Of course in every sport, with player signings there are two sides that hope to get what they please. The Player, who typically is trying to get the most money a year to play where they want and the team who wants the best value player who will help the team win. In this case the Blue Jays and Russell Martin were able to agree to a 5 year — $85 million contract with his hometown Jays this past November. There was a lot of controversy from the media and fans with the the price tag Martin has playing for Toronto. But if we look a little bit further into factors around the contract I think that this was a great signing by the Jays. Here are the 3 reasons I like this signing and think it will help the Jays as an organization.

Hometown Hero

Russell Martin being born in Toronto and Living in Canada for a large portion of his life helps the “Canada’s Team” brand that the Jays are always trying to create. This can and should increase revenue whether it is some ticket sales or jersey sales. Martin surely wants be back in Canada where he grew up and be closer with his family. This is not a big reason to sign him but is definitely part of the reason the Jays were willing to sign him with this big contract.

Getting on Base

The Next Reason why this signing is beneficial for the Jays is because of the lineup the Jays have around him. Martin gets on base and in an already potent lineup he creates an even scarier one with him plugged in. Lets look at the healthy Blue Jays Bats: Jose Reyes, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion. With these 4 around him it will make pitchers pitch to him because they know he has good plate discipline and will try to get pitches to put in play. This will help the Jays get into more positions to score runs and be even more of a threat than before.

Young Pitching and Catching

The Final reason and personally I think the biggest reason to sign Martin is because of how great he is at being a catcher. He can do a lot of things that many guys just aren’t as good at, pitch framing, throwing out runners, and calming down excited pitchers when they are in trouble. With a future projected rotation with young pitchers including: Marcus Stroman, Daniel Norris, Aaron Sanchez, Jeff Hoffman, Drew Hutchison. Now really only 2 have shown signs of “greatness”. The other 3 have lots of potential and could also be good. So taking all this potential and giving them a good catcher to help fast track their progress is extremely beneficial for the organization. Another factor that could benefit the Jays is having young catching prospect Max Pentecost. He is still very young in the levels of the MLB and has lots of room for improvement. If he is going to be catching the Jays around 2018 this gives the team alot of time to develop him, they dont need to rush him because they already have a great catcher. It will also give Martin the ability to help Pentacost with some of his weaker areas when playing. So similar to the young pitching, having a veteran catcher could be great. Whether they trade or keep Pentecost this will increase his value or help the Jays down the road.

Conclusion

Yes $85 Million for 5 years is a lot of money to give to a 32 year old catcher but with all these factors in play I believe this signing should be able to help the Jays present and future even at the high cost.