My first reaction was "wow we just outbid the Yankees". My second reaction was "he came a lot cheaper than the rumors". My final reaction was "is he really worth $8.5 million?" Look, he is an obvious upgrade over the black hole that is Rod Barajas but honestly, who isn't? Over two years with the Yankees, Martin has a slash line of .224/.317/.405 with 39 HRs. That's in a friendly hitter park in Yankee Stadium for half of his games. Now that doesn't mean those numbers will decrease. Something I haven't seen one person mention is a move from the cut throat AL East to the NL Central. He'll see a lot worse pitching here and that may balance out the home field drop off. Something else that is great about Martin is his defense. He threw out about 20% of base stealers last year while the Pirates combined for 8%... Worst in the league. Many have brought up that that means nothing because we don't hold our runners. However, when paired with AJ Burnett (who never holds runners) Martin threw out 24% of base stealers compared to Barajas' abysmal 5%.
Overall do I think Russell Martin is an $8.5 million catcher? No chance. Do I think this is a good signing by the Pirates? Absolutely. Good catchers are hard to find nowadays and securing a slightly above average catcher and the best pure, everyday catcher available in a thin market warrants an overpaying. Especially as the Pirates. It also opens up the possibility to trade former prized prospect Tony Sanchez who is probably major league ready but has no spot. If we could trade Sanchez in a deal for a quality starting pitcher, it'd be a good deal.
One last thing I worry about is the budget. This deal takes a nice chunk but we still need help elsewhere. You can't afford to non tender Jeff Karstens now and you still could use a veteran starter in the back of the rotation. Sorry, but Zach Stewart won't cut it. We also need relief help with Grilli definitely not coming back and Hanrahan likely getting traded next week. Finally, we could use a better bench presence. Harrison, Fort, Presley/Tabata, and Gaby have spots locked up. One more would be nice if possible.
Final thoughts: Good move by the Pirates. Need to continue moving forward and addressing our other needs. More moves should be coming
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