Why is Martin's injury plagued (Hamate bone got removed so shouldn't be a lingering issue) being weighted so heavily? At this point it really feels like a lot of the folks on SSI see the cost (Wilhelmsen and PK), and hate the deal out of hand, thus they have to denigrate Martin to justify the disdain. [Aside: Why a guy who has less of a chance at sticking in the MLB than Romero, who we kept, and a Middle reliever, rate such reverence... I'll never get either].
First off… Martin doesn’t have to do anything other than BE WHO HE ALREADY HAS BEEN for the majority of his career to be a 4 win player… Again other than his injury 2015 Martin HAS BEEN a 4 win player. I am not sure where you are getting your wRC+ numbers but both BBRef and Fangraphs have Martin as a slightly below average offensive player (90 OPS+ ish), but an EXTREMELY plus defender… something that A.) SafeCo INFLATES and B.) Is something that the mariners in particular sorely need.
His “Tip Top” form is ALREADY a 4 win player, regarless of his vs left wRC+, and that isn’t allowing for the non-zero chance that this young, supremely athletic player has no offensive upside left in him. Let’s recall that F-Gutz came to Seattle a similar all glove no bat CF… and he blossomed on the offensive side… in fact I think there is plenty of evidence to show that a low power, high contact guy like Martin will do BETTER with the bat in a spacious ball park like SafeCo than in a bandbox like the Rangers play in… In a park like Globe Life in Arlington the defenders are concentrated (less green for Martin to hit) and he aint hitting it out anyways. I would be willing to bet we see Martin’s singles and doubles go UP batting for the Mariners! And of course his homers can’t really go much lower ;)
I am genuinely curious… why does Tommy get a thumb on the scale because he has been a closer before, or Carson gets one because he could be a closer someday, or a blizzard of PK’s warts get glossed over because he played football for a couple years and could become a plus hitter someday… But Martin’s has been (4 win player 2 years in a row) and could be (young freakishly athletic player aging into more power and patience, but keeping the defense and becoming a 6 win player) is totally ignored / brushed off because of one poor, injury driven season???