Latest On Giants’ Past Negotiations With J.D. Martinez

Reports yesterday indicated that veteran slugger J.D. Martinez had turned down a contract offer from the Giants earlier this offseason, before the club ultimately landed Jorge Soler on a three-year deal. There have been conflicting reports regarding the nature of the sides breaking off negotiations, with the New York Post’s Jon Heyman suggesting that Martinez simply “didn’t want to go” to San Francisco while Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reported that Martinez made a counteroffer to the Giants that club brass “weren’t comfortable with.”

This morning, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand shed additional light on the situation, reporting that the Giants’ initial offer to Martinez was a one-year deal worth $14MM. The two reports diverge from there, however, with Nightengale indicating that Martinez rejected the contract in pursuit of a two-year deal while Feinsand reports that Martinez was seeking $20MM and declined San Francisco’s offer despite potentially being open to accepting “a little less” than his preferred salary figure.

Of course, it’s possible there’s elements of truth to both reports. Speculatively speaking, it could be the case that Martinez’s preference would be a two-year deal in the range of $20MM annually, though he may be willing to accept a one-year deal at the higher end of that range or a two-year pact for a slightly lower AAV. That would fall in line would fall roughly in line with MLBTR’s prediction for Martinez’s contract, which sat at two years and $40MM.  It remains to be seen whether or not Martinez will actually be able to earn that sum, of course. The offseason’s top offensive free agent behind Shohei Ohtani, outfielder Cody Bellinger, settled for a three-year, $80MM deal earlier this morning. It’s possible that Bellinger’s deal clocking in below expectations is a concerning signal for Martinez, though with him off the board Martinez’s biggest rival on the positional market is third baseman Matt Chapman, who figures to have a different set of suitors than the veteran slugger.

Martinez figures to be an impact bat for the club that eventually lands him, even as he enters his age-36 season. After slashing an excellent .292/.363/.526 across 637 games in a Red Sox uniform from 2018 to 2022 en route to four All Star appearances and a top-four finish in AL MVP voting, Martinez took a one-year deal with the Dodgers last winter and revamped his approach in L.A. to generate more power. The changes worked as intended, as he slashed a fantastic .271/.321/.572 with 33 home runs in just 479 trips to the plate after hitting just 16 homers in 596 plate appearances the previous season. That incredible power came at the expense of a significant jump in strikeouts, as his 31.1% strikeout rate last year marked the first time he was punched out at a clip over 30% in his career.

With the Giants now assuredly out of the running for Martinez’s services after signing Soler, the veteran slugger could still make sense for a handful of clubs. The Angels and Mets have both been connected to the veteran at various points this offseason, though public indications are that neither team prefers to add a full time DH to its mix. A team like the Cubs or Twins that lacks a full-time DH could at least theoretically accommodate Martinez at the position, though each club sports a crowded positional mix and figures to benefit considerably from having the DH spot available to rest players or work in more playing time for youngsters forcing their way into the lineup. If none of the aforementioned teams are interested to committing to Martinez on a high-dollar or multi-year deal, that could leave the veteran slugger forced to lower his asking price. At that point, any of the aforementioned clubs or even a low-budget club with a clear need for offense such as the Guardians could jump into the mix for Martinez’s services.