A formerly quality center fielder who fell from those heights and became a free agent before his arbitration years were up and before his 30th birthday. Sounds like a great low-risk signing for the 2013 Cubs.
But the Cubs are no longer a rebuilding club, so that means Leonys Martin is actually a great low-risk signing for the Detroit Tigers:
The #Tigers sign OF Leonys Martin to one-year, $1.75 million contract with 1.1 million in incentives
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 5, 2017
Martin came over to the Cubs in a late August deal with the Mariners, which cost them only outfield prospect Jacob Hannemann (via a roster-clearing DFA after Martin was acquired for a PTBNL/cash), who has since returned to the organization. That is to say, Martin basically cost the Cubs nothing.
And now he’s gone. The Tigers will take a crack at finding that value that Martin provided to the Rangers back in 2013-14 when he was worth 6.5 WAR.
Martin wasn’t around quite long enough to establish himself too firmly in Cubs lore, but we’ll always have his impressive fastball, and of course, his home run robbery to end the Cardinals’ 2017 season.