For the most part, if one team trades you to another for cash considerations, odds are you aren’t going to amount to much in Major League Baseball. But it was four years ago today that the two Missouri-based franchises – the Royals and Cardinals – came together on a cash/player trade that made an impact in the ensuing couple years and could continue to have a long-term effect. On May 25, 2016, the Cardinals acquired outfielder Jose Martinez, whom the Royals had recently designated for assignment to clear roster space for a guy named Whit Merrifield, for money.
Back when the trade occurred, MLBTR’s Jeff Todd wrote of Martinez: “He’s a ten-year minor-league veteran who has yet to crack the majors. In parts of two seasons at Triple-A, Martinez owns a productive .359/.431/.525 batting line over 556 plate appearances. He hasn’t quite maintained the pace he set last year at Omaha, but will nevertheless provide the Cards some outfield depth in the upper levels of their system.”
Indeed, Martinez didn’t look as if he’d make a mark in the majors when the Cardinals got him. After all, along with the Royals, the White Sox and Braves gave up on Martinez earlier in his career. But following a couple months in the Cardinals’ system, the club recalled him Sept. 6, 2016, for his long-awaited major league debut. Martinez has defied the odds and gone on to a pretty successful offensive career since then.
In 2017, his first extensive action in the bigs, Martinez batted a hearty .309/.379/.518 (136 wRC+) with 14 home runs in 307 plate appearances. The good times continued the next season in an even larger role, as Martinez hit .305/.364/.457 (127 wRC+) and put up 17 HRs over 590 trips to the plate. As solid as Martinez was as a hitter then, though, defensive questions have consistently dogged him. He posted minus-13 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-5.3 Ultimate Zone Rating as a corner outfielder from 2017-18, preventing him from maxing out his value as a hitter. By fWAR, Martinez was roughly an average contributor during that span, though he was passable as a first baseman in 675 innings in ’18 (minus-1 DRS, minus-3.2 UZR).
If you struggle as a defender, you have to hit in order to be of much use to your team, but Martinez even had difficulty doing that last year. On the heels of two impressive seasons in a row, he stumbled to a low-power line of .269/.340/.410 (101 wRC+) and managed just 10 homers in 373 PA. Between that and more subpar outfield defense (minus-10 DRS, minus-4.6 UZR), Martinez was close to a replacement-level player.
Despite his underwhelming output in 2019, as someone whom they gave up almost nothing to acquire, Martinez provided St. Louis more value than it could have realistically expected when it landed him. However, the Cardinals bid goodbye to Martinez last offseason, sending him, outfielder Randy Arozarena and a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick to the Rays in a deal that netted the Redbirds left-hander Matthew Liberatore, Tampa Bay’s Competitive Balance Round B selection and catcher Edgardo Rodriguez.
In the 31-year-old Martinez, the Rays got a player who, as mentioned, has typically fared well at the plate. Plus Martinez is under affordable control for the next three seasons, which is important for a low-budget club. It remains to be seen whether any of the younger talent in the swap will pan out, but it seems Liberatore stands the best chance. The 20-year-old currently ranks as the game’s 42nd-best prospect at Baseball America, which contends that he has “mid-rotation or better” upside.
Unlike the original Martinez trade, which was a win for St. Louis, we don’t yet know how the Cardinals-Rays one will go. Regardless, the Royals-Cards trade from four seasons ago is another sign that deals which may look insignificant at the time are capable of affecting teams for years.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I’m hoping this turns into one of those win-win trades. Martinez clearly has more value to an AL team. I think Arozarena could become a starter in TB as well. If so, the Rays probably win that trade unless Liberatore becomes a #1-2 starter.
Which OF would Arozarena start over in Tampa? Meadows or Kiermaier or Renfroe? I doubt he would start over any if healthy and that’s not a knock on him … he has skills … Tampa Bay just has a really solid underrated OF … and the DH ABs should be soaked up by Tsutsugo and Martinez … Sadly doesnt leave too much for Arozarena
I wonder what TB plans on doing with Yandy Diaz… Tsutsugo for 3b, Martinez for DH, and unless they plan on giving Tsutsugo outfield reps, then they won’t need Diaz for 3b. He’s good enough to be more than a bench bat, so I’d hate to see him man the bench when he could be starting on a team like Texas. Just wondering…
You’re also forgetting Mike Brosseau and the few extra middle infielders they have that could also play third. They’re incredibly deep.
Yandy should be their starter, but they’ll probably be doing a ton of mixing and matching between the corners and DH.
Yeah, I really don’t like that Mozeliak included Arozarena in the deal. I see all the outfielders the cardinals parted with in the off season as mistakes, just like trading Mercado probably was a mistake and signing Fowler was probably a mistake.
To be fair, the likes of Bader, O’Neill, Thomas, and especially Carlson are at least as likely to develop into decent MLB outfielders as Arozerena and Mercado are.
I confused Matthew Liberatore with Adam Liberatore, that Dodgers lefty dude
LOOGYs are overrated. Get with the times (or the new three-batter-minimum rule).
Bruh what? I didnt comment on LOOGYS i just said i got them confused. Try reading my comment first before responding next time
Bruh, Tom84 you literally just said his name lol. People like making assumptions.
Someone clearly didn’t read the comment correctly. Lol
It’s called sarcasm. I will never be able to understand the comment section. I’ve tried, it never works.
I mostly just scroll through to see what the petty argument is about today
Lol 13 y/o, sometimes I have a hard time discerning sarcasm and stupid in the comments. I know you’re a good commentor, but stupidity can come from anybody lol. It’s like in the movie “The Thing” where they are all looking at each other saying “It could be any one of us”.
Matthew liberatore
I confuse them both with Liberace
Jose Martinez has gone through ten years of grinding it out in the minors! That’s brutal, good luck. His dad was kind of the same but got to the bigs quicker. Stuck around because there was nothing else but baseball and his dad being an ex big leaguer helped. Hey, he stuck with it. Best of luck! Gotta like him!!
Robinson Chirinos had pretty much the same path to the majors. He spent ten years in the Rays farm before the Rangers finally gave him a shot.
Martinez is the next Raul Ibanez.
Not a bad comparison at all but Ibanez was definitely a better fielder. He wasnt great but he was passable in his prime. Martinez isnt even passable in my opinion.
I hope the Royals flip Merrifield, because we all know he won’t be a part of their next contending team. Plus, they could definatley get a pretty good return for him with how productive he’s been.
As I much as I hate to say it, this needs to happen. Royals aren’t going anywhere for the next 3 years.
The Royals (like the Pirates), are IMO closer to being competitive than people think. Both need pitching, and both have an underrated offense with some good young names. I’d still give both at least 2 years though.
BTW I am way higher on both teams than almost anybody. Like the Rangers, both of the teams are way underrated.
I also like the Royals potential. If Singer and Lynch both live up to their projections, the franchise might have something really going by ’22 or ’23. They have a solid offense, and a ton of pitching in their minors.
They really just need a few of their pitching prospects to pan out, or surprise; since it’s tough for them to compete for elite arms in FA.
Love Whitt, have a soft spot for the Royals, but yea agreed, he needs to be traded like yesterday-
Id like to see them get creative and take back a bad contract as well. They have the payroll room and it would further enhance the haul
Whitt to Sd for Meyers and prospects makes all too much sense for both sides- Ive been barking that for years it seems now
Well, either that or sign him to a team friendly long term extension to be their version of Altuve, Freeman, or Votto who they build around as their veteran star.
The problem is, Merrifield wouldn’t bring the kind of return that justifies trading him. He’s a solid and versatile player, but hardly a superstar. Plus, he’s already on the wrong side of 30.
Right now, he’s about the only reason for Royals’ fans to watch. There’s value in that you can’t get back in a trade.
Cool. I’d like to hear more about cash consideration trades where the player really exceeded the associated expectations. Or PTBNLs.
Jose Martinez minor league career is kind of bizarre. After playing relatively well in 2013 he winds up being demoted to A+ in 2014 and hitting .319/.375 as a 24 year old. That just seems odd to me that you’d leave a guy hitting that well, at that age down in A+ — for the most part he always hit for a pretty solid average and yet didn’t even make it to AAA until he was 25. Idk I guess other things go into evaluating where to put prospects and such — but it just seems like he spent an odd amount of time in Rk and A ball for someone who was more or less productive at the plate.
Jose Martinez is one of those MLB players who looks unrecognizable when you see his first MLB picture compared to his most recent picture.
Martinez has more value to any team in need of a DH now that it appears it will be coming to every ballpark near you.
I’m sure however the deal for Liberatore falls through without Martinez in it unless they offered up O’Neill but no one figured the Rona would change our lives for months or maybe into the fall-winter.
.359/.420/.520 is just “productive”?
Right? They’ve described much trashier players with aplomb not befitting, but when someone actually does produce, it’s downplayed.
Well, it is an AAA statline, all in the PCL…
Across that many ABs, it’s still impressive.
Cafecito! This dude rules and loved watching him bat for my cards the last few years. So tall, crazy pre pitch timing wind up, and just always a smile. Its a shame he couldn’t hold down even first base, truly hands of stone. But, bonus points for being the only player my girlfriend could recognize in the box…. phrasing?
See, writing like this by saying “royals-cardinals trade can affect a team for years”, only gets the fans going. But anyone smart enough realizes that some players benefit from a move to another club. Sometimes players “click” with the right organization and have a pretty decent career. There has been numerous players switching teams that was producing at less that expected in one organization and met well beyond expectations with another.
GM Moore definitely crapped the bed with both J-Mart & Brian Goodwin!
But hey, there’s all those Lucas Duda memories…
Meh