Pittsburgh Pirates: Should the Team Break the Bank to Re-Sign Russell Martin?

Anyone who’s paid an iota of attention to the Pittsburgh Pirates this year understands the importance of Russell Martin to the team. He is the best all-around catcher in baseball, and the team most definitely wouldn’t be playoff-bound for the second consecutive year without him.

Martin's .402 on-base percentage would rank fourth in all of baseball this year if he qualified, which he doesn't after a month-long stint on the disabled list in the beginning of the season.

However, his offensive stats pale in comparison to his work defensively behind the plate with pitch-framing and his rapport with the pitching staff.

With that said, should the organization break the bank to re-sign Martin, who turns 32 before the start of next season?

General manager Neal Huntington certainly thinks so.

In an interview with 93.7 The Fan's Cook and Poni, Huntington said earlier this week that the front office is going to go “way beyond our comfort level” in trying to retain Martin.

Maybe Huntington is giving lip service to the fanbase, some of whom are so dedicated to bringing Martin back that they suggested starting a Kickstarter campaign on Reddit.

Then again, maybe the general manager was being genuine in saying he’ll do anything to keep Martin in Pittsburgh.

Regardless, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Bob Smizik recently estimated the team has about a 5 percent chance of re-signing Martin, and he noted MLB Trade Rumors' prediction that he could sign a four-year, $50 million deal in the offseason.

If such a deal comes to fruition, and if it comes from the Pirates, it means Martin would be making about $12.5 million a year over the next four years. That means he’d be making more than Andrew McCutchen’s $10.2 million salary, which would make him the highest-paid player on the team in 2015.

That’s a lot of money to give an aging catcher, but the take here is that he’s worth every penny of it.

What other options are there?

For starters, there’s Tony Sanchez, a man who’s more well-known among fans for double-fisting beers in the clubhouse than for his playing acumen.

In his column, Smizik pointed out what is perhaps Martin’s biggest strength: his pitch-framing skills and superb ability to call games for the team’s pitching staff.

In that same column, Smikiz relayed an interesting statistic: Pirates pitchers have a combined 3.49 ERA when Martin is catching this year, and a 4.01 ERA when Sanchez is behind the plate.

That is a difference of 84 runs throughout an entire season, and Sanchez is entirely shaky defensively behind the plate, even if his bat has potential.

Unfortunately, Sanchez is the only internal option available for next year, given that Elias Diaz only recently got promoted to Triple-A and certainly won’t be ready for the big leagues.

If Martin flies the coop, it’s likely the front office will have to look to external candidates to fill the gigantic hole he’ll leave behind.

A quick glance at the 2015 free-agent market for catchers illustrates even further the need to re-sign Martin.

Names like Geovany Soto, A.J. Pierzynski and former Pirates John Buck and Ryan Doumit dot the landscape. Do any of those names elicit even the slightest bit of excitement from fans?

Martin has done more than enough in Pittsburgh to warrant a fat paycheck from the front office, even if it breaks the bank. The internal and external options to replace him pale in comparison.

It’s time for the front office to put its money where its mouth is and to finally shake the notion that owner Bob Nutting is cheap, even at the cost of overpaying Martin.

He will be worth every penny, even if his game declines with age.