Blue Jays go all-in with Martin

Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos has followed up a pair of disappointing seasons by handing out the second-largest contract in franchise history. 

Russell Martin's five-year, $82-million deal sends a strong message about the organization's desire to win, and represents the biggest contract of Anthopoulos's tenure as Jays GM. 

Attempting to capitalize before a number of key short-term investments come off the books, the Blue Jays are putting their faith in Martin's ability to play a big role in helping the team return to the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

Mark Buehrle has one year remaining on his deal, while Toronto has club options on R.A. Dickey, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion for 2016. Martin and Jose Reyes are the only players under contract for the 2017 season. 

Toronto has a strong crop of young pitching talent, but is financially invested to compete now. Martin, without question, gives the team a better shot of accomplishing that goal. 

A strong two-year run with the Pittsburgh Pirates helped the soon-to-be 32-year-old cash in big.

Martin led all catchers with 28 defensive runs saved over the last two seasons, and has consistently ranked as one of the top backstops at framing pitches. He's also thrown out would-be base stealers at a well above average rate of 39 percent since 2013.

The Canadian catcher supplants switch-hitter Dioner Navarro - Anthopoulos's only notable free-agent singing from a year ago - who now becomes a trade asset or $5-million backup behind the plate.

As strong as Martin's defensive work is, however, he wouldn't have secured a deal of this magnitude without the offensive effort he had in 2014. 

Martin's value is largely tied to his glove, which could end up being underrated given the difficulties in capturing a catcher's true defensive worth. 

But as significant as Martin's signing is, the contract does come with risk.

Martin's track record suggests he'll be hard-pressed to match his 2014 production, even by moving to a hitter-friendly park in Rogers Centre. He set career highs in on-base percentage and wRC+ while hitting above .250 for the first time since 2008.

Martin, a three-time All-Star, has logged more innings than all but two catchers since the start of the 2011 season, and is now tasked with playing his home games on Toronto's inhospitable AstroTurf. 

The Blue Jays' payroll will be approaching last season's franchise-record $137 million once arbitration raises are factored in. And although Martin represents a clear upgrade over Navarro, it's fair to question whether the Blue Jays would've been better off spreading out their resources, with holes still to fill at second base, left field and in the bullpen. They aren't as strong offensively as a year ago, either, without Adam Lind, Melky Cabrera and Colby Rasmus. 

But perhaps this move signals that money will be made available to sign additional bodies in another aggressive pursuit to change the franchise's losing ways. 

The latter years of Martin's deal could prove costly with his contract backloaded at salaries of $20 million in each of his last three seasons.  But he should help the Blue Jays achieve their short-term goal of trying to contend now, while giving the team a top catcher at a notoriously tough position to fill.