Yanks New Martin: I Wasn’t Focused The Last Two Years
Oh, great, so, he’s the A.J. Burnett of backstops…
Via the Canadian Press:
The two-time all-star catcher from Chelsea, Que., attending Baseball Canada’s annual awards banquet Saturday, attributed his consecutive off-years with the Los Angeles Dodgers to poor preparation.
That’s all changed now, and he says “this year I’m looking to be better” than ever.
“Probably some frustrations, probably not training as hard as I should have in some ways,” Martin said in explaining his 2009 and ’10 seasons. “That’s always been my strength, is training my butt off, doing all those things in the best way possible. And I think I had some distractions that maybe led me not to have that same drive that I’ve had in the past. Really, that’s all it is, I trained hard, but before nobody trained as hard as I did.
“This year I feel like I’m back. Just mentally, I feel better.”
Asked about the distractions, he said, “there are some things that you keep for yourself, and those distractions are personal.”
Wonderful.
I think there is a real chance that when the smoke clears from all this Posada will wind up catching more games than any other Yankee.
Joseph Maloney wrote:
That statement alone would pain me more than whomever starters #3, 4 & 5 are come April.
Joseph Maloney wrote:
I doubt that. Part of the Yankees offseason plan was to upgrade defensively behind the plate to counteract the speed of the Rays and the Red Sox and to move Posada to the DH role. The signing of Martin accomplished both of those goals so I doubt they would do an about-face unless Martin was a complete bust both offensively and defensively.
This year is Jorge’s swan song, given to him to get the deal done on this contract. It allows him to retire on a limited role while saving some face. If someone not Martin is catching a lot of games, it will more likely be Montero than Posada.
For Mr. Martin & his distractions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FFrCZNNCeU