Report: Martin, Cervelli added to market of available catchers

The Toronto Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates may be on the verge of moving on from familiar faces behind the plate.

Toronto has discussed dealing Russell Martin while Pittsburgh is open to offers for Francisco Cervelli, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports. Both are apparently drawing interest from several teams.

Martin is in the final year of his contract and is owed $20 million in 2019. With the Blue Jays entering a youth movement and Danny Jansen already showing positive signs in 2018, Martin is possibly expendable. Toronto is willing to pay a significant amount of his remaining salary if a trade is reached, according to Passan.

The four-time All-Star has been a fixture at catcher for the Blue Jays since 2015 and has hit .225/.336/.399 with 66 home runs and 59 doubles in 447 games.

Cervelli, 32, is also a year away from free agency and is poised to earn $11.5 million this coming season. Over his four seasons with the Pirates, he's hit .270/.368/.384 in 416 games. He has only 25 home runs in that time but he gets on base at a consistent clip, much like Martin.

The catcher market is growing competitive with Yasmani Grandal, Wilson Ramos, Jonathan Lucroy available in free agency, among others. Meanwhile, Kurt Suzuki, Brian McCann, and Jeff Mathis have already found new homes.