Posted by MikeT23 on 2/6/2014 5:29:00 PM (view original):
Obviously. Because, if you're not good enough to get on the field as a 3B, you could probably play 1B at an acceptable level.
He wasn't a terrible third baseman, total zone has him just a hair above average for the 564 games he played there. I think he moved to DH to avoid injury, which hurts his case, but not enough to overcome the value he added with his bat.
In my mind (and this isn't my original thought, it's an idea I've borrowed) there's a scale. The hardest positions (SS, C, 2B, CF) at one end and the easiest (DH, 1B, LF) at the other. The easier your position, the more you have to hit to be considered an all time great. DH is obviously the easiest position, so to be a hall of famer at DH you have to have an all time great bat. Martinez has that.