What if J.D. Martinez was still in Houston?

Does anyone else miss J.D. Martinez? Although there were a few Astros fans that jumped for joy when Martinez was released back in March, I think most of us were sad to see him go. A few of us even thought he might make an impact elsewhere. Well… he has.

Martinez is doing just fine in Detroit. J.D. hit his sixth homerun of the year for the Tigers today — and it turned out to be a game winner. J.D.’s fourth inning blast off Danny Duffy provided the margin of victory in a 2-1 game that snapped Kansas City’s 10-game winning streak.

In 100 at-bats for the Tigers, Martinez is slashing .300/.333/.570. He has 22 RBIs and has accumulted a WAR of 0.8 according to Fangraphs. Needless to say, that’s a lot better than anyone the Astros have had stationed in front of the Crawford Boxes this season.

In fact, three leftfielders are at the bottom of the Astros WAR ratings at the moment. Marc Krauss (-0.8), Robbie Grossman (-0.7), and Alex Presley (-0.6) join Jonathan Villar and L.J. Hoes as the only position players currently playing at a level below replacement player value.

It’s nice to see Martinez thriving, along with Brad Ausmus, in Detroit. But, one can’t help to wonder how things would have been different if the Astros gave Martinez one more chance.