to go on a blood thinner and an additional medication (Metoprolol) to prevent recurrence and /or to minimize the future risk of stroke.
TOLD YA !!!!!!!!
Victor has been a great clubhouse guy. Mr Illitch loved him. Dombrowski was not going to offer him 4 years – Illitch stepped in and did it. You cannot blame VM for taking it, but with his kneea it was a bad contract. Maybe the Tigers will offer a buy-out on the remainder of his contract. Or he’ll be an expensive guy on the bench next season.
Like I said, the contract isn’t costing anybody anything except the Illitch kids and they don’t care. That’s what Dad and Mom wanted and the kids will still get $6 billion..
All baseball musings aside, I hope he gets better soon
I didn’t know Victor had any heart left after his cowardly lion performance on Thursday.
Terrible what those PEDs cause huh?
If he tries to comeback, it’s simply a money grab which doesn’t appear he’s the type. Shocking they had insurance on s 4 year aging player with history of breaking down and breaking down . Give him 8-10 to walkway and retire with class and dignity. A three year with team option w 5 million option would have kept him. They way over paid. Grateful to have him but it’s painful over and gets worse next financially and progressively. Please retire owe Illitch’s for the huge overpay a DH. He’s not Big Pappy!
Tough to tell what you’re saying there but there is no insurance and he will get paid his full salary whether he plays or not, that’s the beauty of guaranteed contracts
Not if he retires
If he retires a medical reason he receives his full salary
Yup, Just like Prince Fielder. He will receive all that is owed to him.
I’m no doctor but this sounds an awful lot like SVT ((supra ventricular tachycardia)). I have SVT and I can literally be sitting in an office chair and all of a sudden have a heart rate over 200 bpm. My case is relatively mild but I still have 1-2 episodes of it a year. Ive always been told it’s a relatively easy fix and there are quite a few options (including drugs and surgery) I can choose if it becomes a bigger issue. Hopefully that’s all he has
With the trades that just occurred, this does not surprise me. The question now becomes, is he missing the rest of the season because of his heart, or because his heart is no longer in it.
No Upton, Verlander, V-Mart, and a couple missed starts for Fulmer. Really making a late season push for last place with the White Sox.
Yes. Unfortunately for the Tigers the White Sox had a head start when it came to unloading veterans in trades and losing others to the DL this season.
It’s not unfortunate, because, unlike the White Sox, the Tigers goal this year was not to be in last place. That they are in the situation they are in is sad, and nothing to be excited about.
The Tigers didn’t possess the favorable assets to undertake a rebuild in the manner that the White Sox were able do beginning last offseason. Whereas Chicago had some very appealing team-friendly deals in place with excellent younger MLB players, Detroit had mostly “albatross” contracts tied to aging veterans on the down-side of their careers. Even a superior RF talent like J.D. Martinez had inferior value to that of Adam Eaton because of the different values associated with their contracts.
The Tigers were pretty much stuck going into 2017 with the “let’s take one more stab at it” approach before finally admitting defeat in July. The value of their assets in comparison to those of the White Sox wouldn’t have been significantly higher last offseason. The division rival Royals were in similar seas this past year, only with a boat load of expiring contracts instead of over-priced ones.
His life, health and family are far more important. If this is the end of the line for Victor, he’s had a pretty darn good career. I wish the guy well.
This has been ongoing. Life comes first
Chronic ablation? More like A-fib, A-flutter, SVT ablation. Come on now, get something right