Blue Jays are looking to trade Canadian catcher Russell Martin
Russell Martin’s time with the Toronto Blue Jays is getting near the end.
Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reports that the Blue Jays have talked about trading the Canadian catcher, and other teams are interested in him.
An already-crowded catching market is growing even more saturated, as the Toronto Blue Jays have discussed trading Russell Martin and the Pittsburgh Pirates are open to dealing Francisco Cervelli, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Both are drawing interest from a number of teams.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 29, 2018
It should come as no surprise that the Blue Jays would be looking to trade a 35-year-old veteran, given they are a rebuilding team.
Martin can still contribute, but his offensive numbers have been in decline for some time. The Montreal native’s batting average slipped to .194 last season, with 10 home runs, and 25 RBIs. Martin’s on-base percentage remained respectable at .338 though, and that’s reportedly what has teams interested in his services.
Entering the last year of a five-year, $82 million contract, the Blue Jays will need to retain salary to find a suitor. Martin, along with Troy Tulowitzki, are now the team’s highest-paid players, each set to earn $20 million next season.
Martin has one year at $20M left on his deal. The Blue Jays are willing to pay down a significant amount of that, per sources. Cervelli is likewise in the final year of his contract, at $11.5M. Teams love his OBP and makeup, and Pirates have Elias DĂaz to play every day.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 29, 2018