It is common knowledge that Giants catcher Buster Posey is the best offensive catcher in the game today. It is equally common knowledge that Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis is anything but.

Posey is coming off a stellar season in which he had a triple slash of .311 / .364 / .490 for a very good .854 OPS and will undoubtedly collect a few NL MVP votes. Ellis, on the other hand, is coming off a season with a dismal triple slash of .191 / .323 / .254 for a lackluster .577 OPS.

Even though Ellis was the Dodgers best hitter during their brief postseason, he finished the regular season well below the Mendoza line. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Oh sure, you can use the age-old argument that “it’s all about defense with catchers and if they can hit it’s just gravy,” but the truth of the matter is that in this day and age, a catcher who can’t even hit the Mendoza line doesn’t belong in the major leagues – at least not an everyday catcher.

But there is another everyday catcher out there who finished the 2014 season with an excellent triple slash of .290 / .402 / .430 with an OPS of .832 who, as luck would have it, will be a free agent at the conclusion of the World Series. He is also very familiar to Dodger fans – Russell Martin.

Martin, who turns 32 in February, will be looking for his career contract this off-season, one that will set him and his family up financially for the rest of his life – and he will get it. When you consider that Posey (27) is in the second year of his landmark nine-year/$167 million contract and St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (32) is in the second year of his five-year/$75 million contract, Martin will undoubtedly be seeking a five year deal north of $80 million – and he will get it.

Those who insist that the Dodgers should bring back Ellis (33), who is still arbitration-eligible, as the Dodgers everyday catcher in 2015 because of his “great defense” need to consider this: Ellis made four errors in 809 total chances in 2014 for a fielding percentage of .995. Martin made five errors in 880 total chances for a fielding percentage of .994. However, in addition to hitting almost 100 points higher than Ellis (99 to be exact), Martin threw out 37 would-be base stealers (38%) compared to Ellis’s 16 (25%). And while Martin allowed three passed balls on the season compared to Ellis’s two, Martin also appeared in 15 more games than did Ellis. As such, that “it’s all about defense” thing doesn’t really hold much water – especially when you add in the fact that Martin hit 11 home runs, 20 doubles and had 67 RBIs compared to Ellis’s three home run, nine doubles and 25 RBIs.

Martin threw out more than twice as many base stealers than A.J. Ellis in 2014.
(Photo credit – Carles LeClaire)

Simply put, Martin is a far better option as the Dodgers everyday catcher than Ellis – by a landslide.

All of that said, there are two huge questions regarding the Dodgers going after Russell Martin this off-season: 1) Are the Dodgers willing to give Russell Martin the multi-year/multi-million dollar contract that he will be seeking; and 2) Will Martin be willing to bury the hatchet over his ill feelings towards the Dodgers for letting him go without tendering him a contract in 2011?

There is another consideration which might very well make both of these questions moot. Dodgers newly appointed President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman said during his October 17 introductory press conference that he plans to be “robust” about improving the Dodgers farm system and plans to “get young” by bringing up more homegrown players, as opposed to going out and getting expensive (and aging) free agents.

As it stands right now, the Dodgers have two potentially very good catching prospects down on the farm – 24-year-old Kyle Farmer and 22-year-old Spencer Navin. Farmer split time between Low-A Great Lakes and High-A Rancho Cucamonga hitting a combined .284 in 2014 while Navin spent the entire season at Great Lakes where he hit a rather paltry .234. Needless to say, the Dodgers would most likely get a lot more production out of Martin than they might out of Farmer or Navin, who are both a good two years away from being MLB-ready.

Although Kyle Farmer will probably one day be an MLB catcher, he is still at least two years away.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

While many Dodger fans are embracing Friedman’s philosophy of growing the farm system over acquiring free agents, the catching position may be one area where the Dodgers might be better served by going outside – and there will be no better free agent catcher available this off-season than Russell Martin – bar none.