As they look for ways to bolster their lineup this winter, the Blue Jays have some interest in veteran slugger J.D. Martinez, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com wrote this week.
Toronto has a clear opening at designated hitter now that Shohei Ohtani has chosen to sign with the Dodgers, and Martinez would fill that role quite capably. The former Tigers, D-backs, Red Sox and Dodgers slugger is coming off a resurgent .271/.321/.572 batting line with Los Angeles, where he belted 33 home runs in just 479 trips to the plate. Martinez’s rebound in the power department was accompanied by a career-worst 31.3% strikeout rate, which is alarming for a 36-year-old bat-only player, but the 2023 production was undeniably excellent.
Martinez would effectively be replacing Brandon Belt, who enjoyed a productive season as the Jays’ primary designated hitter but comes with greater platoon splits. Belt, as he’s done throughout most of his peak, crushed right-handed pitching but was a non-factor against lefties (.235/.308/.265 in 39 plate appearances). Martinez, meanwhile, tormented both left-handers (.274/.343/.581) and right-handers (.270/.312/.569) alike.
The Jays currently project for a $203MM payroll, per Roster Resource, which clocks in about $11MM shy of their 2023 end-of-season mark. They’ll be in franchise-record payroll territory even if they don’t make any other additions, thanks largely to arbitration increases for Guerrero, Varsho, Jansen and others. That said, the Jays’ pursuits of Ohtani and Juan Soto, plus their reported interest in Yoshinobu Yamamoto and other free agents indicate that ownership is comfortable adding to the payroll. Martinez’s age likely caps him at a two-year deal (if not a one-year pact), which should only increase his appeal to a win-now club like Toronto.
It’s not an ideal fit between the two parties, as Martinez would give the Jays yet another right-handed bat in a lineup that’s already lacking lefty hitters. Daulton Varsho figures to slide over to center field if free agent Kevin Kiermaier signs elsewhere, and the lineup doesn’t have any other everyday players who bat from the left side. Cavan Biggio and outfielder Nathan Lukes could get some looks, as could infield prospect Addison Barger, but the vast majority of the lineup consists of right-handed bats: Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer, Alejandro Kirk, Danny Jansen and Davis Schneider.
The Jays could still sign Martinez and bring in a different left-handed bat to help balance out the lineup. Cody Bellinger is the top free-agent outfield option, but the trade market includes names like Max Kepler and switch-hitter Dylan Carlson (to say nothing of the Giants’ glut of lefty-swinging outfielders that are increasingly redundant following their signing of Jung Hoo Lee). To call the free-agent market for left-handed-hitting infielders “bleak” would be an understatement, but the trade market again poses plenty of alternatives — switch-hitting Jorge Polanco perhaps chief among them. In addition to the Twins, both the Cardinals and Reds have potential infield surpluses from which they could deal.
Blue Jays need pitching. They already have decent enough offense
What? Jays offense is very weak. They have outstanding pitching. Last year they were 14th in runs scored and lost some pieces to free agency. Their pitching is largely intact from a squad that was 4th in ERA.
What team did you watch last year?
Incorrect lol.
Jays had the best pitching but worst offense. (Okay not worst but it was bad)
Wait, he’s a Yanks fan. Taking the piss. LOL
They could use more depth as they had record great health last year, but not a need over offense.
I don’t follow the Blue Jays, but JD’s offense would improve any team.
Lol you clearly didn’t watch the jays last year. They couldn’t score runs period
What????? Do you watch the jays? Sometimes I don’t even know why I read the comment
We have 4 legitimate starters, Manoah, Bowden Francis, Mitch White and potentially Ricky Tiedeman ready for 2023 battling for the 5 spot. Meanwhile we have no cf, 3b or dh amd struggled to score runs all year long
Disagree Varsho is CF he’s the best defensive CF in the game look at his DRS at CF
Yes definitely the best defensive cf in the game. If he can be an even passable hitter he will have tremendous value. If his hitting stays the same he is still valuable but not as much. I’m hoping for .250 av and 25 hr. We will see. He plays all year though. You don’t let someone who controls the field sit on the bench.
Dude, the Blue Jays left more men on second base than Taylor Swift. They need a player like JD Martinez.
Hey, a proper rumor!
Do we have visual evidence of him and his plane landing in TOR?
he’s scheduled for an air Canada flight but it’s delayed like always
I think his wife took a photo of the of tower lol.
Noooooo! Dbacks please! your lost him once don’t do it again!
Still has a house in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.
This Astros fan is all for JDM signing with Dbacks again. Just beat LA that’s all I ask.
He wants to be there he wanted to be there before. Dbacks dropped this big time. He was amazing.
Honestly if Martinez is going anywhere it’s to the Halos to replace Ohtani at DH….. -Carp.
The Angels would be better off just letting Rendon DH so maybe they can get some kind of production out of him.
Brandon Drury can be the everyday 3B
Possibly. Not resigning Drury to the Padres after his time here was a mistake…..need more depth and he provided it at a reasonable cost.
I think Justin Turner would make more sense than Rendon for DH. JT could start at 3B when Rendon gets hurt.
Hey Matt, I saw you deleted your rant last night about Kershaw and the racist comments about Dustin May. The internet never forgets.
No home cookin for Votto apparently.
Votto can fly a kite he refused to come here when he was good he can stay away now that he isn’t good
Yeah this off- season must be a real reality check for Votto.
I would sign Votto if he would sign for 2 or 3 Mil. 14 hr in 200 ab is not too bad. 99 ops+
Jays should go after JD. I don’t want Votto.
The jays have a clear need because they have an opening, it has nothing to do with Ohtani
Interesting addition.
If Toronto opens the season with Davis Schneider as a starter something has gone seriously wrong. He was a great story — a historically great story, actually — but after a month he fell off just as hard.
If they don’t get JD Martinez, Belt wouldn’t be a bad option to bring back on another one-year deal I think.
@Ted don’t tell the jays fan base. you’d think he was the next coming of can biggio the way they love DS. wait… maybe he is
Can Biggio’s stats aren’t impressive. In fact couldn’t find Can Biggio on baseball-reference.
I think it was closer to two weeks worth of at bats, but ya!
Obviously expectations needed to be revised for DS, but he had a couple mini slumps that he rebounded from. I wouldn’t completely write him off based on a couple bad weeks. He is not a bad guy to have around for insurance.
Can’t get Ohtani, but would settle for MARTINEZ
Martinez had an excellent year last year not saying he’ll repeat it but 30 home runs in 100 RBIs isn’t too bad
Especially in only 113 games.
I got to say JD Martinez would look good as a Blue Jay I can totally picture him as a Jay.
Dodgers paid JDMart $11M last year as a dh for the really solid numbers referenced in the article. Will be interesting to see what Ohtani produces for them for nearly 7x’s as much.
TV ratings and higher ticket gate profits and merchandise
And already set a record for jersey sales within the first 48 hours of release between $135 and $175 a pop.
And with that shady (and I mean that in a good way because I can appreciate a good hustle) deal that Ohtani signed he’s only getting 2 mil so in 2024 he’s gonna cost less than JD Martinez. Gotta give the Los Angeles “Luxury Tax” Dodgers all the credit.
Braves, is the $46 million a year hit to the luxury tax (highest for a player) dodging the tax? Ask yourself, if they signed him to a $460 million/10 year contract and gave him a $240 million deferred bonus, would you still have the same issue? Or maybe you would have an issue with anything the dodgers do as a Braves fan?
After his surgery I doubt Ohtani will put up much more than Martinez”s .893 OPS & 33 HRs in ’24 – I figure he might have a similar outcome as Harper and be lacking a little power the first couple of months.
Natural, it’s a 10-year contract and what people want to see and the team is paying for is to see a guy who’s dominant on both sides of the baseball.
That’s a phenomenon never seen before and probably never will again in our lifetimes.
He’ll probably duplicate JD Martinez production of last year.., maybe a few more home runs and less strikeouts.
But then 2025 it’ll be must see TV every 5th or 6th day.
Your point is well made and he’s an incredible athlete, but others have had poor pitching comebacks after returning from a 2nd TJ. It could be dicey.
You can bet the Dodgers will take a very conservative approach to him coming back from surgery. They purchased a brand in Ohtani and it’s in the best interest for them to keep him on the field as long as possible. I think they’ll be happy if he can make 25 starts per season.
More Jays interested in everyone…so far Atkins has signed a AAA catcher… WOW
It would be a nice replacement at DH. Based on his career BA, he’s been exactly what you expected. wOBA is quite high too so that is important for a DH. Maybe getting a bit too old as his numbers have dropped a bit but still decent for a DH. Not going to win you a batting title but consistent ABs and a 270 average.
They dropped in 2022, but 2023 went quite well. The increase in strikeouts is a little concerning, but it didn’t stop him from producing.
I wish the Astros would sign JDM.
Isnt Alvarez kind of locked in at dh…having jd would push him to the field..
I’m honestly not sure – I think Dusty used him at DH a lot. But historically Alvarez hits far better as LF’er than he does at DH. But using YA at DH certainly helps alleviate the holes in the lineup.
J.D. is a good right handed bat, the Jays need a good left handed bat.
May be you should read the article
Jays need good bats period.
Jays need bats period. He had over 100rbis in 113 games
He hits right-handers very well. As long as he produces it doesn’t really matter which side of the box he steps into.
Four4fore, the Jays need 3 bats JD could fill the DH opening, Jays could target a leftie hitting LF”er and a switch hitting 3rd baseman
the Kepler/Polanco fit is too perfect but I imagine the ask starts with Manoah and or Barger
Can Polanco play 3b? I do like the fit there Kepler and Polanco for Manoah sounds pretty fair and fills both teams needs.
Joel P, Palonco has not been good for 2 seasons now and has not played more than 100 games in either of those 2 seasons, Big “No” to him!!!,
Based on what twins fans have said he’s not very good at third base. I had that idea as well initially.
That’d be a baller move if they got Bellinger too. World Series bound, bitches!
Gotta win a playoff game first.
Honestly that is completely overblown we’re talking about a total of six games. Exteme small sample size. Playoffs are a total crapshoot. Reading way too much into that. Any team can lose a couple of games to any team. Even the Braves and Dodgers failed to advance past their first round.
it was a joke bro. astros fans had the royals in 2015, that was a heartbreaker. but the red sox alcs in 2018 was pain, the 2019 world series was… repressed in my mind.
Martinez will help the BlueJays be a better team at the plate. Not Yellich though, he is an injury waiting to happen.
Any major league player personnel decision made by Atkins and/or Shapiro is questionable.
New GM and President of Baseball Ops please.
Martinez would be an excellent DH. Go get Ballinger trade for third baseman there is your off-season.
The BlueJays still need another quality depth outfielder who can play defense and quality depth starting pitching which will be the Jays undoing. There is none in the organization.
I hear he’s on a plane to Toronto as we speak
Yes please.
Jays need lefty bats. Kepler makes sense. Bringing back Kiermaier or Belt would make sense. I dint like the fit with Martinez. Guerrero is a DH and Springer isn’t getting any younger.
Here we go again….
“Jays need lefty bats”.
Correct answer: Jays need QUALITY bats.
Regardless of what side of the plate they swing.
Jays need lefty bats
Jays need bats. Stop discriminating.
I wonder if D’Backs GM Hazen has talked to JD about coming back to the D’Backs, I heard he may have his eye on making a deal for a RH outfielder and possibly another bullpen arm. I wonder what the priority is right now.?
I’m sure the Jays have another prospect they could sent to the D’Backs….
If the Jays don’t have a lefty hitting around Bo and Vlad the seaosn will be over in April
That wasn’t the problem in 2021 or 2022.
It kinda was – it was a talking about in local media and even the GM and manager asking if they were “too easy to pitch to ” late in games for other teams to set up for . In 2021 it was not for obvious reasons but end of 2022 Ross outright said they needed more balance for this reason – so when varsho starts the seaosn as the clean up hitter this is why
It kinda wasn’t.
What, Game 2 in 2022 they didn’t score enough? 2021 the pitching WASNT the problem? It WASNT easy to pitch to those lineups. It was easy to match up RHP. Except, the Jays RH bats could rip their pitching no matter what.
Let’s please stop re-writing history. Bullpen and SP was a problem from the jump in 2021 and they did not recover. SP was not sharp in 2022 also.
Why are we talking about pitching those years? My comment had nothing to do with pitching . The comment was direct from the front office . End of 2022 – I have no idea why your talking about 2021 . Are you confused about what my comment said ?
“It kinda was” – your words.
Except it wasn’t. Front office said they wanted a lefty bat but true to form they didn’t adequately address it. Sure they acquired LH bats and suddenly they didn’t hit as well as 2021 and 2022. Maybe, juuuuuust maybe, it had more to do with acquiring QUALITY hitters?
“Too easy to pitch to” – your words, again. That was false. Easy to not call on a LH bullpen arm. Jays hitting was dangerous. Dangerous enough to win the division but didn’t because of pitching.
THAT is why we are talking pitching. The hitting was not the problem. It is now, thanks to the “we need a lefty” crap.
But my comment was about 2024 …. The pitching of 2023 which is the basis of my comment saying they need a lefty bat in 2024 was very good so yes they need a lefty bat.
Bieber, J. Naylor, Straw +?? for Tiedemann. SP, LHB, defensive CF. What else gets it done?
Jays have Varsho who is a fantastic CF Defensively his DRS is amazing we don’t need no hit straw
Jays lack LH power and should be in on Bellinger. However, i could see them not getting either Bellinger or Martinez and walking away with Joc Pederson installed
Oof. That would be quite a pivot from Ohtani.
It’s not really a “pivot” though. They lost out on Ohtani, there is not another player like Ohtani to go and get so they have to move on
No, I know. I meant “dropoff.”
“Is there another First Baseman like Giambi?”
“No, not really”
“No”
“If there was, could we afford him?”
“Nope”
“Then what the f*** are you talking about, man?”
Fair point lol
Interest in Bellinger waning? Too much $$$?
Do it, Do it. Had him going there in the contest.
Go get him Jays. JDM for 3 years 100 million deferred for the next 10 years. With opt outs in management changes included.
Good fit. I think J.D. Martinez is probably the best bet for 30hr and 100rbi of any player left on the free agent market.
Still willing to bet Vlad opens the season as the 3rd baseman. Maybe if they trade for Alonso, but I doubt that will happen.
Vladdy cannot play 3rd base. Period. The Jays wasted development years trying him at 3rd. He stays at first unless there is a injury emergency.
Sure, a guy that became a gold glove first baseman couldn’t move to third for a year or 2 to make room for a better fit. Kinda like how Miggy moved to third to make room for Fielder
Right now i could see the Jays opening the season with a platoon of Schneider/Barger at 3B and Espinal/Biggio at 2B. No reason to not go all in on whatever big bat they can get
No reason lol they are losing Merrifield, Chapman, KK, Belt and that was barely good enough for the last wc
Looking at JD’s #’s with risp he is exactly what they need
JDMartinez to the Texas Rangers. Garver is good but injury prone. JD is a needed right handed hitter and could fit easily into an already lethal Ranger lineup that just won the World Series.
Tired of hearing who we interested in, we interested and calling on just about everyone right now, this is not news just stop this is getting ridiculous. Every single day I come on here I hear about who we interested in. Just report when something happens please it’s getting real old and all us Jay fans are sour enough right now
Lol I hear ya as a Jay’s fan myself.
Well BoJuBi, This site is called “Trade Rumours” for a reason!!!! If you do not like rumours maybe a different site might be best for you to peruse!!!!
Is it really a trade rumor though smart guy? He’s a free agent therefore it would be a signing no? A trade rumor is a lot more legitimate a rumor, it means more then one team is involved, and the details leak out. Point is we in on everyone, this is obvious, so unless you wanna post every single day on who we may SIGN! This gets old quick. Let me run down for ya save ya some time. We in on Martinez, Adames,Robert, Yamamoto, Yelich, Bellinger, Taylor, Paredes, Arozarena, even Machado, Carlson, Burleson, Edman, and just about anyone else who can hit, play 3rd or Cf. My nephew has a tryout next week he straight from t-ball but smacks the ball. I saved ya some reading time lmao
Love JD Martinez, but Springer will need to DH more in 2024. Might want to tackle a player who’ll field a position.
J.D. is a good hitter but getting old fast,yet a DH who could hit 30HRs
J.D is perfect. They only have one real hitter now, so signing up J.D. has to help. Watching Vlad jr stumble around the bases can’t be fun at all there. B.B J.D, and whatever Vlad can do.
With Shatkins running the show, it will end up being Buck, and not JD as the DH….
You stink at writing, Adams. “Meanwhile” has to come at the start of a sentence; it can’t be in the middle, set off with commas.
Would prefer the signing of JD over Bellinger. Belli is a huge risk for a lot of $. Jay’s would be good to sign some pro vet hitters like JD, Turner, Micheal Brantley.
Dodgers get Ohtani, Glasnow, Margot. The Jays get LHP Brendon Little from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for cash considerations and Select the contract of RHP Mitch White from Worcester (IL)., sign FA 3B Andrew Bechtold and sign IF Rafael Lantigua. Look out here come the Jays.
“This isn’t the try league, this is the get it done league”. – Josh Donaldson.
I didn’t realize the offseason was over yet.
Are the Shatkins duo going to do anything this offseason?!? Or are they still whining about Ohtani? Jeeesh! He was never coming to Canada. Move on and get signing some players or making some trades happen or the Jays are not even going to make the playoffs in 24 as we have to many gaps in the lineup.