Victor Martinez's Surgically Repaired Knee Could Be the End of His MLB Stardom

It is difficult not to see this as the beginning of Victor Martinez’s end.

Coming off two surgeries to his left knee in the last three years, one of which cost him the 2012 season, Martinez has not been anything close to the superstar hitter the Detroit Tigers signed to a four-year, $68 million contract in November.

Martinez’s left knee has bothered him virtually all season, and his dismal numbers reflect that. The Tigers are assuming his struggles are exclusively tied to his ailing knee, so they placed him on the disabled list Wednesday with inflammation, a move long overdue and one that will shelve him indefinitely.

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The #Tigers placed Victor Martinez placed on DL (knee inflammation) w no timetable on return. He's been badly struggling: .216, 1 HR, 15 RBI

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 19, 2015"

The Tigers are also banking on Martinez getting healthy and returning to the All-Star hitter he was last year when he batted .335/.409/.565 with 32 home runs and an American league-leading .974 OPS. There is no other option at this point after the Tigers allowed Martinez to take the field while doing what they could to ease his pain, including a cortisone shot last Thursday that did nothing to improve his condition.

“I think he finally came to the realization that it was more than just pain,” manager Brad Ausmus told reporters. “It was an injury that had to be taken care of or he wouldn't be able to perform the way he was used to performing.”

At this point in his career it is reasonable to wonder if Martinez, now 36 with a significantly damaged and surgically repaired left knee, will always be a shell of the star hitter he once was. Martinez was a superb offensive player as recently as seven months ago, which earned him that new contract with the Tigers. But the player and team never let the joint heal properly after the February surgery, and it has severely affected his performance.

Martinez’s .216/.308/.270 slash line, .578 OPS and one home run through his first 130 plate appearances have been frustrating for him. He was 0-for-his-last-13 before landing on the DL, prompted by him tweaking the knee trying to beat out a double play Monday.

“It’s not excuse,” Martinez told reporters of his injury, but the hope is that it is. “If I'm playing [it is] because I'm able to go out there and put good swings and put good at-bats. Like I said before this, it's not excuse or anything like that.”

Martinez was then asked if he was hurting the team by trying to play through the pain and putting up terrible numbers—a 63 adjusted OPS qualifies.

“I don’t know,” Martinez answered. “It’s a good question, though.”

Another good one: Has the deteriorating left knee been ground down to the point that Martinez can no longer be the excellent offensive player he was a season ago when he posted a career-best 170 OPS-plus? It is too early to know, but given the recent breakdown of the knee and his advanced athletic age, it is not out of the realm of chance.

Last season was the best of Martinez’s career, but a downturn was expected rather soon. The knee issues just fast-forwarded the timeline and made it a reasonable possibility Martinez never comes close to matching his 2015 output. That would leave the Tigers stuck paying for Martinez’s past performances rather than future ones.

Something working in Martinez’s favor, though, is the fact that he is still absolutely annihilating left-handed pitching as a right-handed batter. Hitting from that side of the plate, the switch-hitter has a .462/.516/.654 line with a 1.170 OPS in 31 plate appearances. Small sample size, sure, but it is enough to not only think the left knee is not affecting him from the right side of the plate—it is his non-plant leg as a right-handed hitter—but to also suggest Martinez’s days as a switch-hitter are finished.

Leon Halip/Getty Images

Martinez has been about equally good from both sides of the plate throughout his career until this season. He is intent on continuing to do that once he gets healthy, whenever that might be, even though hitting left-handed might continue to damage the left knee.

“Something that I'm never going to do and I have never done is just going out there and go righty on righty,” MLB.com’s Jason Beck reported Martinez saying on Monday.

Assuming Martinez holds firm on that position, the rest of his career will hinge on that knee. It has become painfully obvious, literally and figuratively, that he cannot hit left-handed as long as that knee is radiating pain or discomfort.

The move to the DL was necessary weeks ago. Now that it has finally happened, the Tigers have to hope Martinez returns healthy to reclaim his spot as one of the game’s top hitters. If the surgically repaired knee fails him even after this period of rest, not only is Martinez’s stardom finished, but the Tigers’ chances at a fifth consecutive AL Central championship could be as well.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.