Yankees Officially Sign Russell Martin

The Yankees, obviously not overly comfortable going into Spring Training having Jesus Montero and Francisco Cervelli competing for the starting spot behind the plate, have signed former Dodger, and native Canadian, Russell Martin to a a one-year, $4 million contract to become the Yankees' starting catcher on Thursday.

Martin now becomes the low-risk, high-reward acquisition general manager Brian Cashman was looking for to address an uneasy situation behind the plate. The ultimate reward would be for Martin to feel completely healthy and somehow reacquire the skills that made him one of the best catchers in the National League just two years ago.

"I'm expecting what I've done in the past, and hopefully even better," the former Dodgers backstop said via conference call. "I'm going to do everything I can to get back to those ways. Because talent just doesn't go away. I know I can hit, you know what I mean? I just want to get back to that consistency."

Martin wasn't just consistent -- he was great for a two-year stretch from 2007-08, when he put up a .286 batting average, .380 on-base percentage and 32 home runs while making two All-Star teams and winning both Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.

But he batted just .250 in 143 games the following year, then had a nightmarish 2010 that began with a Spring Training groin injury, proceeded with a .248 batting average and five homers in 97 games and ended prematurely with a broken right hip.

The Yankees are also hoping that Martin can return to the Gold Glove caliber defensive player from two seasons ago. Last season the Yankees were atrocious defensively behind the plate, where Jorge Posada and Cervelli were less than adequate behind the plate, failing to throw out runners at, what seemed like, every other attempt. Martin brings a career 31% caught stealing rate to New York with him, surpassing Posada's 28% and Cervelli's 22% for their respective careers.

Martin threw out 30.6 percent of runners attempting to steal, the seventh-best percentage among qualifying MLB catchers (81+ games) while Cervelli and Posada had two of the five worst caught stealing percentages in the majors, combining for only a 12.4 percent success rate at nabbing basestealers. Furthermore, Martin had four pickoffs last year (only Humberto Quintero of the Astros had more). Posada and Cervelli combined for one the entire season (by Cervelli) and Posada hasn’t had one since 2006.

Posada and Cervelli combined for ten passed balls, 21 errors last season (easily the most in the majors) and their pitching staff threw 67 wild pitches when they caught, 8th most in the majors in 2010. They also allowed the fourth most stolen bases in the majors, something that the Yankees hope will change with the acquisition of Martin. Posada ranked fourth in the majors with eight passed balls and sixth in errors, 8, in only 83 games caught and Cervelli ranked second in the majors with 13 errors in 90 games caught.

Martin's career high in passed balls was six in 2008, 14 errors in 2007 in 145 games caught and his pitching staff threw 41 passed balls in 2006, the most he has ever been behind the plate for. It seems that the Yankees are getting a significant upgrade behind the dish for the 2011 season, and the presence of Martin also gives the Yankees a lot of flexibility because now they don't have to rush Montero and 22-year old Austine Romine into action with the big club and they can develop at a steady pace in the minors.

Romine is considered to be a plus defensive catcher and has progressed significantly offensively over the last couple of seasons, which has many people believing he will be the catcher of the future and, as a result, Montero's big bat may be dangled in a trade for a big name pitcher.

"The assets this organization currently possesses is high-end pitching depth, as well as high-end catching depth," Cashman said. "If we ever choose to shoot those bullets, we're in a better position to do so.

"I'm not saying I want to shoot any of these assets for trade purposes, but sometimes you have to."

After an extensive physical examination on Martin, it was revealed that he has a small meniscus tear in his right knee and will undergo the same surgery that Posada and CC Sabathia had earlier in the offseason, with recovery time expected to be three weeks. Cashman said he's "very comfortable with what I've been told" regarding Martin's injury, which is more common with football players and is believed to have a high recovery rate.

The Yankees will no doubt be careful, but the 27-year-old Martin is expected to be ready by Spring Training, and Martin said his hip issues are "over with."

"It feels great," Martin said. "I haven't felt anything wrong with it for at least a month now. There's absolutely no problem with it. Before I hurt my knee, I was really pushing [the hip] pretty hard in training and stuff, and I never really had any side effects of pain or anything of that nature. I had full range of motion and everything, so I feel pretty comfortable with my hip."

Now he just needs to get comfortable at the plate again and the Yankees think that their highly regarded hitting coach, Kevin Long, can fix his swing like he did for Curtis Granderson in the second half of last season, and Nick Swisher two seasons ago.

Martin, who believes he's "getting better every year" defensively, believes the key to that is a return to basics.

After a successful '08 season, Martin went on a very strict diet and intense offseason training regimen that made him more athletic, but also caused him to lose pop in his bat. He said that forced him to do more with his swing to try to compensate and thus led to an inconsistent approach at the plate.

Heading into the 2010 campaign, Martin took the opposite approach. He put on about 25 extra pounds that put him at 231 at the start of Spring Training, but he still struggled.

Now, Martin said he wants to weigh between 215 and 220 pounds. He vowed he'd be in the best shape of his life when camp opens up in February, and he preached a return to what made him successful in the past.

"I think I got almost in my own way," Martin said. "So this year, I made sure to just come back to the roots and what really got me to where I wanted to be those two All-Star seasons and my first year."