Cubs Rolling Out Red Carpet For Russell Martin, Met With Free Agent Catcher
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) - Reports earlier this week hinted that the Chicago Cubs had serious interest in free agent catcher Russell Martin, and now word has surfaced that the Cubs have already met with Martin and are pulling out all the stops in courting him.
According to WSCR-AM and 670 The Score in Chicago Baseball Analyst Bruce Levine, the Cubs have rolled out the red carpet and are letting Martin, along with other free agents, know how serious they are in building a winner this year.
Levine joined The Cook and Poni Show and said "The Chicago Cubs have put a video out this year that was sent to all the free agents, and the agents that represent them, to describe what is coming for the Chicago Cubs as far as facilities, as far as players, as far as expenditures toward reestablishing themselves in the National League Central and the National League as a power of the future, and part of rolling out the red carpet is the idea that the Cubs are trying to attract the top free agents and that they are serious buyers and traders in this years offseason."
When pressed on whether or not the Cubs are ready to open the check book and spend big money on big free agents, Levine said "money usually is the number one factor...There's four teams involved, so you have the Dodgers, you have Toronto, you have Pittsburgh and Chicago...So Russell is going to have to decide, if all things are going to be equal the money is going to be about the same, and my guess is $13 to $15 million times four or five (years). If that's the case, that might be too rich for the blood of the Pittsburgh Pirates for a 30-year-old catcher no matter how important he is."
Levine went on to discuss what exactly it is about Martin that makes him so valuable to teams like the Cubs.
"It's not about necessarily Russell Martin's offense which was good last year, it was his best offensive year in six years, but the fact that wherever he goes, teams end up in the playoffs...The consensus around Major League Baseball is that he handles a staff as good, or better than anybody...I think the Cubs are in this thing all the way as far as throwing money in the direction of Russell Martin."
Click the audio link below to hear more from Bruce Levine on what free agency will hold for Russell Martin and the odds he ends up with the Cubs or another big market team.
Baseball Analyst Bruce Levine
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