Looking at what J.D. Martinez offers the Blue Jays compared to Brandon Belt and Justin Turner

In the last two off-season, the Toronto Blue Jays signed an aging designated hitter that provided value to the team.

For the 2023 season, the Blue Jays brought in left-handed hitter Brandon Belt. The following off-season, they brought in Justin Turner. However, they bucked that trend this past off-season, instead focusing on bringing in power through Anthony Santander.

Still, there is a free agent designated hitter the Blue Jays should consider signing before the season starts – J.D. Martinez.

In this article, we’ll compare the three players, looking at their past two seasons before hitting free agency, as well as what Brandon Belt and Justin Turner provided the Blue Jays.

Let’s dig in!

Belt was one of the best hitters in baseball in 2020 and 2021 when he was healthy, slashing .285/.393/.595 with 38 home runs in 560 plate appearances for a 163 wRC+. His 2021 season saw him slash .274/.378/.597 with 29 home runs in 381 plate appearances, giving him a 159 wRC+ while his K% jumped from 20.1% to 27%.

The 2022 season was the polar opposite for Belt, as he slashed just .213/.326/.350 with eight home runs in 298 plate appearances, with a 12.4 BB% and a 27.2 K% for a 97 wRC+ and a 0.1 fWAR. At that point, it was fair to question whether the first baseman was on the decline as he was on the wrong side of 30 and dealt with a knee injury in 2022.

It was even more confounding when the Blue Jays signed Belt to a one-year, $9.3 million deal after entering the 2023 season. However, it’s safe to say it worked out well for the team.

In 2023, Belt slashed .254/.369/.490 with 19 home runs in 404 plate appearances, with a 15.1 BB% and a 34.9 K% for a 138 wRC+ and a 2.2 fWAR. His wRC+ was the fourth-highest of his career and after a dismal start to the season, Belt slashed .274/.396/.538 with 18 home runs in 336 plate appearances for a 158 wRC+ from May 4 until the end of the season.

Unfortunately for Belt, his great season didn’t earn him a contract in 2024 and he’s still without a team in 2025.

It took a while for Turner to find his game in Major League Baseball, but once he joined the Dodgers in 2014, he became a valuable player to the team’s regular season dynasty. He helped the team win the World Series in 2020 and followed that up by matching his career-high of 27 home runs in 2021.

In 2022, his final season with the Dodgers, Turner slashed .278/.361/.471 with 13 home runs in 532 plate appearances for a 123 wRC+ and a 2.3 fWAR. In the off-season, he signed with the Boston Red Sox, the first time he had played with an American League East team since 2010.

Mainly playing first base and designated hitter for the Red Sox, Turner slashed .276/.345/.455 with 23 home runs in 626 plate appearances for a 115 wRC+ and a 1.1 fWAR. He turned that successful season into a one-year, $13 million deal with the Blue Jays to head into the 2024 season.

From the start of the season until Apr. 29, Turner slashed .311/.390/.533 with four home runs in 105 plate appearances, giving him a 162 wRC+. He cooled off considerably in May, slashing just .111/.210/.139 for a 7 wRC+, before finding his game in June as he slashed .329/.460/.443 with a home run in 87 plate appearances.

After an okay July, Turner was traded to the Seattle Mariners for outfield prospect RJ Schreck before the 2024 trade deadline. The 40-year-old finished his brief Blue Jays stint slashing .256/.350/.372 with six home runs in 349 plate appearances while being rather streaky. He finished the season well with the Mariners as they missed the post-season.

Long are the days of Martinez hitting 40+ home runs a season. Still, the 37-year-old has proven to be an effective hitter as he’s fully transitioned to the designated hitter role.

His 2023 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers was his best since 2019, as Martinez slashed .271/.321/.572 with 33 home runs in 479 plate appearances for a 135 wRC+ and a 2.4 fWAR. It wasn’t a perfect season by any means, as his 31.1 K% was worrisome, but it was a good season for him.

Signing with the New York Mets in the 2023-24 off-season, Martinez’s numbers took a hit in 2024 as he slashed just .235/.320/.406 with 16 home runs in 495 plate appearances for a 108 wRC+ and a 0.6 fWAR. His K% dropped slightly to 28.5% but was still above his career average of 25%.

The Blue Jays clearly want another power-bat in their lineup and Martinez has the potential to be that guy. They’ve shown in the past they don’t mind having a veteran designated hitter and I’d argue that Martinez’s upside is far higher than Belt’s or Turner’s, especially as he’d likely sign a similar deal to those two.

Signing Martinez is a pretty easy argument – the Blue Jays need a power bat. Instead of giving up an asset in a trade or doing nothing at all, the team can take a flier on Martinez who had a terrific season just two seasons ago. That risk paid off with Belt, going from a 97 wRC+ in 2022 to a 138 wRC+ in 2024.

Worst case scenario, if all goes wrong before the trade deadline, the Blue Jays would be able to trade him and his money off the books for a prospect. Before the 2024 season, Martinez signed a $12 million deal, a million less than what the Jays gave a 39-year-old Justin Turner last season.

Get it done, Blue Jays.