The Toronto Blue Jays will be signing Russell Martin to a five year deal, according to Jon Heyman. Peter Gammons first broke the news, saying Martin got “McCann money”.
Told Toronto got Martin for "McCann money"
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) November 17, 2014
blue jays are signing russell martin to 5-year deal
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 17, 2014
There was some confusion at first, since it first appeared that Gammons was repeating the rumors that Ken Rosenthal had last night, saying Toronto would be players for Martin. Last night the Cubs were the frontrunners for the catcher at four years and $64 M. If Martin did receive “McCann money”, then that would be five years and in the $85 M range.
I don’t think that’s a range where the Pirates could have afforded Martin, both in dollars and years. The silver lining here is that Martin won’t be going to the Cubs, and won’t even be in the NL. The Pirates already have their Plan B in Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart, although that combo is just a defense-first combo. They will need to upgrade other positions in order to fully make up for the loss of Martin.
UPDATE 12:13 PM: Rosenthal says it’s five years and $82 M.
Source: Martin deal with #BlueJays is five years, $82M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 17, 2014
UPDATE 12:34 PM: Because the Blue Jays signed Martin, they lose their first round pick in 2015, which was number 17 overall. That means the Pirates now move up to 21st overall. They will also get a comp pick for Martin, which is currently 35th overall. Expect that to move up as the off-season continues.
