Breaking: Victor Martinez will miss Spring Training with torn meniscus

Someone has to tell Victor Martinez that when he wants to workout in the offseason: “just don’t, bro, just don’t.”

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This is because for the second time in his career with the Detroit Tigers, Martinez has suffered an injury while prepping for the upcoming season. While not as severe as the injury which cost him the 2012 season, the injury will keep him out for Spring Training, if not into the regular season.

V-Mart was resigned to a four-year, $68 million deal this offseason after a career year for the 35-year old in 2014. The injury occurred last week during workouts and an examination showed torn medial meniscus in his left knee. He will go under the knife of Dr. James Andrews in Pensacola, FL next Tuesday.

His initial timetable for return (6-8 weeks) puts him back near the final week or so of Spring Training, but with Victor’s age and the unknown factor over any surgery, an appearance on Opening Day or several weeks into the regular season is far from a guarantee.

Even if he is able to come back for Opening Day, it might be a tall order to expect the 2014 Victor to return, at least at first. Getting back into action in 2013 proved rough for V-Mart after not facing live pitching for over a year as he started uncharacteristically slow. Of course this will be (hopefully) less time away, but he may have rust for his first couple games.

In 2012, Martinez tore his anterior cruciate ligament also in an offseason workout and while the Tigers held out hope that the DH could possibly rejoin the team late in the regular season, that possibility was shut down early on.

The Tigers struggled with injuries a season ago, especially before the season started. They lost ex-Tiger Andy Dirks, slated setup man Bruce Rondon and starting shortstop Jose Iglesias all to season-ending injuries before they took a meaningful pitch in 2014.

With the status of Miguel Cabrera up in the air for Opening Day, this is indeed not good news for the Detroit Tigers. Mind you, it is not the worst news ever, however it will be an area of concern to watch throughout February and March.

Wonder if Prince Fielder is available?

Next: #TBT: Hal Newhouser: The Only Detroit Tigers Hall-of-Fame pitcher