Martinez hopes to stay in Boston
by ritz on Feb 15, 2010 7:18 PM EST
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Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald has an excellent article about Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez this morning. Martinez explained that unlike some other players, he doesn't want to test free agency:
"I don't want to be jumping around, I don’t want to go somewhere else, First, I didn’t want to go out of the Indians organization. Then I'm out, and now I'm here. I came to the place where a lot of players dream to come and a lot of players wish to play here in Boston. So I'm here, I do really want to stay here and hopefully end my career in Boston."
Regarding possible extension talks, Martinez says he's "open now until the season starts." The Red Sox have a shot at getting a reasonable deal done, just as the Indians did when they locked Martinez up for five years at $15.5MM back in '05. For more Martinez discussion, check out this MLBTR post from Wednesday.
per mlbtraderumors.com
Good news. I'm a huge V-Mart fan.
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Me too!
I just bought my V-Mart jersey, so that’s good to hear. He seems like a creature of habit. If they can get him situated in Boston and he’s happy, he should get what he deserves. and it sounds like he doesn’t want a big money contract, compared to some of his peers-or at least that’s what he says. But Victor seems a little different from the rest; there are so many players that just play for $$$, and pretend to be gamers. But Victor is a real gamer and is happy with the plenty of $ that he receives. Let’s just hope that his agent doesn’t get too far between Victor and the club-see Jason Bay.
"We're not going to give up," It doesn't happen, so who cares? There's always next year. It's not like it's the end of the world."-Manny Ramirez
I don't think Bay would've been happy with the 2 year offer no matter his agent.
Plus, consider his Seattle comments. I can’t say he was too interested in sticking around. I’m sure he would’ve been happy to, but it wasn’t a big deal for him. Martinez is a guy who wants to have a team that’s his team, like in Cleveland.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Feb 15, 2010 8:41 PM EST up reply actions
Or today right about now.
Because there were some formatting issues I wasn’t convinced would actually come out the way it was previewed to, and I want to go to sleep being sure. Meh.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Feb 16, 2010 12:52 AM EST up reply actions
This is one reason why I always post immediately.
It doesn’t make much sense to schedule news stories when we can get it out ASAP.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea /
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown /
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
Eh
We’re pretty dead on content for the next few days before ST, so I figured I’d spread it out.
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Feb 16, 2010 10:40 AM EST up reply actions
Sounds reasonable.
ST / the Season can’t start soon enough, this winter has been interminable. Why couldn’t Theo leave at least some of the team holes open before ST? This whole "offseason over by December really kills a lot of the speculation and story lines.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea /
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown /
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
No kidding.
The “Red Sox sign mediocre pitcher X” stories make it worse, even
USG
by Ben Buchanan on Feb 17, 2010 2:53 PM EST up reply actions
I would love to have him as DH/backup catcher
if he can’t stick well at full-time catcher. Plus saves a backup catcher roster spot so we can get another guy on the bench.
Ugh.
I hope we don’t sign him until after the year. Lets see how he does catching for us full time first – and if he holds up.
I dont want to re-sign him at all for 1B/DH. He’s an underwhelming option there. If he can’t catch at least half time might as well let him walk.
Let me add
There is nothing to be gained by signing him now. Its not like he’s gonna give us a discount. Even if he has a big year he’ll be a year older.
We’re going to have to pay the man either way… Id rather wait out the year and see what he’s like as a full time catcher. Give me the extra year of data. If I end up having to pay and extra 10% because of it, that’s okay by me.
I don't get it
Four seasons of catching 121-142 games for a mostly contending team with above-average pitching and run prevention results is not enough data?
Ok – one season injured – are we going to use that to as the gauge?
And last year, catching ‘only’ 85 games – having nothing to do with his ability or durability as a catcher. In Cleveland they explicitely needed to phase in his replacement in order to deal him and in Boston we had the Wakefield situation. Overall he still put in 155 games.
His lifetime splits show does not slump in the second half of seasons. He’s a tough hombre who does not have a history of wearing down.
I just don’t get the doubt.
His defense is clearly at least adequate – proven by catching for above average pitching staffs on contending teams.
His offense is clearly WAY above replacement value for catchers. This is one of the most scarce commodities in baseball – not just a decent hitting, but a very very good hitting catcher.
Do you see anyone else on the horizon who would be preferable to insert into that slot on the Red Sox roster? I don’t. Mauer is not going to be available. Who else?
We can still get him back in a year.
Like I said, its not like we get a discount by signing him now. If we did I would be all for it.
I want to see how he holds up to a full season of catching, if his catching abilities are up to snuff, if he can stay healthy, how he meshes with the team, etc…
In a year?
Alskor you are talking about the the second best catcher in the American League right now.
While a couple may have better potential, Victor is playing well right now. Before crying about the catchers with all these steals, let’s look at how well the pitching staff is holding the runner…. and throws to first is not holding them if the move isn’t there. Other that steals I have been happy with Victor. In my opinion he should have been extended the day after the World Series ended (Not as crass as the Yankees who have tried to upstage the World series in the past). To wait until Fall is to lose him. If not lose him, it will cost much more to keep him. He is a proven veteran, why wait?
Caution is good
However there are several peripheral facts that favor Victor being able to put in several more high-quality years at C.
As mentioned above, he’s put in several seasons of 120+ games already.
He does not show signs of second-half slumps.
His total professional games caught is only 950 (that includes the minors, which when he first started catching).
That’s only one full season more of professional catching than Mauer (814 total games, age 26). And Victor does not have wear & tear on his knees from catching before his professional career.
So Victor does not really have a ton of games at C wearing on him AND he has a consistent track record of good endurance through the seasons that he has caught.
These things suggest to me that the risk of him having to switch to 1B due to wear & tear during the next 3ish years is probably low.
And any fade he shows during that span is likely to still leave him way above replacement value at C. That is very valuable to a lineup to not have an automatic out at C.
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