Pirates and Russell Martin agree to two-year, $17 million contract
Nov 29, 2012, 9:05 PM EDT
Getty Images UPDATE: ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that the Yankees never made Martin an offer. In fact, they haven’t made an offer to any position players so far this offseason.
8:44 PM: David Waldstein of the New York Times reports that Martin agreed to a two-year, $17 million deal with the Pirates. You could understand if the Yankees balked at a three-year deal at $8.5 million AAV, but it’s surprising that they weren’t willing to match the Pirates for two years.
8:29 PM: Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that the Pirates have reached an agreement with catcher Russell Martin, pending a physical. No word yet on the exact terms, but there was a report earlier this week that they could be willing to give him a three-year deal.
The Yankees were said to be reluctant to go beyond two years for Martin, who batted .211/.311/.403 with 21 homers, 53 RBI and a .713 OPS this past season. The Mariners and Rangers were also mentioned as potential suitors, but it appears the Pirates had the best offer on the table.
Pirates’ catchers combined to hit .218/.300/.392 with 23 home runs and a .692 OPS this past season, most of that from Rod Barajas and Michael McKenry. With his pop and patience, Martin should be able to equal or exceed that level of production. He also figures to be a nice upgrade from a group who threw out a major-league worst eight percent of attempted basestealers in 2012. Martin checked in at 24 percent, which was just around the league average. He also has the reputation as a solid receiver.
If the season started today, the Yankees would have to rely on a combination of Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart behind the plate. Of course, it’s very unlikely they’ll end up going that route. The Yankees haven’t been involved for Mike Napoli, but A.J. Pierzynski has been mentioned as a possible fallback to Martin.
-
Getty Images
Indians closer Chris Perez is scheduled to be activated from the disabled list this Friday. But there’s reason to wonder whether that will happen. Perez made a rehab appearance — his second — on Tuesday evening with the Double-A Akron Aeros and got absolutely shelled. Facing the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate from Trenton, New Jersey, the…
-
Getty Images
The Zack Wheeler era began on a promising note. Making his major league debut on Tuesday evening as part of a doubleheader at Atlanta’s Turner Field, the 23-year-old right-hander tossed six scoreless innings, fanning seven Braves batters and allowing just four hits. Wheeler issued a total of five walks and looked a little bit shaky…
-
Getty Images
As first reported by Alex Speier of WEEI.com, the Red Sox have placed starter Clay Buchholz on the 15-day disabled list because of a neck strain. The move was made retroactive to June 9, so the right-hander will be eligible for activation in a week. Buchholz tested his neck with a bullpen session on Tuesday…
-
Donovan Tate, a spring training no-show, has finally returned to the Padres organization
Jun 18, 2013, 8:28 PM EDT
Four Seam Images
Donovan Tate, the third overall pick in the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft, was a no-show this spring at Padres camp due to what was described by club officials as a personal matter. Now more than four months later, that personal matter has apparently been resolved. Corey Brock of MLB.com reports that Tate finally arrived at…
-
Getty Images
More injury issues here for the Toronto Blue Jays. According to MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm, right-hander Brandon Morrow suffered a minor setback Monday during his rehab debut with High-A Dunedin and has been sent back to Toronto to have his ailing forearm examined by the Blue Jays’ team doctors. Morrow was placed on the 15-day disabled…
-
Getty Images
Amanda Comak of the Washington Times reports that Denard Span is back in the Nationals’ starting lineup on Tuesday night against the Phillies after sitting out Monday due to a bruised right foot. Span has fouled two different balls off his foot this month but has managed to avoid a major injury. He is starting…
-
Getty Images
As expected the Rockies announced that Roy Oswalt will be called up from the minors to start Thursday against the Nationals. Oswalt, who signed a minor-league deal with Colorado last month, posted a 2.16 ERA and 25/7 K/BB ratio in 33 innings spread over five starts at Double-A to convince the Rockies he was ready…
-
The San Jose lawsuit against Major League Baseball should be thrown out of court
Jun 18, 2013, 4:32 PM EDT
So I’ve read over the lawsuit filed by San Jose against Major League Baseball. Initial reaction: it’s more full of crap than Bob Melvin’s office was on Sunday afternoon. The essence of the suit: Major League Baseball is a monopoly. It should be an unlawful monopoly. This would-be unlawful monopoly is preventing the Athletics from…
-
Reuters
The injury hits just keep on coming for the Yankees, who announced that Kevin Youkilis needs surgery to repair a herniated disc and will be out for 10-12 weeks. That puts Youkilis’ season in jeopardy, because 10 weeks would get him into September and any setbacks would leave him running out of time. Youkilis hit…
-
AP
Lonnie Chisenhall began the season as the Indians’ starting third baseman, got demoted to the minors after hitting just .213 with a .604 OPS in 26 games, and is now back in the majors after crushing Triple-A pitching for a month. Chisenhall hit .390 with six homers and a 1.132 OPS in 27 games at…
-
Cancel the no-hitter alert: Matt Harvey gives up an infield single to Jason Heyward
Jun 18, 2013, 3:10 PM EDT
Getty Images
UPDATE: Forget it. Jason Heyward just reached on an infield single. A weird looking one as Harvey fielded the ball between the mound and first and then flipped it to … no one. Scored an infield hit, which makes sense considering that errors are rarely called on bad decisions by fielders — in this case…
-
Reuters
General manager Brian Cashman hinted pretty strongly yesterday that Mark Teixeira was headed back to the disabled list and sure enough the Yankees are making the move, shutting down the first baseman again with more wrist problems. Teixeira managed to play just 15 games between DL stints, hitting .151 with a .609 OPS after missing…
-
San Jose sues Major League Baseball, challenging its monopoly power
Jun 18, 2013, 2:27 PM EDT
The City of San Jose has sued Major League Baseball in an effort to get the Oakland A’s to relocate to San Jose, to challenge the Giants claim to rights over the territory and to challenge Major League Baseball’s long-standing monopoly power. The lawsuit, a copy of which can be seen here, and which is analyzed…
-
Getty Images
Jon Hamm is a big St. Louis Cardinals fan and Ryan Fagan of The Sporting News talked to the “Mad Men” star about a bunch of baseball topics, including: SN: Are you friends with any of the current Cardinals? HAMM: I know a couple of them. I wouldn’t say “friends” but I’m text pals with…
-
Original Biogenesis source: “the people running Major League Baseball are the biggest scumbags on Earth”
Jun 18, 2013, 2:00 PM EDT
Getty Images
This reads like a crime thriller. It’s the story of Porter Fischer, the Biogenesis employee who took Tony Bosch’s notes and records, turned them over to the Miami New Times and unleashed the biggest PEDs scandal since BALCO. He has allowed the Miami Times to tell his story. All kinds of unseemliness here. A large…
-
Getty Images
Less than 48 hours ago manager Charlie Manuel was quoted as saying that Carlos Ruiz was “four or five days” away from rejoining the Phillies, but the catcher was just activated from the disabled list for tonight’s game. Ruiz returns after missing the past month with a hamstring injury and he’s played just 16 games…
-
Getty Images
Alex Cobb is on the seven-day concussion disabled list after being hit on the head by a line drive Saturday and manager Joe Maddon told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that there’s no timetable yet for the right-hander’s return to the Rays: He’s feeling a little bit better, obviously not tremendously better. It’s…
-
AP
You may have heard this story before — it often gets mentioned as an aside in Vin Scully features — but Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal writes today about the time back in 1964 when some New York ad men approached Scully and told him that, if he was interested, the Yankees broadcasting…
-
That plus some musings on games starting at 11pm and ending at nearly 1:30 AM.
-
Late last night a bus carrying the Twins’ rookie-ball team “was involved in a wrong-way interstate crash in Florida that killed the driver of the other car,” according to the Associated Press. According to police no one on the Elizabethton Twins’ team bus was injured, but the driver of a Honda that was “traveling south…
