The Yankees Catching Woes- Call up Jesus Montero!

Russell Martin was an All-Star this year. No, I am not kidding. Russell Martin was actually an All-Star, voted in by his peers. Yes, he lost the fan vote and still made the All-Star team. He didn't play, but of course neither did A-Rod last year. And yet, Russ continues to be the Yankees starting catcher despite his horrendous numbers offensively while one of the best prospects in baseball is ready to take off in the minor leagues. 

I like Russell Martin. I loved him in April when he was playing terrific defense and hitting the living shit out of the ball to a tune of a .292/.378/.597 line with 6 home runs and 19 RBI. On May 1st, Martin was deservedly leading the All-Star voting at catcher and was on pace for 36 home runs on the season. We knew that those type of power numbers wouldn't last, but I think we expected he'd continue to be solid offensively and perhaps his struggles at the end of his Dodgers career were behind him. 

We were wrong.

Martin has completely fallen off a cliff, whether it's because of overuse by Joe Girardi or the possibility that he had a good month and just isn't a good player, or both, he's a liability right now. His defense has gone from Gold Glove level in April to average at best and his throws have been off recently, throwing more into center field than Cervelli has recently. But the Yankees unexplainably continue to start him and act as if there is no problem with the fact that there is a near automatic out in the lineup every day (and I truly do mean every day- yes, Martin even games for Girardi on off days). The only thing they ever say is that they "like the way he calls a game". I'm going to post two lines of numbers. Try and guess who is which. 

Player A: .186/.296/.286, 4 HR, 17 RBI in 161 ABs

Player B: .217/.292/.268, 1 HR, 11 RBI in 138 ABs

Any ideas? If you haven't guessed already, both are or have been Yankee catchers at some point. Player A is Russell Martin since the beginning of May. Player B is Jose Molina during his 2009 season with the Yankees. 

Seems pretty close, doesn't it? Almost the same OBP. Molina actually had a higher batting average, while Russell Martin still has a slight advantage in the power department. But regardless, those are two pretty ugly lines and two pretty similar lines. There is one big difference though. Jose Molina (who is hitting .300 with 2 HR and 8 RBI this year for the Jays, in case anybody was wondering) was a backup catcher/ A.J. Burnett's "special" friend. Russell Martin plays every single game.

Defensively, Molina outclasses Martin by far. Molina had a higher percentage of people thrown out on the basepaths during his time with the Yankees than Martin has had this season, was better at blocking the ball, framing pitches and probably "calls a game" just as good as Russell Martin. Yankee pitchers loved throwing to Molina- that was a well known fact. I know AJ loved throwing to him (and some other things too in his case). So did Andy Pettitte. So did Mike Mussina. 

But yet, the Yankees were pretty keen to be rid of Molina. He didn't seem to matter. It would have been just a couple million at most to bring him back. So the question is, what is the big difference between Jose Molina and Russell Martin? Why is one just a backup catcher that plays once a week for the Blue Jays while the other is playing every single game for the Wild Card leading New York Yankees? The Blue Jays have J.P. Arencibia. We have Jesus Montero. It's not like there's nobody else to catch while they have an up and coming star!

The answer is, there is no difference. They're both backups- one just happens to be starting. Russell Martin has turned into a guy with a bat only slightly better than Jose Molina with worse defense catching every single day. I'm sure Yankee fans remember watching Molina hit in 2009. If the Yankees think that Russell Martin is a legitimate All-Star starting catcher, then why wasn't Jose Molina brought back to catch? Why isn't he an All-Star? If this is their expectations- solid defense and "calling a good game", then Molina could have been had for better defense for a quarter of the price. And any Yankee with some sense wouldn't want ANY Molina as the starting catcher for this team based on defense alone. So Russell Martin, whose stats have shown to be almost identical since May 1st, is no better. Martin had 21 hits in 72 ABs in April (thats .292). He's had 30 in 161 ABs since. Since the start of June, he has 3 extra base hits in 86 ABs and is showing no signs of improving. 

Again, I like Russ and I like what he did in April. He's a good guy. But as it has been said so many other times on here, it's Baby Jesus time. The guy is getting ready to take off- lets let him do it in games that actually mean something.