Let’s be fair to the title here and say first off, we’re talking catcher and we all know how much Grey cares about catchers. I’d say he cares more about closers than he does catchers. That says a lot. But with that said, I’d dare say he’s pushed the catcher hate even a tad further with Russell Martin. Literally, he’s almost the anti-Alyssa Milano this time around with his current ranking of Russ, placing him 17th in his Top 20 Catchers For 2015 Fantasy Baseball. BTW, Milano recently had her second baby and I’m going on record here and saying she’s still MILF approved by this writer…or is it blogger? I don’t know what people who type on the internet are. All I know is this isn’t a dating site. Unless Alyssa is reading this and wants to work something out. Hey girl! But for realsies, let’s get to it. Here’s why I think shopping at R-Mart is a great, cheap way to get your catcher for the 2015 Fantasy Baseball season…
Firstly and foremostly, let me start off by saying I know Russell hasn’t been the picture of health the last few years and isn’t getting any younger. At 32, I’m just as shocked as you that the Blue Jays were willing to spend that much on Martin but as a team in full playoff push mode, he fits the bill for what they need: a good catcher with great pitch framing abilities that will help mold (or mould for you Canadian Blue Jay fans out there) a young pitching staff. Hrm, that doesn’t seem very fantasy relevant, lets try this again. He’s seen as a good catcher with great framing abilities that will help mold a young pitching staff and hit in front of Jose Bautista most nights. There, that’s better. For as much as we want Wilin Rosario to bounce back to 2012 form, he’s what they call ‘not so good’ at being a catcher. Playing time matters, y’all, and Martin isn’t going to get sat because of his glove. When you factor in the expected lineup spot of #2 in that Blue Jays lineup, it’s hard not to imagine him being a solid runs contributor from a position usually not known for such a thing. In looking back at Melky Cabrera’s 112 games in the same lineup spot in 2014, he contributed 65 runs and 63 RBI. Translate that to 135 games, you get almost an 80/80 production from your catcher spot. But Melky is a different hitter, you say. Well, that’s completely true. Melky is more of a contact hitter (career 7.2% BB rate) and high average player (career .286 average) while Russell Martin is more of an OBP value (11.6% BB rate for career) and has done plenty of damage in the HR department in friendly confines (combined 17.9% HR/FB rate while playing with the Yankees from 2011-2012). So let’s just say he’s Melky with the upside in HR potential at Rogers Centre (4th best HR park for RHHs) with some average downside to go with it. I think Martin can get back to his lofty HR/FB% totals he had while with the Yankees so I’m gonna get crazy and say we get at least 130 games from Russell to go with 20 HRs, 70 RBIs and 70 Runs and a .235 average. Throw in about 5 steals and that sneaks him up into top 5 catcher talk but at the very least, I fully expect R-Mart to finish the year in the top 7 or 8 catchers overall. Yeah I know, it ain’t sexy but if you want sexy…well just go watch Embrace Of The Vampire. And by ‘watch’ I mean fast forward to the good parts. And by ‘good parts’ I mean the parts that show Alyssa Milano’s good parts. And with that, I’ll talk with you later because it’s time to see a certain movie in my Netflix queue…
