Making The Case For Russell Martin As The Red Sox' Starting Catcher

Some around here theorize it’s a playing time issue.

Martin is still in his prime…

He’s just had some injuries nag him, especially last season.

Look at the numbers for 06-08, you will see that Martin may not hit for the Power Napoli did, but he’s been the better hitter average wise

Martins career avg: .272
Napoli: .258

Napoli is not a patient hitter, while Martin draws a ton of walks. Just what the Red Sox love.

But Martin is better defensively and makes fewer outs. Napoli has a 30% K-rate and only had an OBP of .316 last year.

Here are the Bill James projections for both players next year:

Napoli – .246 AVG/.336 OBP/.479 SLG/.350 wOBA
Martin – .266 AVG/.367 OBP/.379 SLG/.334 wOBA

Sure, Napoli is better offesnively. But Martin is the better defensive catcher, and he’s younger. While I’m not a huge Russell Martin fan, if he’s non-tendered, he’ll be by far the best available option at catcher.

BTW, we don’t know that Napoli is available. Lots of players are put on waivers to see what their value is. If the Angels were looking to move him to the Sox, they would have traded him last year. I look at Napoli as a longshot.

I do realize that it never hurts to ask – we should ask Colorado about Troy Tulawitski, San Fran about Posey…I could keep going heck, then I think I would like to ask Minka out to dinner too – it never hurts to inquire and her boyfriend is unemployed so who knows ;) I might just hit paydirt

have you seen people here bitching about sending Masterson for Martinez?

What if Martin is the best defensive catcher available (he is)

And find me a better defensive catcher on the market better than Napoli or Martin

  I was surprise that Cleveland dealt Martinez. However they stripped pretty much their entire 2007 team, except for Haffner, who they couldn’t deal because of his contract. I think Masterson is a better reliever, he can have some good games, and then he let his sinker stay in the strike zone and it isn’t a pretty game.

  If Masterson mixes up his pitches like Cliff Lee, works on his sinker, mixes in with change up, he could still make it. As a side armer, he needs to have a better deception in his delivery, because he isn’t going to overpower his opponents.

I think the Sox got the better end of that trade

that I think it may be the clubhouse at fault rather than the players in it.

… but assuming there is some accuracy to the discussion (either from the objective “makes sense” standpoint or the subjective “that’s what the Dodgers are considering” standpoint), I think he could be had relatively inexpensively in a trade – in other words, someone refreshingly not asking for Ells-Bard-Kalish-Kelly-Iggy-Rizzo-Lowrie-etc., as opposed to one or two of our tertiary farm guys.

And as for clubhouse issues – always blame that on the organization when its the Dodgers. Living in LA (and being incapable of cheering for LAA), it’s really, really a shame how crapped up the Dodgers are, when you consider that they should really be a flagship franchise.

I think most agree that the problem is he is a risk. I mean we cannot ignore the decline – maybe it is injury and overuse coupled with a possible post-PED power decline. I am just guessing that (not accusing or on a witch hunt but MLBPA and MLB brought that on themselves); however, with a major power outage across the bigs you have to wonder about guys who:
 a) lost power since 2008
b) also were injured (those two could be correlated)…

I guess the question really needs to be framed like this (both have their unique risks):

1. Does Salty start with a backup TBD?
2. Does a Starter TBD come in with Salty as the backup?

I do admit our options are not great right now (which is why many advocated bringing back V-Mart which now is just crying over spilled milk)..This really makes me wonder if the Sox are going to give Salty a chance. The one thing they have going for them is he jumps into a pretty veteran staff that probably needs minimum guidance. I just do not have the answer to this – I am still left with nothing but questions and the hope that the FO has made a good decision and has a masterplan that will work. Of course, I do not take that for granted – see the Sox revolving door at Shortstop for the past 7 years or so.

That a lot less people would be picking Martine on it than here

and he's Canadian, which why you chose him!