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If you've been following the Eddy Julio Martinez saga for the last few months, you're confused. First, there's a "Julio" mixed into most of the reports now, which dampens the desire to make Eddy Martinez-Esteve references. Second, he already signed with the Cubs after already signing with the Giants. Now he's with no one, and Major League Baseball is going to arbitrate the mess and determine which team gets him.
It's a mess, but it still might end with the Giants adding to their farm system. We'll look back on this and laugh when he goes full Rafael Rodriguez on us. Unless he's completely awesome.
The latest report started with an interview with Bobby Evans on Tim Kawakami's podcast last week. I missed it between the postseason and Tweetdeck problems, but the key Evans quote:
“That’s probably going to be a great story here in the near future,” Evans said, pointing out that he is still talking with Martinez’s representatives.
Then on Wednesday, Jon Heyman reported that MLB is going to settle this mess, and that it evolved out of confusion over who really represents Martinez.
One reason the situation isn't so easy is that not only does Martinez have two potential teams at the moment, he also has appears to have multiple people laying claim to the role of his agent -- one sanctioned player agent and multiple buscones, or street agents. It also isn't quite clear at the moment how many buscones he actually has.
I will watch the AMC miniseries.
If you're looking for a way to set your expectations, consider this: Martinez reportedly got $2.5 million from the Giants and $3 million from the Cubs. After the taxes and penalties kicked back paid to MLB, that's more like a cost of $5 million and $6 million, respectively. Yasiel Puig got $48 million. Jose Abreu got $68 million, and Yoenis Cespedes got $36 million. Daniel Carbonell, who has already been designated for assignment and cleared waivers, got $1.4 million. So if you're going just on cost alone, it's a lot likelier for Martinez to play like Carbonell than Puig.
On the other hand, it's the offseason, and we want action. Plus, Martinez really was ranked highly in this year's international free agent class, so I don't know what's up with the low contract. Maybe the buscones didn't know what's up, either, and that's the reason for the mess.
More than the action for action's sake, the Giants' plan really should be to sign as many expensive players as they can for the next eight months, considering they're already over their international-spending cap of just over $2.1 million. They blew past it for Lucius Fox, who picked up a $6 million contract, and that means the Giants will be unable to spend more than $300,000 on any one international free agent over the next two years.
They're essentially spending their international budget for the next three years right now. So ... hop to it. More Martinezes and Foxes.
I want him.
Bring him to me.
I wonder what kind of stuff he has, no, you know what? Here are millions of dollars. Don't care. I like your name.
This strategy -- a reasonable, measured, and intelligent version, at least -- is probably closer to what the Giants want to do. They didn't explode their bonus pool on a whim and wake up the next morning wondering what happened. They were confident in this year's collection of talent. Part of that strategy has to do with Martinez, I'm sure.
So do the right thing, MLB. Unless the right thing is to put Martinez on the Cubs, in which case, do the wrong thing and figure out the mistake later. Let's hope the Giants get more international players in the system, using their checkbook to do it.