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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Canadian Russell Martin withdraws from World Baseball Classic

Wow! I haven’t seen a middle infielder quit this quick since Eddie Stanky!

Russell Martin has withdrawn from the World Baseball Classic, leaving Canada without its starting catcher.

Martin, who signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates over the off-season, decided to remove himself from the team because he wasn’t going to be allowed to play shortstop.

According to Martin, both the Pirates and the Canadian team were uncomfortable with the Chelsea, Que., native switching positions for the upcoming tournament.

“They both were uneasy about that,” Martin told MLB.com, “and I simply didn’t want to catch.”

Martin signed to a two-year, US$17-million deal with Pittsburgh in November and was concerned about the physical wear and tear that comes with the tournament.

“It’s just too much grind,” he added. “The catcher’s out there the whole game, and it just takes your body so long to recover from catching 20 innings or so.”

Repoz Posted: February 24, 2013 at 05:36 PM | 36 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: pirates

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1. Flynn Posted: February 24, 2013 at 05:40 PM (#4375299)

What a total baby.

2. Matt Chico's Bail Bonds (Dan Lee) Posted: February 24, 2013 at 06:18 PM (#4375306)

Somebody call a waaaaambulance.

3. Shooty is in the Trust Tree

Posted: February 24, 2013 at 06:22 PM (#4375309)

Enjoy Russell Martin, Pittsburgh. The Anti-Jason Kendall.

4. Pat Rapper's Delight Posted: February 24, 2013 at 06:23 PM (#4375310)

Martin's agent is Garry Templeton?

5. FancyPantsHandle glistening with foreign substance Posted: February 24, 2013 at 06:30 PM (#4375314)

Canadian Russell Martin withdraws

Must be a French Canadian...

6. Gamingboy Posted: February 24, 2013 at 06:32 PM (#4375316)

"I don't want to catch! Everybody makes fun of the catchers! I wanna be a cool shortstop! If you won't let me be shortstop I'm going to force you to find a new catcher on very short notice!"

The Kottaras/Nickeas/Suomi gambit.

7. Greg (U)K Posted: February 24, 2013 at 06:33 PM (#4375318)

“and I simply didn’t want to catch.”

Just wait 'til he hears where the Pirates want to play him!

8. Shooty is in the Trust Tree

Posted: February 24, 2013 at 06:35 PM (#4375320)

Just wait 'til he hears where the Pirates want to play him!

Operation Shutdown 2: The De-Catchening

9. Gamingboy Posted: February 24, 2013 at 06:38 PM (#4375323)

Operation Shutdown 2: The De-Catchening

Primey.

10. NattyBoh Posted: February 24, 2013 at 06:42 PM (#4375327)

I was looking forward to that Strat csrd.

11. puck Posted: February 24, 2013 at 07:03 PM (#4375337)

What made him think he was going to play shortstop in the first place? This is the kind of story you'd expect to read about Jose Canseco.

12. Horror Posted: February 24, 2013 at 07:23 PM (#4375346)

Martin signed to a two-year, US$17-million deal with Pittsburgh in November and was concerned about the physical wear and tear that comes with the tournament.

“It’s just too much grind,” he added. “The catcher’s out there the whole game, and it just takes your body so long to recover from catching 20 innings or so.”

Well that was a good investment, Mr. Huntington

13. Tim Wallach was my Hero Posted: February 24, 2013 at 08:32 PM (#4375382)

Must be a French Canadian...

Why?

14. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc Posted: February 24, 2013 at 08:32 PM (#4375383)

What made him think he was going to play shortstop in the first place? This is the kind of story you'd expect to read about Jose Canseco.

Um, back in November he said that the team already had 2 catchers, so he was volunteering to play shortstop. Management was receptive:

[Russell] Martin, a Canadian citizen, told Greg Hamilton, the Baseball Canada head coach and director of the national teams, that he wants to play shortstop in the W.B.C. Hamilton was receptive to the idea.

So, basically, he didn't want to play due to the extra wear and tear, but offered to help out if they wanted him at SS. Since they don't, he's not playing.

15. Jose Can Still Seabiscuit Posted: February 24, 2013 at 08:36 PM (#4375384)

Just three days ago the report was that he would play short. It's something he's been discussing since November though it's not clear to me that Team Canada was totally on board with it.

I don't think Martin is quite as whiny as the late pull out makes him look. It looks to me like there was a miscommunication and something Martin thought was a done deal was not in fact a done deal. I think the whining about the WBC in general is seriously overblown and I don't think Martin's participation in the WBC is likely to be more taxing than his participation in Spring Training but he's hardly the only one bailing on the WBC.

EDIT: A cold refreshing RC to Greg.

16. Darren

Posted: February 24, 2013 at 09:40 PM (#4375398)

I'm just bummed we don't get to see him at SS. How fun would that have been?

17. Der_K Posted: February 24, 2013 at 09:54 PM (#4375402)

Also wanted to echo what Greg said. I did think that angle was under reported prior to his departure from the team.

18. Greg Pope thinks the Cubs are reeking havoc Posted: February 24, 2013 at 11:04 PM (#4375421)

From the article:

Russell Martin has withdrawn from the World Baseball Classic, leaving Canada without its starting catcher.

Isn't this bad planning by Canada? Martin said he didn't want to catch, so they just plowed ahead assuming they'd change his mind?

19. Sleepy supports unauthorized rambling Posted: February 25, 2013 at 12:46 AM (#4375454)

I'm just bummed we don't get to see him at SS. How fun would that have been?

Indeed. This makes me sad.

20. Lassus Posted: February 25, 2013 at 01:02 AM (#4375457)

Someone in Canada needs to be fired for this, it boggles the mind.

21. Pat Rapper's Delight Posted: February 25, 2013 at 01:10 AM (#4375458)

I'm just bummed we don't get to see him at SS. How fun would that have been?

I was hoping there would finally be definitive proof that a catcher would indeed have more range at short than Captain Giftbasket.

22. Random Transaction Generator Posted: February 25, 2013 at 01:22 AM (#4375465)

For fun, I searched to see if any Canadians had played shortstop in the past 5 years and was going to joke that they could play catcher.

There hasn't been a Canadian that's played at least five games at shortstop in the majors since Pete Orr in 2008 (8 games).
After that is Kevin Nicholson in 2000 (30 games).

23. JJ1986 Posted: February 25, 2013 at 01:33 AM (#4375467)

There hasn't been a Canadian that's played at least five games at shortstop in the majors since Pete Orr in 2008 (8 games).

I think their shortstop now is Jonathan Malo. He played for Les Capitales in the CanAm League last year.

24. Crispix Attacks 2: Swag Airlines Posted: February 25, 2013 at 01:58 AM (#4375474)

The only Canadian MLB shortstop in living memory, literally, is Dave McKay. Who wasn't a shortstop but played a few games there in six separate seasons, totaling 45 games. I wrote a whole comment about this a couple months ago, complete with stat table, but can't find it now.

No Canadian has been a team's regular shortstop for any length of time in something like 80 years, except the aforementioned Kevin Nicholson for one month when the Padres were deciding that Damian Jackson needed to be moved from SS to 2B but had not yet acquired a suitable SS to replace him.

25. The District Attorney Posted: February 25, 2013 at 02:06 AM (#4375477)

Along with others, I was wondering why not Martin at 3B/Lawrie at SS, and am wondering it even more so now.

26. The Yankee Clapper Posted: February 25, 2013 at 02:12 AM (#4375479)

Along with others, I was wondering why not Martin at 3B/Lawrie at SS, and am wondering it even more so now.

You'd be asking another player to play out of position just to humour Martin's desire to make his SS debut in the WBC. Maybe the team is stronger that way, maybe not, but the important thing is to not get injured and to be ready for opening day.

27. Drexl Spivey Posted: February 25, 2013 at 02:41 AM (#4375488)

Cale Iorg is the shortstop for Canada.

He's not good at playing baseball.

28. Obo Posted: February 25, 2013 at 02:47 AM (#4375490)

Crispix: your Dave McKay post.

29. boteman Posted: February 25, 2013 at 03:03 AM (#4375492)

I fully expect a headline tomorrow reading something like "Russell Martin's Initials Found Scribbled on Biogenesis Lists!!!11!!11"

30. Barnaby Jones Posted: February 25, 2013 at 05:41 AM (#4375501)

Along with others, I was wondering why not Martin at 3B/Lawrie at SS, and am wondering it even more so now.

You'd be asking another player to play out of position just to humour Martin's desire to make his SS debut in the WBC.

I don't follow how playing Martin at 3B is humoring his desire to play SS. This notion is suggested because Martin started his pro career as a 3B (and has played there a handful of times in MLB) and Lawrie was a middle infielder (who even played a few innings at SS last year).

31. Greg (U)K Posted: February 25, 2013 at 08:59 AM (#4375525)

Looking at the link in #28, I had no idea Reggie Cleveland is Canadian, never mind from Swift Current. I actually have a friend from Swift Current who knows Cleveland from Bill Simmons' writing, but I'm not sure he knows he's a hometown boy (at least he's never noted it to me).

32. Flynn Posted: February 25, 2013 at 10:26 AM (#4375546)

Cleveland got some acclamation in 1975 for being the first Canadian to start a World Series game. Poor Fergie Jenkins.

Also, his all-time "white guy you thought was black" name (inspiring the Reggie Cleveland All-Stars) makes much more sense when you realize he's Canadian. It seemed like half the checking lines in the NHL in the 70s were filled with Reggies.

33. Crispix Attacks 2: Swag Airlines Posted: February 25, 2013 at 10:33 AM (#4375554)

Re-posted from December:

All Canadian-born players who've played more than 5 MLB games at SS, ranked by most games played at SS:

947 Arthur Irwin (born 1858)
336 Pop Smith (born 1856)
289 Frank O'Rourke (born 1893)
95 Milt Whitehead (born 1862)
45 Dave McKay
35 John Irwin (born 1861)
31 Sam LaRocque (born 1863)
30 Kevin Nicholson
23 Sherry Robertson (born 1919)
21 George Wood (born 1858)
17 Chub Collins (born 1857)
12 Abbie Johnson (born 1871)
9 Pete Orr
7 Danny Klassen

34. KT's Pot Arb Posted: February 25, 2013 at 12:57 PM (#4375644)

Why would any MLB player want to play in this joke of a tournament? It should be restricted to minor leaguers and amateurs.

35. Crispix Attacks 2: Swag Airlines Posted: February 25, 2013 at 01:56 PM (#4375686)

Evidently some of them don't think exactly the same way you do, irrational and inefficient as that might be.

36. What did Billy Ripken have against Elroy Face? Posted: February 25, 2013 at 07:27 PM (#4375955)

I wonder if this will set off a landslide of Canadian players pulling oot.

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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Canadian Russell Martin withdraws from World Baseball Classic

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