Trade Russell Martin? WHIR

[rjwock07]

I have Russell Martin and am edging closer to trading him for an average position player and a decent SP.
I have Sandoval as a fallback Catcher fill or can pick up Buck, Baker, or Laird from FA.

Should trade Martin or be patient and hang on to him???

5x5 H2H league
basic ten categories
***I am in need of another decent SP after the Chien Ming Wang fiasco!!!

C Russell Martin (LAD - C,3B)
1B Carlos Delgado (NYM - 1B)
2B Dustin Pedroia (Bos - 2B)
3B Mark DeRosa (Cle - 2B,3B,OF)
SS José Reyes (NYM - SS)
CI Pablo Sandoval (SF - C,1B,3B)
MI Rafael Furcal (LAD - SS)
OF Nick Markakis (Bal - OF)
OF Torii Hunter (LAA - OF)
OF Denard Span (Min - OF)
Util Chase Utley (Phi - 2B)
Util Khalil Greene (StL - SS)
BN Todd Helton (Col - 1B)
BN Justin Upton (Ari - OF)

SP Josh Johnson (Fla - SP)
SP Brandon Morrow (Sea - SP,RP)
RP Joakim Soria (KC - RP)
RP Jonathan Broxton (LAD - RP)
P Brad Ziegler (Oak - RP)
P Oliver Pérez (NYM - SP)
P Juan Cruz (KC - RP)
BN Erik Bedard (Sea - SP)
BN Fausto Carmona (Cle - SP)
BN Cliff Lee (Cle - SP)
BN Johnny Cueto (Cin - SP)
DL Chien-Ming Wang (NYY - SP) DL

[oldmanbean]

I would be patient ( I am also an owner of him) but what does your roster look like??

[kidsilk]

I would also be patient. Martin is too good not to pick it up.

please help

viewtopic.php?t=381098

[taw856]

Should you trade Martin? Well, it really depends on what you can get in return. I've never been a fan of deeming anyone on my roster "untouchable" because there's always the possibility someone offers big-time value in trade. Further, I think your instinct to try to improve your starting pitching is correct, because it's clearly the biggest weakness on your team.

All of that being said, Martin is clearly one of the best catchers around, and you'd be better off if you could snag some pitching help a little cheaper. I also wouldn't consider Sandoval a foolproof backup plan at catcher, if only because neither Delgado nor DeRosa are elite at first base and third base for you, so you need the depth there. (If you trade Martin, you'll play Sandoval at C, but you'll be stretched thin.)

My advice? Try some low-end offers first. Helton or Greene for fourth-tier type pitchers who won't solve all your pitching problems but might help a little. And if you really want to go big, you might consider putting up Utley or Pedroia. You'd still have the one you didn't trade to give you good numbers at 2b, and while you'd obviously be much weaker in one of your two utility spots, you'd have more flexibility finding a replacement there and could probably bring in one elite or two very good pitchers for a top 2b like that.

Best of luck!