The Rockies have interest in Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports (Twitter link). Colorado joins an ever-growing list of teams connected to the slugger, including the Royals, Cardinals, Dodgers and Diamondbacks, plus likely more clubs whose interest has yet to be revealed.
As Morosi notes, Martinez is particularly valuable in the NL West as a right-handed bat to counter the division’s many good southpaws, which explains why the D’Backs, Dodgers and Rox have checked in on the outfielder. Martinez, of course, is a dangerous bat anywhere — he carries a .306/.384/.622 slash line and 15 homers over 224 plate appearances this season, putting him on pace for his best year since breaking out as one of the game’s top hitters in 2014. Martinez will be a free agent this winter, though even as a rental player, the Tigers stand to obtain a big return if and when they trade the 29-year-old.
The Rockies seem like an odd trade match at first given their seeming surplus of corner outfield options: Carlos Gonzalez, Ian Desmond (just activated from the DL today), Gerardo Parra, rookie Raimel Tapia and possibly David Dahl as a late-season reinforcement off the disabled list. CarGo, however, simply hasn’t been himself this year, hitting just .215/.294/.330 with six home runs over 306 PA. Desmond and Parra have both missed time due to injury, and could be needed at first base since Mark Reynolds’ bat has drastically cooled off over the last month. Tapia and Dahl, meanwhile, would seemingly fit the model of talented young outfield prospects that could go to Detroit in a Martinez trade; the Tigers have reportedly had interest in the likes of the Astros’ Derek Fisher and the Dodgers’ Alex Verdugo in recent months.
Tapia + Pint for JD.
Lol
Dave Stewart would do it
Tapia + Pint for Miggy and Verlander is just as likely
Not the point I know, but can you imagine Miggy playing 81 @ Coors? Oh my
Offer wasn’t serious. JD for Tapia straight up I could see though. Not sure how high teams are on tapia. More of a slap hitter with 25sb potential but not much else.
Tigers new philosophy under Avila might be to actually fill the team with players that will perform well in a big park. Speedy slap hitters who can hit the gaps for doubles and Triples. Castellanos, who is NOT fast, leads AL in triples. Tigers don’t need or want a thumper.
I suppose. Tapia for 5+ years isn’t too bad for a few months of JD. He has holes in his game though.His Caught stealing percentage is way too high in his minor and major league career. If he isn’t going to be a big contributor on the base paths that’s going to hurt his value.
Hell no bro tigers will not give them up JUST for tapia and pint, they would probably have to put in Rodgers and probably freeman
Who is Freeman? Unless you are talking about the Rockies former first rounder Choo Freeman. But I think he is in his 40s now and no longer a prospect..
Should be sent to the Rangers as goodwill for doing them dirty on the Fielder trade.
How were the rangers done dirty? There is no evidence Detroit knew about his injury. Not to mention all trades are pending a medical exam. Just bad luck not ill intent.
Hoo boy, this is the worst take ever on this site.
The Tigers are still paying $6 million annually for his contract. I’m sure the Rangers are not on the hook for the rest of the contract. Probably insured for some of it.
Incorrect. If Rangers took the Insurance, Tigers would be off the hook for the 6 million so it worked out better for Rangers to keep paying him and collect the 6 million from Tigers. Fielder’s injury was not known at the time of the trade and Rangers signed off on his medical.
This makes no sense, the rangers would still owe fielder part of his salary…the 6M is all offset pay.
J.D. Martinez and Alex Avila to the Rox for a package headlined by Tapia seems like it would make a lot of sense for both sides. Can’t keep trotting CarGo’s .624 OPS out there every day and the Rockies catchers haven’t been anything special this year either
Walters is a really good defensive catcher
I could see a Tapia / Tom Murphy / Jordan Patterson package being something that might interest the Tigers for JD and Avila. It would definitely help out the Tigers, who really need position prospects and it wouldn’t really hurt the Rockies that much, even if they lost JD to FA.
I would do JD for Verduga straight up all day. Same with fisher. Doubt that gets done. I really would like to see us get Verduga though. He’s raking in AAA and plays a position we desparetly need.
maybe JD + Wilson for verdugo avd another piece or two
no way
What about Verdugo for Britton?
People overvalue prospects. Why is this prospect worth two MLB players?
No way Dodgers trade Verdugo for a 29 year old rental. Yes I know JD is good at hitting but he is average at best in the field and we could lose him in FA. Dodgers keep Verdugo and now they have a 21 year old OF with a straight cannon and a good bat. No way they do it.
Maybe they give lower level prospects but not a top one
This is the going rate though for a middle of the order power bat, even though he’s a rental. Look what cespedes got us in 15. He’s the most coveted bat on the trade market and if a team really wants him, then it’s going to cost at least one top prospect. That’s the cost now. Look how many teams are in on JD right now. That’s only gonna make the price go up. If Avila plays this right he should end up with an OF prospect who could either come out now, or start next year in the majors. Verduga, Fisher, and Tapia all fit that. I would be happy with any of them for JD. Not too mention that Wilson should bring back a haul as well.
The problem is, the Dodgers 8 hitter has 18 hr. JDs power isn’t middle of the order for dodgers. And chris taylor is playing well, and hitting for decent power as well in LF… so while it’s an upgrade, they probably aren’t giving verdugo… you may be right that it is t going rate, but the Dodgers need isn’t as great as other clubs on this list.
JD Martinez right now would be third on the Dodgers in Homeruns. Also he has had almost a 100 less at bats than Puig, who is second on the Dodgers in HR and has just three more HRs than JD. The 18 HRs in the 8 spot is very misleading and a stupid way to try and prove your point. JD also kills left handed pitchers. His power is definitely middle of the order power for LAD.
Lol yeah terrible comment. He didn’t play the first 30 games of the year. His HR/AB is like 9th in MLB.
Dodgers trade Yadier Alvarez, Gavin Lux, Willie Calhoun, Brock Stewart. For Tigers JD Martinez, Justin Wilson.
Dodgers are doing good with Taylor Puig Pederson and Hernandez
I don’t see Martinez to the Dodgers as a great fit anymore. With Chris Taylor proving he can play OF and hit every day + Joc looking much better after his DL stint they just need a solid RH bat off the bench.
LH reliever is a bigger need, I’d do Verdugo+ for Wilson
Yup, this is exactly right. It would also help if the RHB could play first occasionally, which Martinez cannot.
If we already had JD would you trade for Taylor to be that right handed bat off the bench? It would make the Dodgers stronger with JD and Taylor so you do it.
I wouldn’t. If JD wasn’t just a rental then I’d probably still do it
For me, a LH setup to Jansen should be priority over a power bat
That would be interesting but JD will command more since there’s a bidding war. LAD should try for a bigger trade with Detroit since they have such a deep minor league system. They should try for JV JD and JW give up Puig 2 blue chippers and 3 next tier down prospects. They would crush it in the playoffs. They went cheap last year.
Do you really think there is no bidding on Justin Wilson?
Yah I doubt JD and JW will be involved in the same trade unless it’s a blockbuster
Unless salary relief comes, I wouldn’t expect to see a Tapia- Martinez straight up deal. I would expect to see a package surrounding second tier pitching prospects, Almonte or Castellani, for a rental who, defensively, will get lost at Coors.
Salary relief on a rental? JD isnt moving for second level prospects. Id be pumped if fisher for JD happened, and fisher is no less valuable than Tapia.
I would like to see JD, Fulmer to Houston for Tucker, Martes, Perez, and another quality prospect. Fulmer would be a great get.
No need
Avila has no balls to make that move. I’d like to see Fulmer and Miggy moved to Houston for 6 prospects with 3 being top end guys. They need to think about playoffs now and what they need to win it all. Fulmer and Miggy would make it happen.
Fuller would bring back a haul. On the other hand, Miguel Cabrera isn’t worth anything given his massive contract. Cabrera is also experiencing a decline this year which doesn’t help the cause. For the Astros I like the idea of going all in. They rather get another starter I would think before they got a masher like Cabrera
Yea go all in Astros! As a fan, why wouldn’t you like to see them go all in.
Where would they put JD? Catcher? They have to trade their starting outfielder to get JD
Cargo is a FA after the season and is sucking wind right now. He could be put on the DL or simply DFA. He is a hindrance to the Rockies winning, not a plus.
The Dodgers trading for Martinez makes absolutely no sense. They would do far better trading for a quality starting or relief pitcher which is what they will do.
LF Dodgers/Rockies.
It makes sense. You always have to account for the possibility of injury or maybe want to jump start a line up with a new bat. The Dodgers had a real problem vs lefties not even a year ago and Franklin Gutierrez is not the answer there. They’ve been playing phenomenal lately, so it’s easy to see it as a non factor but there’s only one trade deadline a season right. We can’t go back if it becomes a problem again and try to trade for someone in September. With all that said, I agree with you that we would be better off spending resources upgrading a setup man.
La would likely be looking to extend jd if they trade for him. If that’s the case, make the move. The guy can help you win the whole thing. Then for 3-4 years extended you have a top 5 premium bat in the lineup
Jd is slept on. Look at his numbers this year and he was hurt for 1/4 of the season. He’d have 25 hr if he played all the games
And that’s in comeRica park…..not hitter friendly for HRs
TBH I haven’t really seen him play. I know his numbers through reading articles but I haven’t put his bat or glove to the eye test this year that he’s finally healthy. I’m sure it would be a coup for the Dodgers to plug him into LF, but what would it cost is the magical question. He’s a rental but he’s a power bat rental. You’d have to start with a top 100 guy and we only have 4 of those. It would be hard to give one up when we still have to go for a shut down lefty set up man.
They will sign him to an extension if they make the trade. That’s my take on it.
So there are 30 teams and a top 100 prospect list, meaning an average of three per team. Seems like LA could spare one for a trade.
Yeah technically you can, but there’s already a vision for all these prospects. Walker Buehler is a TOR prospect with a 96 mph fastball and 3 plus plus offerings. We can’t trade him. Verdugo, same thing. We need him to keep our lineup young and cost controlled. Yadier Alvarez has a 75 grade fastball to combo with a plus plus slider, screams back of the bullpen anchor type. They paid 16M for him, I think he’s a keep too. That only leaves Willie Calhoun, which I’m ok with trading, but we need a bullpen piece this season that I think he’s going to headline so I don’t know how we get JD.
We always hear about trading for a rental to extend him, but how often does that actually happen? It seems no more likely than signing him as a free agent over the winter.
this close to FA, I sincerely doubt JD, or any other rental, is looking to sign without testing the market. Teams can ask, just not realistic to expect them to forfeit that right to see what they are worth on the market.
This year comerica has a 1.081 HR park factor. Where anything above 1 favors the hitter. So it seems comerica is hitter friendly for hr’s this year. Maybe not on the level of Coors or Yankee stadium. But definetly not even close to AT&T Park
It makes sense. Keep him away from AZ, Colorado etc…JD can hit the best LHP!
Anyone but the Cardinals please. I have no interest in them acquiring JD Martinez at all.
Good thing you’re not a GM
Why? 300 average hitter, 25+ homerun guy, though his defense is a bit shaky, it’s passable. A half season rental isn’t worth someone like Alex Reyes, but maybe a few mid-to-higher level prospects.
Because they get him for half a season and aren’t even a favorite to make it to the playoffs. Doesn’t make a ton of sense for them to be buyers this year.
Martinez would simply hit 60 hr a year in coors field. Martinez has as much power as anyone in baseball. He has more opposite field power than most players in mlb. Rox should do the deal then sign jd long-term. Say 3 year, 75 million with a team option for 4th year at 25 million? That’s worth it. Rox fans will see jd hit hrs almost daily in that ballpark. Right now he plays in a freaking black hole. The guy is a beast. Right up there with trout, stanton, judge, anyone you can name as far as hitting goes.
For what it’s worth, I doubt the tigers will want tapia. He is a weak hitter.
safe to say he wouldn’t hit 60 home runs s year as a rockie. He only would play 81 games at coors. And don’t put him in the same sentence as trout please
He has hit 45 while playing 81 of his games in comerica….safe to to say he would come very close to 60 in coors field or any other smaller park….how about thinking before posting?
Coors is NOT that great a home run park. It is a very friendly park for hitters, but it is not SO friendly that a hitter will gain 50% to their home run totals. Besides Coors is a lot more friendly to doubles and triples than homers anyway.
Jd martinez ops is right there with trout over past few years….so yes, when comparing power numbers they are pretty equal. And jds would be even higher outside comerica park. And jd is still about a .290 hitter. Can’t believe how clueless some people are…
Tigers would be crazy to accept a low ball offer for jd martinez. They would be better off keeping him, getting nothing for him, and sitting back and laughing at gms for not making a fair offer for him.
JD would demand much more than 3 yrs. which you should understand since Trout and Stanton both got much longer deals.
Jd is 29 years old though. He will likely have to settle for a 3 year deal, possibly 4. Similar to the met-cespedes deal
JD is Coors would be fun to watch. He might hit it completely out of the park!
I hope the Dodgers pass. Keep the kids. They have already benefited from that philosophy with Seagar, Pederson, and Bellinger.
Couldnt agree more. The Dodgers FO has been amazing and holding onto the right homegrown guys.
We can’t keep all the kids, there would be nowhere to play them. For sure, is want to keep Verdugo though, that kid is special. Good hitters eye, he is a hit machine that will develop more power as he gets older. He’s only 21 and more than holding his own in Triple A.
Keep the kids and never win a World Series. The Dodgers never want to go all in. I like how they were so happy to get a guy like Logan Forsythe when they could have got an actual premium 2nd baseman. Say like a guy named Dozier.
Twins asked for Jose de Leon and Cody bellinger. Dodgers said only Jose de Leon. Would rather have forsythe and Bellinger then dozier
Twins never asked for Bellinger. Go back and check on this site. Never happened.
The difference between a guy with power and speed like Dozier and a guy who is hitting .245 with no power and no speed like Forsythe is the difference between a playoff team and a WS team.
Your right they didn’t ask for bellinger that must of been a fan theory that I remembered. However they did ask for de leon, calhoun, and alvarez. Which in glad the Dodgers didn’t take since dozier hasn’t produced anywhere close to last year
I would love to see this. That lineup is already filthy.
Not sure rockies have the ammo.
That’s completely asinine the Rockies have more than enough prospects to get JD Martinez.
Like who? I wouldnt want Tapia. He weighs 160lbs soaking wet
Id be interested in Dahl, Pint,
Possibly Brendan Rodgers, but he just got bumped to AA and his numbers fell off a cliff. Not really a good sign.
You are “possibly” interested in a top 10 prospect in all of baseball? That’s mighty big of you. BTW, he has been in AA for all of three weeks as a 20 year old. Have you ever heard of a small sample?
Oh yes, He might need time to adjust.. But Im not particularly jumping for joy at this point.
Just because he is rated as a top prospect has some meaning but doesnt mean everything.
Look at Lucas Giolito. #1 pitching prospect a few years ago. He’s in AAA right now with a 5.00 ERA.
If he has the tools and plate discipline, yeah, maybe he could be good
What does Giolito have to do with this? His performance is meaningless. Mainly because he is a pitcher and not a shortstop, If you are going to compare prospects, at least make them the same position.
Morosi is an idiot. He should just say “every playoff possible team is interested in JD” instead of bringing up a new team everyday.
Dude is a hack.
What is jd going to be, a long term asset or is he going to play with a team for two years and be traded?
Deep. You could ask that question about every player.
Ya your right.
J.D. Martinez? Get a short term shortstop and turn the page on Story.
Too soon for that. Story just having a sophomore slump. Many great players have done that.
Why are you talking about story on a Jd Martinez trade talks?
There is a good trade situation I think.Tigers get story Dahl ,and rox get Martinez tigers best or second best prospect at short