Read your post, then saw this comment by someone:
"I have a feeling that this chat is about to turn into Braves fans offering Nick Markakis and one of their lesser pitching prospects for him."
Markakis wouldn't be going to the Tigers (although that'd be great for us) - but his contract certainly isn't the albatross many predicted at this point. If clearing it created the money to pay Martinez, I wouldn't think Coppy would even ask for much in return.
If they wanted Nick to fill the hole to remain competitive, I can't imagine just "a lesser pitching prospect" would be enough. I mentioned before that something like Markakis, Mallex, and Sims for Martinez and Anibel Sanchez might not be that bad for either side. We'd be "swapping" RFs (their money is a wash), and the Tigers would get Mallex to replace Maybin (saving them $8 million) plus Sims to replace Sanchez (saving them another $21 million). That would make them much younger and clear lots of payroll in the same deal - while also keeping them in the mix.
On our end, it would also "fix" our OF logjam while adding a big-time hitter. We're currently sitting around $80 million without renewals (I'm already including projected arbitration raises), so adding Sanchez would push us to around the $100 - $105 million level. That adds one of the veteran SPs Coppy's talked about adding - meaning you'd still have ~$15 million to add another one and spend on a C. Say you added Castro at 2/$12 million and another arm in the $8 million range, you'd have...
CF- Inciarte, 2B- Swanson, RF- Martinez, 1B-Freeman, LF- Kemp, 3B- Ruiz/Garcia, C- Castro/Flowers, 2B- Peterson (Albies when they decide to plug him in)
Rotation - Julio, Folty, Sanchez, veteran FA, Wisler/Blair/etc.
I wouldn't mind breaking camp with that in the least. Sanchez comes off the books following 2017 ($5 million buyout), and we should have a number of potential replacements ready by then.