Well the Yankees lost out on Russell Martin to the Pittsburgh Pirates. First off lets have that sink in, the Pittsburgh Pirates outbid the New York Yankees for the best free agent catcher on the market. The worst part is that Martin gave the Yankees the chance to match the offer of 2 years $17 million and they said that they did not have the money.
Without a doubt Catcher is the most difficult position to play in baseball and if the season started today they would need to rely on a combination of Austin Romine, Chris Stewart and Francisco Cervelli. Obviously Romine has potential but he has only had a limited time in AAA, after missing most of last year with a back injury. Also the Yankees pitching staff the last two years has been great, thanks in no small part to Martin being behind the plate. Martins defense is often undervalued by Yankees fans but his receiving skills and play calling are extremely important to making this pitching staff as good as it has been. Without Martin the Yankees will see a noticeable drop off from catcher defense, not to mention the loss of his offense, as the only current regular right handed bat in the lineup is A-Rod. Say what you want about his batting average but Martin hit 40 home runs in his two years as a Yankee and the balance he helped provide to the lineup cannot be undervalued. Last year the Yankees had four lineup regulars that could bat right handed in Swisher, Tex, Martin and ARod and now they will likely only have two. Those four guys hit 87 Home Runs last season and 45 of those are leaving with Swisher and Martin and its extremely unlikely that the Yankees will be able to make them up with whomever they have to replace those two. The fact that the Yankees refuses to pony up the extra $5-6 million is really going to cost them, especially with him poor the catching market is right now.
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