Russell Martin turns 43 today.
Drafted by the Dodgers in the 17th round in 2002, Martin reached the majors in 2006. By 2014, he’d already played for three MLB teams and made the playoffs seven times—enough to earn any player, but especially a catcher, a reputation as a winner.
In 2014, the Blue Jays already had a perfectly adequate catcher in Dioner Navarro, who hit .274/.317/.395 with a 2.5 bWAR and was under contract for 2015. Most of us expected the team’s off-season focus to be elsewhere. Yet, true to his reputation as a ‘ninja’ GM, Alex Anthopoulos surprised us all by signing Martin.
Martin signed a five-year, $82 million contract, which was back-loaded. He was to get $7 in 2015, then $15 million and $20 million a year for the next three seasons (I see in a post I suggested Max Pentecost would be “looking for playing time” by the third year of the contract. It wasn’t the first time I was wrong). The press conference announcing his signing was peppered with the words leadership, chemistry, and ‘changing the culture.’ About ten days later, Alex would trade for Josh Donaldson. There were several moves that winter. Adam Lind was traded for Marco Estrada. We picked up Justin Smoak. Anthony Gose was traded for Devon Travis. And J.A. Happ was shipped to Seattle for Michael Saunders.
Martin’s signing drew plenty of debate. Committing five years to a 32-year-old catcher is always a risk, but most fans were happy to have a good Canadian boy leading the team. Our poll: 66% liked the deal, 15% disliked it, and 20% were neutral.
That spring, Minor Leaguer, some friends, and I went to Montreal for the Jays’ exhibition games at Olympic Stadium. It was a love-in for Russell. He got a standing ovation every time he came to the plate, and his dad played the national anthem on saxophone before the first game..
In 2015, Martin hit .240/.329/.458 with a career-high 23 home runs in 129 games, good for a 3.2 bWAR (FanGraphs was even higher at 4.5). He made his fourth (and final) All-Star appearance, threw out 44% of base stealers, and looked athletic behind the plate. His pitch framing didn’t look as good as in the past, but, to be fair, he was sometimes catching pitchers with little idea where their pitches were going. It’s easier to frame a pitch that hits its target.
Trivia: On April 19th, Martin caught Jeff Francis to form the first All-Canadian battery in team history.
Whether due to leadership, play, or both, the Jays made the playoffs for the first time in ages. Martin struggled at the plate—3-for-15 in the five-game win over Texas, 1-for-11 (with 3 walks) in the six-game loss to Kansas City—but he was at the center of the most bizarre play I’ve ever seen: In Game 5 of the ALDS, his throw back to the mound hit Shin-Soo Choo’s bat, allowing Rougned Odor to score. The umps initially called it a dead ball, but by rule, it wasn’t. Chaos ensued, but the Jays prevailed.
Martin’s 2016 season at the plate wasn’t as strong: .231/.335/.398 with 20 homers in 137 games (2.0 bWAR). His strikeout rate jumped to 27.7% (from 20.9% the year before). He started the year with a sore neck and finished in a slump—catcher’s aches and pains, most likely. His caught-stealing rate plummeted from 44% to 15%, yet he remained a steady presence defensively. Offensively, he again struggled in October: 3 hits (1 homer) in 33 postseason at-bats.
In 2017, Martin played just 91 games, hitting .221/.343/.388 with 13 home runs. He threw out 20% of would-be base stealers and played 77 innings at third base.
Again, he could have had a better time with the bat in the playoffs. Counting the Wild Card game, he had 3 hits (with 1 home run) in 33 playoff at-bats.
2018 saw Martin step back from full-time catching: just 71 games behind the plate (Luke Maile caught 66, Danny Jansen 29, Reese McGuire 11), plus stints at third (21 games), short (3), and even left field (1). He hit .194/.338/.325 with 10 home runs—a career-low 1.3 bWAR. At 35, he looked every bit the veteran catcher. As I’ve said, smart GMs back-load big contracts, knowing the odds are the player won’t finish as a regular (sometimes I get it right).
It is also Álex González’s 49th birthday.
To clarify, this is the Álex González who played half a season at shortstop for the Jays—nicknamed “Sea Bass” for reasons unknown—not the other Alex Gonzalez who spent eight seasons as a shortstop for the Jays.
This Álex signed with Toronto as a free agent before the 2010 season and surprised us by hitting .259/.296/.497 with 17 home runs in just 85 games. Midseason, the Jays traded him, Tim Collins, and Tyler Pastornicky to the Braves for Yunel Escobar and Jo-Jo Reyes. The less said about Jo-Jo, the better. Escobar went on to spend three seasons with the Jays, batting .272/.335/.373 in 338 games before departing as part of the Marlins megadeal.
González played 16 years in the majors, eight of them with the Marlins, and finished with a career .245/.290/.395 line and 157 home runs.
Happy Birthday, Álex.
Elvis Luciano turns 26 today.
You’ll remember Elvis as the Jays’ Rule 5 pick before the 2019 season. That meant he had to stick with the big-league club all year, and he did, appearing in 25 games with a 5.35 ERA.
He spent 2021 and the start of 2022 with New Hampshire. He’s played in Japan the last couple of years.
Happy Birthday Elvis
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