Martin: Injuries are ‘no excuse’
Russell Martin is stuck in a slump. He is also hurting.
The Blue Jays catcher says he must do better at the plate. But he does not blame his sore left leg for his batting woes, and he insists the problem is not impairing his defence.
Martin is regarded as one of the game’s best catchers. Last year he batted .290 for the Pirates before signing a five-year, $82-million US deal with Toronto. Since the all-star break, he is batting .221. In his past 12 games, he is five-for-425 (.111).
“Doing the best I can,” he said after he singled in four at-bats in the Jays’ 7-4 loss to the Phillies on Wednesday. “It doesn’t feel great, but it doesn’t really affect me behind the plate. I can still receive and throw to the bases and do certain things. The running part is a part of my game; it’s not necessarily a strength of mine. It’s sore but it’s not career-threatening or anything like that, so it’s not an excuse.”
The Jays had an off day Thursday and play the first of three at the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night with left-hander David Price (114, 2.41) facing lefty Hector Santiago (7-6, 2.86).
Martin refused to specify the affected area of his leg. But last season with Pittsburgh, he missed a month with a left hamstring strain. He played regularly the rest of the season, although he was listed as day-to-day late in September with left hamstring tightness. And on Wednesday he admitted that “it’s something I had last year in Pittsburgh too.”
“It’s really not an excuse. I’ve had this nagging injury for a while now, and even this year, I’ve had some hot spells and I’ve had some cold spells, and I’m not really thinking about it. I’m trying to go out there and help the team win that day, try to have good at-bats, and sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t.”
In two games against the Phillies, he hit the ball hard several times, even though he managed only one hit. “I’ve struck some balls well (and) haven’t had the best luck,” he said. “But overall, I definitely think I need to be having better at-bats.”
Martin also played recently with a sore thumb joint after an R.A Dickey knuckleball rattled off his catching thumb.
The Toronto Blue Jays are leading the league in scoring and RBIs, yet owner Rogers Communications Inc. is probably most pleased about the ROI — the return on investment.
Fan interest in the team has surged since general manager Alex Anthopoulos pulled off deals that netted the Jays two five-time all-stars, Detroit Tigers pitcher David Price and Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in the week before the July 31 trade deadline.
Languishing eight games back of the New York Yankees in their division standings, the two squads are now fighting it out for top spot.
3Macs analyst Troy Crandall said it’s difficult to quantify the return on investment coming to Rogers from the team’s recent run.
“You know it’s positive, but putting absolute number on it is very difficult to determine,” he said.
Rogers has numerous revenue streams from the Blue Jays, he noted, including ticket sales, concession stands and merchandise, he said.
And as a so-called vertically integrated media conglomerate, he noted, there are plenty of other opportunities for Rogers to make money off the newly competitive team, whether it’s advertising opportunities on the company’s TV channels, cover photos of the Blue Jays on its magazines or Blue Jays-branded offers for its cable and wireless packages.
“That would just be the smart business thing to do,” he said. “You could get a boost across a lot of their products.”
Jason Diplock, vice-president of ticket sales and service for the Jays, said in an email that ticket sales have quadrupled since the trade deadline. The last four home games have been sellouts, he added.
Rogers does not break out its revenue from the Blue Jays separately in its quarterly reports, instead including it in its media properties.
In the company’s most recent earnings statement — for the quarter ending June 30 — the media division accounted for $582 million of the company’s $3.4 billion in revenue.
Crandall said analysts have long been skeptical of the value of Rogers’ ownership of the Blue Jays, especially during the down years. The team hasn’t made the playoffs since 1993.
Still, Crandall said, there is value to owning a sports team that might not be reflected in the bottom line, such as the cross-platform promotion of Rogers products, advantages in negotiating broadcast rights, the prominence of the company’s brand — and plain old pride.
“How do you put a price on the company name being up on the scoreboard?” he said.
“It does look good and I’m sure it helps. I just can’t tell you how much it helps and I’m not sure they could tell you either.”
The Blue Jays are catching the attention of more than just Toronto.
Loraine Cordery, marketing and insights manager at IPG Mediabrands, said her company’s analysis of TV ratings, tweets, and other social media shows that the Blue Jays are Canada’s team when it comes to baseball.
“It’s not just a phenomenon in Ontario,” she said. “It’s very exciting to see that the whole country is getting behind the success of the Blue Jays.”