The Detroit Tigers and J.D. Martinez won’t have to worry about Martinez’s last year of arbitration in 2017, as the team has signed Martinez to a two-year $18.5 million deal, per Chris Cotillo of SB Nation.

Martinez, who appeared in 158 games for the Tigers in 2015, batted .282/.344/.535 with 38 home runs and 102 runs batted in his best season yet at the Major League level.

Martinez will likely see most of his action in right field in 2016, and will make an average of $9.2 million over his next two years in Detroit. Martinez was a Gold Glove finalist last year, in addition to winning his first Silver Slugger award and making his first All-Star team.

“I love this team,” Martinez said during a team event. “I want to be part of this team. I would love to be a Tiger for life. We’ve just got to see how it goes.”

Martinez, as we touched on above, avoided arbitration with the Tigers on this deal. The last Tiger that went to arbitration was Chris Holt in 2001.

[twitter-follow screen_name='tony_montalto' show_count='yes']