Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Victor Martinez Out For Season - Baseball News - January 17 2012

Well, the Tigers haven't even got started and already they are behind in the race to re-claim the AL Central Division title.  Victor Martinez injured his knee in a training exercise and will now miss the entire season due to mandatory ACL surgery.  His power and plate discipline will sorely be missed in the middle of the Tigers line up.  I can't say for certain but I would assume Detroit will be shopping for a 1B/DH type right away and there are plenty available.  It would not surprise me if they looked hard at free agent 1B Prince Fielder (not that they will at all just that he would make sense as the Tigers are a contending team).  In carry over leagues, Martinez is essentially (depending on your rules of course) someone I wouldn't protect for 2012.

Plenty of action on the arbitration front as Tim Lincecum has put in claim for a record $21.5 million and Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw has asked for $10 million.  Both I believe are for one year deals.  Plenty of other players avoided arbitration by completing deals today including pitchers Francisco Liriano, Detroit's Max Scherzer, the Ray's David Price, Joba Chamberlain and Justin Masterson.  There were an assortment of positional players that signed as well including Shin Soo Choo, Jays 2B Kelly Johnson, Dodgers 1B James Loney and big winner Jacoby Ellsbury who signed for just over $8 million per season.

In the realm of fantasy, these hearings are not really newsworthy.  All of the above players will be retained by their current teams.  What is interesting is the amount they actual sign for.  For example, Choo was a top fantasy performer only two seasons ago but after an unusual season where he was either hurt or a non-factor he signed for just $4.9 million for this season.  That's considerably low when you look at how much two more incomplete players Kelly Johnson (lack of average) and James Loney (lack of speed and power at a premium position) received (around $6 million each).

Last bits of news, Carl Crawford had minor wrist surgery.  I'll be monitoring that situation closely especially after the stinker of a season he put up last year.  The Brewers signed Japanese league import Norichika Aoki to add another speedy centerfielder to their already solid mix of speedy centerfielders. We discussed Aoki in previous news but for the lazy, he essentially projects to be a .300 hitter with about 20 steals type of player.


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