NEWSLETTER
[See Updates Below, as Peter Gammons may be reporting that Martin is signing with the Blue Jays.]
This is a weird twist (with a social media flavor!) to the Russell Martin story, which looked to be plowing ahead in the Cubs’ direction with yesterday’s report from Ken Rosenthal that the Cubs were seen as the “clear front-runner” to land Martin on a deal that would be in the four-year, $64 million range.
Notably, Rosenthal followed that report soon after with this tweet:
Caveat to earlier report on #Cubs as leader for Martin: #BlueJays still could be in mix. #Tigers feared TOR would outbid them for VMart.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 17, 2014
Not a huge surprise, as nothing is over until it’s over, and, well, nobody was counting any Martin-shaped chickens.
But this morning, Peter Gammons tweeted at Rosenthal the following:
@Ken_Rosenthal You were right on Toronto, as ever, according to my latest text
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) November 17, 2014
@Ken_Rosenthal Martin will be a huge sign for Jays
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) November 17, 2014
Will be? Is Gammons just having a conversation here, perhaps not meaning to send it to the world? Or is he telling the world that, yes, he is hearing that Martin will sign with the Blue Jays?
If true, it makes you wonder whether Rosenthal’s report yesterday sparked some action.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if Gammons clarifies, or if something else breaks. This is kind of crazy.
UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal was obviously deluged by folks wondering what was up, and just sent this out:
To those asking: @pgammo is merely saying what I reported last night – that #BlueJays are a player for Russell Martin.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 17, 2014
That’s obviously not quite the phrasing Gammons used, but I trust that Rosenthal knows what Gammons meant.
So, in sum, the takeaway is this: Peter Gammons is reporting that the Blue Jays are definitely still in on Martin, despite any reports that the Cubs are the front-runner. This is notable and worthy of discussion, even if it came about in a strange way.
UPDATE 2 (11:02 am CT): OK, now Gammons is going full on reporter, I believe:
Told Toronto got Martin for "McCann money"
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) November 17, 2014
Brian McCann got five years and $85 million from the Yankees, when he was a couple years younger, with more projection in his bat, and similar defensive/receiving skills. If that’s what Martin ends up getting, I’m still going to be disappointed that the Cubs couldn’t land him, but I will understand if they drew the line shy of that figure. I could probably still make an argument that Martin is worth it, though …
UPDATE 3 (11:07 am CT): It looks like this is really happening, folks.
blue jays are signing russell martin to 5-year deal
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 17, 2014
