He is to me.
Here's the review of Martinez' candidacy I blogged:
Edgar Martinez
Writers ballot rookie.
Career: 18 seasons, 1987-2004 -- all with the Seattle Mariners.
Peak season: 1995 -- 29 HR, 113 RBI, .356/.479/.628, 182 hits, 52 doubles, 121 runs, 185 OPS+, 161 RC, while playing the entire 145 game schedule.
Other outstanding seasons: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003.
Primary position: designated hitter; was a third baseman in his early seasons.
Honoraria and claims to fame: Seven All-Star selections (four starts), five AL Silver Sluggers (one for 3B, four for DH), two AL batting championships, led the AL in OBP three times, runs scored once, doubles twice, RBI once, runs created once. MLB's award for the season's outstanding designated hitter is named in Martinez's honor, after he won it five times.
Edgar Martinez could hit. Really HIT. The Mariners didn't call him up until he was 24, and didn't keep him up until he was 27, so his career totals never reached some of the sparkly milestones which he surely would have passed. That doesn't make him a lesser hitter, because he was amazing. Every season, Gar was either the best hitter on the team, or right behind Griffey or Rodriguez -- yes, he more than held his own against two men widely seen as inevitable future Hall Of Famers. In 1995, when Junior missed half the season, he kept the Mariners going, leading them to the franchise's first-ever postseason berth -- and it was Martinez who provided the signature moment against the Yankees in the ALDS, doubling in Griffey with the winning run in extra innings in Game 5. Yeah, Junior had the mile-wide smile at the bottom of the celebratory dogpile, but it was Martinez who brought him around.
In 1996, he was on a ferocious doubles pace -- 44 in 95 games -- when Piniella played him at third base, he collided with Marzano and got injured and missed a few weeks. And when he came back, he didn't have his power. I'm a hardliner on not giving credit for things not done, but I cannot help think about Martinez that season without the injury -- he projected to over 70 doubles, well past Webb's record, and if he had done it, his career would have one very shiny spangle to help boost his candidacy. And it's gonna be an uphill fight, because of The DH Thing.
I have no quibble with designated hitters, either the position as defined or the men who play it. It's been part of baseball for nearly 40 years; those who still think it somehow is wrong or is Not How The Game Should Be Played really need to get past their petty indignation. I take particular issue with anyone claiming that DHs play only half the game and therefore are unworthy of the Hall -- how do they approach AL starting pitchers, or any relief pitcher? Those are no different, from that point of view. I call hogwash. Martinez was a brilliant hitter, the Mariners decided that was his best destiny -- hey, better that than to let him play defense, especially if (a) there were better options and/or (b) he'd have been a liability with the glove. No, to me, he did the job that was asked of him, and he did so with greatness and beauty. It was a joy and a wonder to watch him bat.
Martinez could hit, he did hit a ton, and no one has ever done a better job of being a DH.
If the BBWAA is ever going to come to grips with the reality that is the designated hitter role, there is no better pioneer for opening the doors to the Hall as a DH than Edgar Martinez.
My vote: YES!
Prediction: 30%, as too many writers, including many who have never witnessed an AL game without the DH, hold to their unofficial pre-20th century precepts. I so hope I'm way wrong on this. The story of the 1990s Seattle Mariners' ascension to relevance is incomplete without Martinez in a starring role, and he's earned his plaque.