Miami Marlins made the right decision on a player

It was surprising when the Miami Marlins let Jorge Soler go without finding a replacement last off-season. There was a lot of confusion as to why Peter Bendix didn't bring in a replacement for DH. The Fish were linked to J.D. Martinez, but nothing came of it. It turned out that signing him was actually going to be a mistake.

The Miami Marlins made the right call not to sign J.D. Martinez.

J.D. Martinez ended up signing with The Fish's division rivals the New York Mets. That was pretty frustrating to see at the time, as it appeared that the Mets were actually trying to win this season, while The Fish seemed to not be doing enough. J.D. Martinez was at his peak with the Boston Red Sox from 2018 to 2022.

The 2018 season was especially memorable for Martinez. That season, not only did Boston win the World Series, but Martinez had the best season of his career. He batted .330/.402/.629, with 43 home runs and 130 RBI in 150 games and 569 AB. He even finished fourth in AL MVP voting, despite the fact that he was a DH. Designated hitters typically don't get the same love in MVP votes as position players, but he was that good.

From 2019 to 2022, J.D. Martinez batted .280/.351/.496 in 487 games and 1889 AB. He had back issues and wasn't as good as he was in 2018, but that was simply a career year for him. Martinez moved on to the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2023 season. He batted .271/.321/.572, with 33 home runs and 103 RBI, in 113 games and 432 AB. It certainly looked like then then 36 year old still had something left. LA of course let him go right after the season, though they had a replacement in mind.

So far in the 2024 season, the New York Mets are not getting elite production at DH from J.D. Martinez. Entering Monday he was batting .257/.345/.433, with 12 home runs and 55 RBI in 92 games and 335 AB. He doesn't have the same power, though his EV is at 90.8. It was however 93.4 last season and 91.6 for his career. It was 93.4 in 2018 for the record. Anyway, J.D. Martinez is clearly not the player that he was before and paying him $12 million is an overpay. The Miami Marlins were right to pass on him.