Tigers' Victor Martinez: Cleared for baseball activities

Martinez (heart) has a clean bill of health and has been cleared for full baseball activity, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reports.

He underwent a heart ablation procedure in October, which apparently went well, as Martinez has been training and rehabbing since early November. There have been talks about the Tigers trying to reach a buyout with Martinez, who is due $18 million in the final year of his contract. However, that is spent money, so the Tigers will see what he has left in the tank this spring. He hit .255/.324/.372 with 10 home runs in 107 games last year -- a far cry from the .289/.351/.476 line he put up in 2016. If he can have a productive first half, the Tigers would look to deal him to another American League club and see if they can get a lower-level prospect in exchange for covering the rest of his contract. Of course, if he is struggling, there is no reason to play him over the younger players on the roster, so at that point they may negotiate a buyout. This is likely to be the final year of his career.