As per Ken Rosenthal on Twitter, the Pirates have reached terms with Russell Martin, pending a physical. We will continue to flesh this out with more details about the terms of the deal as they become available.
UPDATE 8:46 p.m. — Rosenthal tweets, via David Waldstein, that Martin’s contract is 2 years/$17M. If confirmed, that is for a higher average annual value than the original rumor of 3 years/$24M, but the shorter term plays better for the Pirates and their need to evaluate Tony Sanchez at the Major League level.
UPDATE 9:45 PM: A few conflicting reports on whether the Yankees made an offer.
#yankees had offered 2 years for somewhere around $12-ro-14M for martin. not sure if they bumped it at end.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) November 30, 2012
The Yankees never made an offer to Russell Martin; they haven’t made any offers to position players so far this offseason.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 30, 2012
Olney also notes that Texas was in on the bidding.
Texas was also in on Russell Martin, with a two-year overture, according to a source involved in the talks.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 30, 2012
Rob Biertempfel notes that the Pirates briefly considered Mike Napoli, but decided he couldn’t handle everyday catching and would be better suited in the AL. That seems to be the consensus, as most rumors I’ve seen have teams looking at Napoli as a 1B/DH.
November 29, 2012 at 9:11 pm
Great news! And for only 2 years is awesome!
I just hope I am saying the same thing in August!
November 29, 2012 at 9:19 pm
I can live with the 2 years for a veteran catcher, IMO, the price was too high, but when you look at it the Pirates were never going to get Martin unless they bid higher than the Yankees, if the money is close, he goes to the Yanks.
I do believe this signals the end for Hanrahan, the Pirates are not going to spend 7 mil for him and pay Martin, I would not be surprised if they have not been trying to trade him, going to arbitration does not seem like something the Pirates would want to do.
November 29, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Pirates won’t give Hanrahan away and I doubt he will bring much before the trade deadline.
November 29, 2012 at 9:20 pm
I like the 2 and $17mm. Surprises the heck out of me but it’s a start.
November 29, 2012 at 10:23 pm
i like 2 years.
November 29, 2012 at 10:32 pm
here is the one thing everyone seems to be overlooking. when talking about the pirates payroll we all have a certain number in mind. maybe just maybe the pirates are willing to go a little more this year. two factors come to mind 1 ticket sales were better last year than previous years and this year is even better and 2 baseballs new tv contract next yearmgives an estimated 16 million more per team. lets hope they up the payroll
November 30, 2012 at 12:50 am
WTF are you people smoking to like this? Whatever it is, please pass it this way. We are getting a guy that McHenry could duplicate the offensive numbers of over the last 2 years, he’s not going to throw out any more base stealers than the other catchers because the pitchers allow the runners to get a large enough jump that a sumo wrestler would feel safe stealing. I hope he at least has a good first half of the season so when the Pirates are 15 games out of first at the break we can get a ransom for him in a trade.
November 30, 2012 at 11:14 am
McHenry is an even better hitter than McCutcheon.
November 30, 2012 at 3:11 am
Love the signing and believe he will be a great addition!!!