Pirates GM on re-signing Russell Martin: 'We are going to try to do everything we can to keep Russ'
The Pirates are flying high after catcher Russell Martin delivered his second game-winning hit in three days to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.
Martin also belted a three-run home run Friday night to turn the tide on a 2-0 Brewers lead which turned into a 4-2 Pirates victory, and delivered an RBI single in the seventh inning two days later to help vault the Bucs into the top wild-card spot in the National League.
General manager Neal Huntington is taking notice of Martin's worth to the team and plans on sitting down to discuss a contract extension with the soon-to-be free agent.
"We are going to try to do everything we can to keep Russ," Huntington told Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "We’d love nothing more than to have (Martin) in a Pirates uniform. (Martin) is a unique circumstance where we got beat up for signing him and if he does (leave), we are going to get highly criticized."
The 31-year-old backstop is making $8.5 million this season and will hit the open market at season's end. Martin is enjoying one of his finest offensive campaigns, hitting .297 with 11 homers and 67 RBIs through 106 games.