Russell Martin is coming home.
The veteran catcher and native Canadian signed a five-year, $82 million dollar contract with the Blue Jays on Tuesday morning.
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Martin is coming off one of his best seasons in the pros, in which he posted a .290/.402/.430 line to go with 11 home runs and 67 RBIs as a Pittsburgh Pirate. Martin also finished in the top-5 amongst catchers for caught-stealing percentage. The Pirates will receive a compensatory draft pick with the signing.
"I've had more fun playing baseball here than I have my whole career," Martin had told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette following the Pirates' wild card berth. But it appears the hefty offer from Toronto was too much to turn down.
The deal has big implications for the Blue Jays. Usually considered a miserly franchise under current GM Alex Anthopoulos, the deal signals that the team is willing to do what it takes to compete in the AL East and break their 21-year playoff drought.
Signing Martin is also a PR boon for the team's Canadian fan base -- Martin was born in Toronto and raised in Montreal, and he becomes the first Canadian three-time All Star to play for the nation's lone MLB team.
Martin is renowned across Major League Baseball for his work with pitchers behind the plate. He took a Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff that had finished 13th in ERA the year before his arrival, and brought it to 3rd in 2013. Blue Jays fans will be hoping he can perform similar wonders on Toronto's staff, which finished 22nd in Team ERA last year.
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