8 of the worst contracts in Detroit Tigers history

Detroit Tigers Worst Contract – Victor Martinez

This is another tough one, because Victor Martinez was a great player and a terrific leader for the Tigers. But, like so many other players on this list, it’s wasn’t the initial pact that was the problem. Detroit originally signed Martinez to a four-year, $50-million deal before the 2011 season, and, even though he missed all of 2012, he earned that contract. V-Mart hit .321/.381/.487 over the life of the deal, and in 2014 he finished 2nd in the MVP voting after batting .335 with 32 home runs and 103 RBIs.

That’s the sort of production teams dream of, so it’s easy to understand why the Tigers wanted to re-sign V-Mart. But giving a four-year, $68-million deal to a 36-year-old DH after a career year probably wasn’t the best use of resources. And that cold reality came rather quickly, as Martinez battled knee troubles in 2015 and hit just .245 with 11 home runs. He did come back with one last strong campaign in 2016, hitting .289 with 27 bombs, but over the next two seasons he dealt with a scary heart issue and hit just .253 with 19 home runs in in 240 games. He kept playing as hard as he could, but time comes for everyone. From 2015-2018, Victor Martinez was the worst qualified hitter in baseball. At least he got a hit in his final at-bat.