JD Martinez may be on his last legs in Detroit, and one powerhouse is lurking as a possible landing spot.
Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes on Saturday that the Los Angeles Dodgers “seem like an obvious fit” for the Tigers outfielder, noting that the two teams had discussions about Martinez in the offseason.
The 29-year-old Martinez, who will be a free agent after the season, got a late start to the 2017 campaign due to a foot injury but is now batting .296/.379/.615 with 14 home runs and 32 RBIs through 51 games. He also recently made some seemingly telling comments about his future in Detroit.
As for the Dodgers, they lost Andrew Toles to a season-ending knee injury in May, and Joc Pederson just can’t hit lefties. In fairness though, Chris Taylor has been a revelation this year, while Yasiel Puig has bounced back as well. Nonetheless, the Dodgers may still want more outfield depth and versatility.
Martinez also drew interest from elsewhere in the NL West last offseason, but the farm talent is certainly there to offer in Los Angeles (Fenech adds that the Tigers have previously been linked to Dodgers outfield prospect Alex Verdugo). As such, we’ll see if Martinez is the right win-now rental piece for the Dodgers to pull the trigger on.
