Per a variety of folks on Twitter it has been learned that the Detroit Tigers believe that Victor Martinez has torn the ACL in his left knee. It is expected that he will have surgery, and that he will be sidelined for the 2012 season.
That's a huge blow for a guy who was one of the key pieces on last year's A.L. Central champions. While Martinez caught occasionally last year, he was primarily a DH, and the Tigers will now likely be looking for an alternative on the free agent market.
There are several veterans out there looking for one year deals who could be a DH, with Johnny Damon -- who was with the Tigers in 2010 -- coming to mind as the obvious choice, particularly given the Tigers' history of working with Damon's agent, Scott Boras. Hideki Matsui and Vladimir Guerrero are also free agents, and the Angels are supposedly interested in moving Bobby Abreu and his hefty 2012 contract.
Magglio Ordonez, coming off a 634 OPS season in 92 games for the Tigers last season, could be an option, although that may be a situation where both parties are ready to move on.