Russell Martin will play in his home country. The catcher signed a 5 year, $82 million contract to play for the Toronto Blue Jays.

 

What do you think?

 

Silly-ness!

Years are absolutely ridiculous for the tread on his legs.

I bet it will be a nice christmas (or boxing day) at the Martin home this year.

 

I feel bad for the Pirates a little bit, because they are going to have a tough time of staying in the NL central conversation if they can't replace the guys they lose. I'm not sure that A.J. Burnett and Cervelli are going to be enough to make up for Martin, Liriano, and Volquez all departing.

He's the DH in 2 years, I'd guess.

Yea, seems pretty stupid, plus they loose a pick

I bet it will be a nice christmas (or boxing day) at the Martin home this year.

 

I feel bad for the Pirates a little bit, because they are going to have a tough time of staying in the NL central conversation if they can't replace the guys they lose. I'm not sure that A.J. Burnett and Cervelli are going to be enough to make up for Martin, Liriano, and Volquez all departing.

 

They already replaced him defensively, and Cervelli has had some level of success with the stick, plus they have a group of very good young catchers who could be ready as soon as mid-2015.

Will the Pirates make the playoffs for a third straight year? Are they taking a step forward this offseason, or have they taken a step back? Not saying they should have given 5 Years and 80+ MM to Martin, but I think it will be tough for them to get in again this year. Maybe they pick up another SP, and at that point I could see it. Even with that, they probably need to supplement a little more offense than they have now.

 

I think for the Blue Jays, it's pretty encouraging that they went out and filled a need. The Jays still need to address the holes they have in the outfield, but they have to be happy to have Martin (at least in the short term).

Will the Pirates make the playoffs for a third straight year? Are they taking a step forward this offseason, or have they taken a step back? Not saying they should have given 5 Years and 80+ MM to Martin, but I think it will be tough for them to get in again this year. Maybe they pick up another SP, and at that point I could see it. Even with that, they probably need to supplement a little more offense than they have now.

 

I think for the Blue Jays, it's pretty encouraging that they went out and filled a need. The Jays still need to address the holes they have in the outfield, but they have to be happy to have Martin (at least in the short term).

 

They lose production but these are necessary moves for a smaller market team.  The draft pick is a bonus but it's necessary for them to avoid contracts like this.  This kind of deal combined with another can lead to disastrous crash for a team in a couple of years.