Miami Marlins made the right call on a free agent slugger

There's still potential positive news about the Miami Marlins this season. The team has also been busy spoiling the playoff picture for the Minnesota Twins. An interesting thing to look at is something that was a big topic for The Fish during last off-season. There was a push among the fanbase for the team to sign free agent Designated Hitter J.D. Martinez. Peter Bendix didn't wnat to sign him...

The Miami Marlins not signing J.D. Martinez turned out to be the right call.

The fanbase was understandably frustrated when the Miami Marlins lost Designated Hitter Jorge Soler to free agency. It seemed that Bendix had to sign a replacement. How could the team be better without a power hitting DH? It just so happened that a Miami native happened to be available on the free agent marker. J.D. Martinez was right there for the taking and it seemed like a must to pursue him. In fact, that actually happened.

Ultimately, it wasn't The Fish that signed Martinez. It was the New York Mets of all teams who signed him instead. It was frustrating at the time and seemed like a major miss by Peter Bendix. How could this not happen? Why would the team not give him a homecoming? The slugger .271/.321/.572 last season, with 33 home runs and 103 RBI.

The decision to let J.D. Martinez go to the Mets proved to be the right call. I remember seeing Fangraphs projections for him this season, and thinking that he was projected to be pretty poor this season. Certainly not the slugger who seemed to be an annual elite power bat. Was FG wrong? Their projections are not always that accurate...

As of the weekend, J.D. Martinez is batting just .234/.318/.407, with 16 home runs and 69 RBI in 117 games and 423 AB. It's definitely not elite production and he's only worth 0.4 WAR. Both Jake Burger and Jonah Bride have had a better season as the 1B/DH platoon. Jorge Soler hasn't been particularly good either this season.

Peter Bendix made the right call on J.D. Martinez this season. The Miami Marlins were right not to sign him.