Detroit Tigers: Hot Stove Updates for Martinez & Kinsler

With the San Francisco Giants signing Mark Melancon, the chances that they sign Detroit Tigers J.D. Martinez sink to extremely low levels.

If they were to sign Detroit Tigers J.D. Martinez, the Giants would exceed the luxury tax threshold.

Plus, with Hunter Pence manning right field, what point would the Giants have in signing J.D?

The Giants still have an issue in left field with the free agency of Angel Pagan. J.D Martinez played left field with the Houston Astros and he has played some left field with the Tigers in 2014. The Giants will need an outfielder, but can they afford J.D?

Payroll Increase in San Francisco

The Giants started the 2016 season with a payroll of $172 million. But, a handful of players are seeing substantial increases in 2017. Jeff Samardzija gets a $9 million bump, Johnny Cueto is getting a $6 million raise, Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, and Brandon Crawford are all getting $2 million raises. Denard Span is getting a $5 million raise.  That’s an extra $26 million in payroll – just with 6 players – who are already getting big bucks.

With the four-year $62 million that the Giants just gave to Melancon, there really isn’t much room left for J.D. The odds are safe that the Giants will put a significantly less expensive outfielder in left in 2017.

There are still a few teams who are in need of right fielders. The Toronto Blue Jays, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the New York Yankees could show interest in him. The Blue Jays haven’t shown interest in Martinez and they just signed Steve Pearce, so don’t expect any Canadian signings for J.D.

The Dozier-Kinsler Issue

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The market for Ian Kinsler is also shrinking, especially with Brian Dozier possibly entering into the ring. Dozier is younger than Kinsler and has numbers that aren’t much different than Kinsler’s. Second base is stacked across the league and this reduces the market for Kinsler, who wants to stay somewhere (but not everywhere) for a few years. Kinsler is set to make $11 million in Detroit in 2017 and Dozier is set to make $9 million in Minneapolis. Across the board, Dozier will be a better deal for any team in the hunt for a middle infielder.

Could K-Rod Become a Factor?

With the big signing of Mark Melancon, it is clear that closing pitchers are hot commodities. This could open up the market for Francisco Rodriguez. The maturity of Bruce Rondon has made Rodriguez a bit redundant for the Tigers. With Al Avila telling the MLB that the big names are on the table, K-Rod could be trade bait for a team digging deep for a closer. It was practically a given with the speed the Tigers re-signed Rodriguez that he could be a valuable commodity in the world where there just aren’t enough good closing pitchers.

Next: Prediction: Not Many Changes in Detroit for 2017

Other than markets that are closing to the Tigers expensive players, Day One of the Winter Meetings have been rather quiet. Stay tuned for Day Two.