The Detroit Tigers are dealing with some really bad news -- Victor Martinez might miss the entire 2012 season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in a workout. Martinez was a very big part of a team that won the AL Central last season, and his bat will need to be replaced in the lineup. Martinez played mostly designated hitter last year with the emergence of Alex Avila as the everyday catcher.
The timing is decent for the Tigers, as there's no shortage of decent veteran hitters who have been waiting for something to develop in the free agent market. None of them are in Martinez's ballpark talent-wise, but there is help out there.
- Vladimir Guerrero hit .290 with 13 homers last season at age 36 in Baltimore. His stats hint that he's in decline, but he did hit .300 with 29 homers in 2010.
- Carlos Pena spent four seasons in his 20s in Detroit, and hit 27 homers in 2004. He's only 33 and has averaged more than 30 homers a season the last five years, but doesn't hit for a high average (.225 last year with Cubs, .239 lifetime).
- Johnny Damon was the Tigers' DH in 2010, and he hit .271 with eight homers. He was better last season in Tampa Bay, hitting 16 homers. But he's also 38 years old now.
- Hideki Matsui was the World Series MVP less than three years ago, but slumped to .251 with 12 homers last season on a bad Oakland team. He'll be 38 in June.
- And there's always Magglio Ordonez, who didn't appear to be in the team's plans after his contract expired, but he certainly knows his way around Detroit. He'll turn 38 next week, and is coming off a broken ankle suffered last fall.
Compound that with the competiton -- for example, the Yankees need a DH after trading Jesus Montero and the division rival Indians perhaps would like Pena to be their first baseman -- time could be a factor.
The Tigers still have Delmon Young after a trade last season, and with Brennan Bosch, Andy Dirks and Ryan Raburn on the rise, they could believe the solution is on the roster already.
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