J.D. Martinez (Photo file)
While many of the Detroit Tigers are underperforming this year -- Miguel Cabrera, Ian Kinsler, Victor Martinez -- right fielder J.D. Martinez is not. He's batting over .300 and has 16 home runs.
Which makes all the more sense that J.D. Martinez, who becomes an unrestricted free agent after the 2017 season, is likely to be gone by the trading deadline on July 31. The Tigers don't want to pay for what he will command.
The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies have expressed interest and the Dodgers, Cardinals and Royals have been rumored to be interested, reports Ashley Varela of NBC Sports.
It will be a painful loss tor the Tigers and the fans.
NBC reports:
Martinez, 29, is in his fourth run with the Tigers. He’s two years removed from his most valuable season, during which he produced 5.0 fWAR and slashed .282/.344/.535 with 38 home runs. He managed to maintain a .300+ batting average in 2016 and is chasing that with another .300+ average, 15-homer performance this year. A sprained Lisfranc ligament in his right foot kept him out of commission for the first few months of the 2017 season, but he appears to have made a full recovery, bouncing back with an impressive .306/.384/.622 batting line, 15 home runs and a 1.006 OPS through his first 224 PA of the year.
-- Allan Lengel
