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The Red Sox lost Victor Martinez to the Tigers because they were outbid by $8 million dollars over four years. That amounts to just $2 million per season.

While the Red Sox were willing to offer Martinez the four-year deal he wanted, they weren’t willing to go to $50 million for him.

But the Tigers were. 

The Red Sox made two separate offers to Martinez: a three-year deal worth $36 million and a four-year deal worth $42 million.

Even though Martinez and his agents made it clear to the Red Sox on Monday night that he was prepared to accept another offer elsewhere, the Red Sox held their ground. In the end, Martinez accepted Detroit’s four-year, $50 million offer. 

Even the Orioles, who offered just $2 million less, outbid the Red Sox.

The Red Sox were unwilling to go to four years, $52 million with Johnny Damon, which ended up being a regrettable decision by Theo Epstein. They can only hope that their decision with Martinez doesn’t end up being similarly regrettable in the next couple of years.

The Red Sox now have a gaping hole in the middle of the order that needs to be filled by opening day. Fortunately, that is more than four months away. There is time to find a suitable, or superior, replacement. 

But one thing is for sure; the Red Sox won’t get the same kind of production from their catcher next season, no matter who it is. Martinez is one of the two or three best offensive catchers in the game today, behind Joe Mauer, and along with Brain McCann.

Martinez is a career .300 hitter, which is especially impressive for a catcher. Excluding the 2008 season (in which he was injured), Martinez has averaged 18 homers and 83 RBI each year since he became a full-time player in 2004.

While those are nice numbers for a catcher, the RBI and home run totals are not particularly striking. In fact, Martinez has hit 25 homers just once and driven in 100 RBI just three times in his eight full seasons in the majors. As a first baseman or DH, those numbers would be rather pedestrian.

But Martinez’s offense wasn’t the Red Sox’ primary concern. His age (32 next month) and defensive shortcomings were the things that gave them pause. Martinez threw out only 27 of 99 base-stealers last season. 

And the Sox also had questions about Martinez’s game-calling skills. Red Sox pitchers had a 4.28 earned run average throwing to Martinez. With other catchers, Sox pitchers had a 4.05 ERA. Additionally, opponents had a .738 OPS with Martinez behind the plate —just above the American League average—and a .706 OPS with other catchers.

The Red Sox felt that Martinez would only remain an effective catcher for perhaps the next two seasons and that he would then need to shift to first base or DH after that. While they felt he would be worth the price of a top-notch catcher for the first two years of the contract, they didn’t feel he’d be worth $12.5 million per season beyond that.

However, it’s interesting that the Sox are willing to pay David Ortiz (who can’t hit lefties) $12.5 million to DH when the going rate is $6 million—tops. They’ll also wind up paying Jonathan Papelbon nearly $12 million next season, despite his regression. And J.D. Drew will will continue to be wildly overpaid in 2011, making another $14 million. 

Yet, the Red Sox deemed that Martinez—a switch-hitter who crushes left-handed pitching—was not worth $12.5 million per year for the next four years.

The money they’ve saved can be spent elsewhere to address other needs. While the Sox may go with an inexpensive platoon of Jarrod Saltalamachia and Jason Varitek behind the plate, they will need to make up for loss of Martinez’s offense somehow. And should they also lose Adrian Beltre, there will then be two gaping holes in the lineup.

If Saltalamachia ever delivers on the promise that so many scouts and talent evaluators have seen in him for so long, he will be quite a bargain for the Sox. His big body and swing make 18 homers and 83 RBI seem within reason. That would make up for the loss of Martinez for a whole lot less money.

The names Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth, Justin Upton and Adrian Gonzalez have all been mentioned as potential Red Sox targets. The reality is the the Red Sox may now need two of them—or two hitters of the same caliber—to maintain their high-powered offense.

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As the 2010 season wound down, people like myself couldn’t help but check the transaction wires around the league. The playoffs serve as a chance for some teams to be victorious, but for most, it’s a chance to jump start their 2011 campaign.

In the following pages, I have outlined nearly every move that every club has made since their season ended.

Keep in mind, as the off-season progresses, so will this article. I will update it weekly, adding notes to every team with every new transaction or roster move.

I’ve decided to wait on power rankings until more activity happens; reason being teams like the Rays could fall more then five spots due to the fact of how many players they may lose. 

Rejoice baseball fans, the season has already started.

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Victor Martinez is one of the best catchers in baseball.

No one is going to argue that. But when he signed with the Detroit Tigers, you have to wonder if it was a positive move for his fantasy value. 

Over the past seven seasons, he has actually had 162 at-bats at Comerica Park (thanks to playing many games against them while an member of the Indians). His numbers there certainly are not very awe-inspiring—he hit just .216 with four home runs, 21 RBI and 15 runs scored.

Obviously, it is not a huge sample size, but it is not a small one either. Then again, hitting in front of Miguel Cabrera certainly will give things a different feel (though we have no clue at this point how the lineup will be set up). 

While that may give him a better chance to score runs, the move in general could hurt his home run and RBI potential.

In 2010 he hit 20 home runs, 10 at home and 10 on the road. Given his struggles in Comerica Park, you have to at least be slightly concerned that his home-run total takes a small hit. 

He’s always been a 20-23 home-run hitter. Last season, he actually posted a fly ball rate of 41.9 percent, his highest mark since 2004. 

It wouldn’t be a surprise if that number regressed.

Couple that with the new ballpark and seeing him fall just short of 20 homers would not be a surprise.

As for the RBI, the top of the Tigers’ lineup just isn’t going to be the same as the Red Sox. We will talk about Austin Jackson in much more detail in the near future, but it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see him regress, potentially significantly.

Without names like Dustin Pedroia or Jacoby Ellsbury hitting in front of him, the opportunities to drive in runs could be lower. Last season, he had 79 RBI, though he was also limited to 493 at bats. 

I would think he would still have at least that, though 90 now appears to be his upside potential (as opposed to reaching 100 in Boston).

The Tigers could utilize him as the DH in an effort to limit the wear and tear on his body (especially with Alex Avila in place). But they have also been one of the most aggressive teams thus far. 

It wouldn’t be a big surprise to see them make another move or two. So drawing any final conclusions on the roster or how he will be fully utilized would be a mistake.

At this point, you have to still love Martinez as a catcher, but his value does take a small hit with the move. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see his power struggle a bit and the RBI opportunities could regress as well.

The Tigers’ lineup construction will play a huge role, but with their aggressiveness, it’s impossible to know how things will be. There have been rumors of them signing another big bat, which would drastically change everything.

This is not enough to change his ranking as one of the elite at his position (at least for now), given his ability to hit right around .300. But the gap between him and the next group got a little bit smaller.

What are your thoughts on the signing? How does it affect Martinez’ value? 

Is he still an elite catcher in your eyes?

Make sure to check out our early 2011 rankings:

• Top 15 Catchers
• Top 15 First Basemen
• Top 15 Second Basemen
• Top 15 Third Basemen
• Top 15 Shortstops
• 2011 Fantasy Draft First Round Breakdown

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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One of the few bright spots of the Red Sox’ 2010 season was Adrian Beltre’s triumphant return to stardom.

In 154 games with Boston, Beltre hit .321 with 28 homers, 102 RBI and a .919 OPS. He combined his newly rediscovered offensive prowess with his Gold Glove defense for a whopping 7.1 Wins Above Replacement. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Red Sox might have finished below .500 without him.

Now a free agent, Beltre will leave a huge hole in the Red Sox’ depth chart if he doesn’t re-sign with Boston. If he doesn’t return to Fenway in 2011, word on the street is that the Red Sox will try to pry first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres.

With Victor Martinez heading to Detroit, it’s especially important for the Red Sox to upgrade their lineup. The question is: Which Adrian should they pursue?

The answer is pretty clear: Beltre. In this slideshow are 10 reasons why Boston should try to re-sign him instead of trading for A-Gone.

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It’s official: free agent catcher Victor Martinez has signed a 4 year, $50 million deal with the Detroit Tigers, leaving a noticeable void behind the plate for the Boston Red Sox.

Let it be known that Martinez did not want to leave. He wanted to know where he would likely play out the remainder of his career, and where he would likely retire. He wanted to know where his son, Victor Jose, would be going to school. He wanted to know where he and his family would be calling home for the foreseeable future. The Red Sox provided no certain answers to any of these questions, so V-Mart had to leave.

Some people have blamed the Red Sox for letting one of the most important pieces leave. Others have applauded it, saying that most catchers decline rapidly once they hit their 30s, so Martinez won’t be worth the money.

I don’t think letting Victor leave was a good idea, and here’s why; without further ado, I present “10 Reasons Red Sox Will Regret Losing Him.”

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The Detroit Tigers continued their aggressive offseason approach today by adding Victor Martinez to their roster for a reported $50 million over four years. 

Martinez is obviously a huge upgrade for the Tigers over Gerald Laird and Alex Avila, although Avila will have a chance to approach 300 at-bats again in 2011 with Martinez sure to see some time at DH.  The real question is whether the move to Detroit upgrades Martinez’s fantasy value in 2011.

My first thought was an assumption that Martinez probably had better numbers in games where he was a DH or first baseman as opposed to games he caught.  However, Martinez surprisingly has only 119 at-bats as a DH with a .235 career average and holds a .299 average as a catcher. 

Clearly the DH sample size is far too small to mean anything going forward, but the solid numbers as a catcher mean the extra time he will see at DH is probably not going to boost his production significantly if at all.

The next thing to consider is ballpark.  Fenway Park in Boston is generally considered to be a better park for hitters than Detroit’s Comerica Park, and Martinez’s splits are consistent with that line of thinking. 

In just under 400 career Fenway at-bats, Martinez owns a .322 average and .900 OPS, and in 169 at-bats at Comerica he has a .225 average and .671 OPS. 

Again, both sample sizes are too small to allow those splits to say anything definitive (500 at-bats usually represents a large enough sample size for batting average and OPS), but the difference in the numbers is fairly substantial. 

It seems obvious that the change of ballpark will depress Martinez’s offensive numbers to some degree.

The final consideration is the new lineup….

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The Detroit Tigers are about to sign free agent Victor Martinez to a four-year deal worth $50 million. Martinez is listed as a catcher, but will primarily earn his keep via the designated hitter position.

It is said this move will give the Tigers a real good 3-4 duo of Miguel Cabrera and Martinez with V-Mart providing valuable protection for Cabrera. Maybe they can even sign another hitter (Magglio Ordonez, Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford?) to have a good 3-4-5.

That might boost Cabrera’s MVP status for next season (he finished 2nd today), but it still will not help the Tigers win in 2011 or 2012 and especially not during the final two seasons of the proposed deal.

The signing is terrible for the Tigers, and comes on the heel of another bad signing, the three-year $16.5 million deal for right handed relief pitcher Joaquin Benoit.

It just goes to show that the Tigers management has no idea how to build a winning team. As the Tigers are trying to do, it is impossible to buy your way into a championship.

Martinez does not offer anything more than a DH and occasional first baseman. He is completely unproductive on the defensive end of catching, unable to move well behind the plate and is really good in his ability to allow stolen bases. I am sure V-Mart is not the best game-caller either.

So to pay $50 million for a 32 year old DH is mind-boggling. And not only do they sign Martinez for four years, but they also have to give up a first round draft pick in 2011 (No. 19 overall) to the Boston Red Sox.

The Tigers give up a draft pick in a draft that is considered to be very, very deep. It could rival the 2002 first round and/or 2005 first round in terms of quality and depth.  And both those drafts were quality after the first round, too.

So, in a deep draft, a team which has a terrible farm system has given away its first round pick, and if they sign another Type A free agent, they lose their second round pick, too.

I am not against free agent signings. Many free agent signings work out for the teams with decent production, but rarely do they ever lead to World Series championships. When they do, it is because the free agent player was the “final piece.” 

Free agents are to be used to supplement a good farm system, to complement the players a team has already developed and who are ready to compete. They should not be signed to start a team or fix up some holes.

When your own home grown players have reached the point where they are “knocking on the door” is when you search the free agent market for that key piece. The Tigers did that in 2004 when they went out and signed Pudge Rodriguez to handle a younger pitching staff, and eventually went to the World Series in 2006.

The fact that the 2010 Tigers positional prospects are ranked the worst overall in baseball has forced the Tigers hand here to sign an aging FA veteran bat.

And the prospect spiral keeps plummeting downward for the Tigers. They would not win in 2011 without Martinez and they will not win with him.

Martinez is not a key piece for the Tigers as their lineup still stinks even with him protecting Cabrera in the No. 4 hole. V-Mart had a decent season last year, but in no way does it warrant a four-year deal worth $50 million. He is not a real impact guy, only the best available now, and will only decline as he gets older.

Even if Martinez does not catch any games in 2011, the wear and tear already on his lower half will hasten any decline*. Did you know Martinez only has had one season with a plus .500 slugging percentage?

Even Derek Jeter had one plus .500 slugging season, back in 1999. Jeter’s career OPS is a scant .001 below Martinez career mark of .838. Is that worth $50 million? In a park which is historically bad for Martinez and is considered a pitcher’s park?

*Some readers will relate this deal to the one the Yankees gave Jorge Posada four seasons ago, a four year $52 million deal. Another deteriorating switch-hitting catcher who will end up as a DH. But things are much different for the Yankees at that point.

First, Posada was a home grown, key member of the Yankees dynasty run in the late 1990s-early 2000s. There is something to be said for paying for past performance when you are a home grown champion. Second, Posada was still the primary catcher and also pretty decent behind the plate at that point. Third, he was coming off a career year which he slashed .338 BA/.426 OBP/.543 SLG/.970 OPS, with 42 doubles, 20 HRs and 90 RBI.

The deal does not make sense in terms of years, money or losing a draft pick.

The Tigers would be better suited to follow the lead of the Minnesota Twins, who won the A.L. Central division last year, three of the last five years and six of the last nine seasons. Load up on home grown talent, sign the top two or three to long term deals, and keep producing enough talent to fill holes along the way.

Granted the Tigers are taking on more payroll in trying to win.

But smart franchises increase payroll on their own players, not somebody else’s free agents.

That is the recipe for staying near the top of the standings nearly every season. But an organization first has to produce your own home grown major league talent.

Bad franchises keep signing other teams players instead of producing their own.

Victor Martinez and Joaquin Benoit are two bad free agent signings.

Par for the course within the Tigers ownership of Mike Ilitch.

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Victor Martinez will receive a four-year deal for $50 million with the Detroit Tigers, according to Venezuelan reporter Ignacio Serrano of El Nacional, who first reported the agreement.

The Associated Press reported that the deal is pending the results of a physical. Martinez made $7.7 million last season.

The contract is a good one for Detroit, who needs offense. They did not have any player with an OBP over .350.

If he could also catch on a fairly regular basis, his value would be even greater, as his offense is rare for a backstop, but not as great for a DH.

Nevertheless, it was a good move by the Tigers, even if he will be overpaid by the third or fourth year of the deal. Theo Epstein and the Red Sox would like to have re-signed Martinez, but probably weren’t willing to guarantee a fourth year.

Meanwhile, this signing reminds us just how valuable and rare a commodity good hitting catchers are in MLB.

Just how rare? Well, take a look at this Top 10 list and see what you think.

Debate is strongly encouraged. There are different ways in which to judge a catcher, and I’m a little old school in that I want my catcher to be defense-first, with a strong throwing arm.

But it is so difficult to objectively measure defense, as even the most sophisticated metrics do a poor job of evaluating catcher defense, so I will focus more on offense. In other words, you will not see any .200 hitting catchers who play good defense on this list.

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Reports are saying that Victor Martinez, the free agent catcher from the Boston Red Sox, signed with the Detroit Tigers.

This could be detrimental to the Red Sox, who were hoping to re-sign the 31-year-old Venezuelan catcher.

Considering his great numbers and value to the team, how will this affect the Red Sox next season?

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The Detroit Tigers have signed free agent catcher/first baseman Victor Martinez to a four-year, $50 million deal.

Martinez spent last season as a Boston Red Sox and had a productive year swinging the bat. He hit .302 with 20 home runs and finished with 79 RBI in 127 games.

Detroit had high expectations heading into the season, but they didn’t pan out, as the Tigers finished third in the AL Central with an 81-81 mark.

The signing of Martinez is going to bolster the lineup and give Miguel Cabrera some much-needed help. But will it be enough in a division the Minnesota Twins seem to have a firm hold of year in and year out?

That’s something to be discussed for another time. One thing is for sure, and that is Martinez can swing the bat. The problem is his defense. He’s 31 years old and has never been very good behind the plate. If he starts more games at DH and first base, then his value takes a hit.

The length and dollar amount of this deal aren’t a problem. Martinez should be a productive hitter over the next four years, and he’s been relatively healthy for most of his career. The problem with this deal, more than anything, is the Tigers’ mindset. 

They gave up the ninth most runs last season and scored the 11th most. Common logic would say to invest in help for the starting rotation or bullpen. But instead, they’ve chosen to spend their money on a guy who, near the end of this deal, will primarily be used as a DH or at first base.

All of that’s fine except Cabrera is already locked in at first base and the DH spot, which means this deal ultimately hinges on how effective V-Mart is behind the plate. Martinez’s numbers look good among catchers, but when put up next to DHs and other first basemen, they aren’t nearly as eye-popping.

The other catcher on the roster is Alex Avila, who hit .228 last year and is a superior defender to Martinez. Unless Avila drastically raises his average and becomes a much more productive offensive catcher, the Tigers are going to have to rely on Martinez to carry the load as the backstop. 

Once again, the length and dollar amount of this deal seem about right, but does this move propel the Tigers to the top of the AL Central?

Probably not.

If anything, it’s going to be the pitching staff that turns things around for Detroit and not the offense.

Tiger fans can rejoice at management’s commitment to spending money to improve the team. Fans now just have to ask how much better their team is with this latest signing. 

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