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Yesterday, the Tigers surprised everyone when they announced that Victor Martinez had torn his meniscus and would undergo surgery on his left knee with Dr. James Andrews. We covered the news, potential replacements, and gave an update on Martinez's potential rehab timetable. Now, it's time to hear from others around baseball.
Anthony Castrovince of Sports On Earth is worried about what Martinez's injury will do to the Tigers' lineup, particularly considering the pitching staff is not what it has been in recent years.
The other part of you remembers the advancing age not just of V-Mart but the rest of the gears that make these Tigers go. You combine that with Martinez's past knee troubles and the strain a long-term absence would put on that Tigers lineup -- the need of that lineup to be a stabilizing force given the losses from the rotation and the depth and improvement within the American League Central Division -- and Thursday's news was undoubtedly uncomfortable.
Lynn Henning of the Detroit News hinted at a potential internal replacement for Martinez should he begin the season on the disabled list.
Should he not be ready for the start of the regular season, it is possible the Tigers would look more toward making J.D. Martinez more of an option at designated hitter, with prospects that another outfielder — perhaps even rookie Steven Moya — would more quickly be brought to Detroit.
James Schmehl of MLive had a similar idea, though he branched outside of the organization for a couple of familiar names.
Dayan Viciedo: If the Tigers prefer to give Moya everyday at-bats at Triple-A Toledo, they could decide to turn their attention to Viciedo, who was released by the Chicago White Sox earlier this week. Viciedo could be a low-risk addition for the Tigers and could serve as an experienced bench player. At 25 years old, Viciedo has 66 career home runs and has two more years of commitment-free control through arbitration. He's a relatively cheap option for the Tigers, and probably their best external candidate if they plan on making a move before spring training.
Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press spoke with a couple of specialists who gave some more info on what exactly is happening inside Victor's knee.
Dr. Jeffrey Kovan, director of sports medicine and performance at Michigan State, said the injury, which Ausmus believe occurred while playing catch, could have occurred because of a sudden twist or turn with enough force to tear the cartilage, and/or could have been the result of wear and tear on the shock absorber cushion of the knee.
"There's two different approaches and two different recoveries," he said. "But the problem is that not saving the cartilage is not necessarily best for his knee in the long run."
Naturally, Twitter was beside itself.
Live by aging stars, die by aging stars. But hopefully this will be a handful of games and not three months.
— Neil Weinberg (@NeilWeinberg44) February 5, 2015
When Victor Martinez came off knee surgery in 2013, it took awhile:.258 w/ .693 OPS before AS Game, .361/.913 afterwards
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) February 5, 2015
Victor Martinez got hurt because you didn’t vaccinate your kids
— Rob Rogacki (@BYBRob) February 5, 2015
.@RealPFielder28 You sure you’re all settled in Texas?
— Bless You Boys (@blessyouboys) February 5, 2015
I want A-Rod. I'm kind of serious too.
— Cameron J. Kaiser (@TTownTiger) February 5, 2015
Can we sub in little victor? @tigers @blessyouboys #tigers
— Jared (@JaredEBrown) February 5, 2015
The prospect of Victor running slower is like a half-the-distance-to-the-goal penalty when you are on your own one-yard line.
— PCB (@PhilCokesBrain) February 5, 2015
Guys there is nothing to worry about for our open DH spot. The Astros will surely release a .900 OPS guy for us.
— SkitchP (@skitchP) February 5, 2015