V. Martinez out for year after surgery

The Detroit Tigers said Monday they expect designated hitter Victor Martinez to miss the 2012 season to recover from surgery on his left knee. Martinez tore his ACL during off-season conditioning and underwent multiple procedures Friday in Vail, Colo., the American League club said. Dr. Richard Steadman performed the microfracture surgery, and operations to repair both the medial and lateral meniscus in the knee. Martinez is expected to have ACL reconstruction surgery in 6-8 weeks. The 33-year-old Venezuelan batted .330 with 40 doubles, 12 home runs and 103 runs batted in last season, his first with the Tigers. He previously was with Cleveland and Boston, and is a career .303 hitter with 143 homers and 743 RBI. With Martinez out of the picture for this season, Detroit added another power bat by signing free-agent first baseman Prince Fielder.