Thursday, December 02, 2010

Goodbye, Russell

...Nathan Jeanson Coltrane...

From @Dodgers:

The #Dodgers have non-tendered Russell Martin, George Sherrill and Trent Oeltjen. Quotes from Colletti to follow shortly #mlb

More:

Ned: Russ was one of the toughest decisions I've had to make. We tried many times to strike a deal but just couldn't bridge the gap
Colletti: We still have interest in continuing discussions with Russell.

From @dylanohernandez:

The #Dodgers are close to re-signing Rod Barajas.

Mo':

Russell Martin's last proposal to the #Dodgers: $5MM plus $1MM in incentives.

Plan B:

Barajas' new deal with the #Dodgers is for one year.

Martin in LF? From "Dodgers nearly done with holiday shopping" by Ken Gurnick at Dodgers.com:

Left fielder: It won't be Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth. It might not even be somebody from outside, as a platoon could be pieced together involving Jay Gibbons, who otherwise figures to be the primary left-handed pinch-hitter. Most likely, the club will try to sign a right-handed platoon type as it did last year in Reed Johnson. Colletti raised an interesting possible candidate when he non-tendered Martin. That candidate is in fact Martin, should the two sides reach a financial agreement.

Russell in pinstripes? From @SI_JonHeyman:

the #yankees like russell martin. they believe at least 1 of 2 talented kid catchers (montero/romine) will be ready; but who knows?

UPDATE 12/3 10:17a from Sax: The NYT has it that Martin was almost traded to the Yankees:

Even as the Yankees were negotiating with Rivera and improving their offer to Jeter and getting ready to make a multiyear bid to the free-agent pitcher Cliff Lee, they were also talking trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to a second person in baseball, the two teams came close to agreeing to a trade that would have sent catcher Russell Martin to the Yankees for the catcher Francisco Cervelli. The teams even exchanged the medical records of the two players, but ultimately a deal was not completed. The Dodgers then decided not to tender the arbitration-eligible Martin a contract and he has become a free agent.

The second person said Martin represented an attractive option for the Yankees because he would have given them a veteran backup of more stature than Cervelli as the Yankees continue to phase out Jorge Posada as the team's catcher and begin to phase in 21-year-old Jesus Montero. The 27-year-old Martin is a two-time All-Star although his offensive numbers declined the last two seasons.

Following that, according to a Jayson Stark tweet in the last hour, Russ turned down $4M guaranteed + another $1M+ in incentives, the Dodgers' offer: "The buzz is Russell Martin may have had a deal lined up to turn down more than $4M guaranteed from Dodgers + another $1M-plus in incentives." Yikes.

29 comments:

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Nice work, Orel.

Kyle Baker said...

Loved you at your height, cringed at your recent form, J-Mart. I agree w the decision though if in the end we don't end up re-signing him for less.

Kyle Baker said...

Sorry, Karina.

Kyle Baker said...

Colletti: "We still have interest in continuing discussions with Russell."

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I still think Martin returns. He loves the team, but Ned & Co. couldn't commit that much money to a guy with so many problems.

Kyle Baker said...

"The #Dodgers are close to re-signing Rod Barajas." - Dylan Hernandez

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

"If Canadian baseball players can't find a job in America are they deported?"

#MNightSlamathon

Kyle Baker said...

@MLASC

Did you note how literally everyone major or minor in the world of Dodger reporting had Tweeted re JMart, then #MKnightSlamathon piped in with the news as if she were god's gift to breaking baseball news?

Kyle Baker said...

Red Sox likely to sign Varitek to a one-year deal soon, per MLB Network "Hot Stove" broadcast just now.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

Unfortunately I did.

Kyle Baker said...

What is your USC v UCLA game-watching situation shaping up to be, MLASC? What do you do for the big game?

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I typically watch the game with some of the guys. I don't go to the actually game since tickets are too hard to find.

Josh S. said...

No one's going to give him more than the 5 mil and 1 mil in incentives the Dodgers offered him. That's actually a really generous offer, considering the estimate for his arb raise was 6.5 mil.

Kyle Baker said...

Actually Josh that was his offer TO the Dodgers.

Kyle Baker said...

Clearly, we declined.

Josh S. said...

Oh, whoops. Nevermind.

Kyle Baker said...

@MLASC

Yeah, games like that it's actually a better experience with the benefit of flat screen TVs, telestrators, clean bathrooms, one's own booze, etc.

Kyle Baker said...

@Josh

I misread it at first too, Josh. If we read the same thing it wasn't worded very well.

Josh S. said...

I read "to" as "from" in Dylan's tweet.

Kyle Baker said...

Sounds like we have now signed Pack of Cards.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

The downside is that the game will be on Prime, so I have to listen to Petros.

The upside is that it's not on ESPN, so there's no risk of Musburger.

It's basically a wash.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I don't care what anyone says, I like Barajas and I'm happy he's back.

Kyle Baker said...

If Dylan Hernandez wrote it, it wasn't worded very well.

Kyle Baker said...

Completely agree re Pack of Cards, MLASC. Very excited about him.

Kyle Baker said...

Post Non-tender Thread up!
















(kids)

Paul said...

I keep making these Dodgers catchers my favorite players and things just dont end well.

Kyle Baker said...

Long line of likable Dodgers catchers, to be sure. One of the reasons I signed on early. My little brother was inspired to catch throughout his little league --> babe ruth league career based on his love for Dodgers catchers.

Fred's Brim said...

:(

rbnlaw said...

Russ will be back; mark my words. The non-tender makes sense. Martin will see there is no market for a catcher with questionable hitting and defense, then accept the Dodger's offer to a one-year, incentive-laden contract with team options for year two and three.

Martin then reports to Venezuela to learn left field (and be reunited with his long lost adopted mother), returns to Spring Training in fine form, finds his hitting stroke, and makes Dodger fans all say, "Manny who?"




A man can dream, can't he?