The Pirates offered Russell Martin a four-year deal, Travis Sawchik reports.
According to two sources, the Pirates offered Martin a four-year deal to remain in Pittsburgh. The length likely exceeded the Pirates' comfort level for a catcher who will play next season at the age of 32. The dollar terms were not revealed, but the Tribune-Review was told the Pirates went “deep into the process” and made a “very strong” offer to retain Martin.
That sounds about right -- if the Pirates got to the point where they offered a fourth year, they were probably competitive with the other bidders until Toronto offered a fifth.
Speaking of which, Martin's deal with the Jays is official, and it's a heavily backloaded contract -- Martin will get $7 million next year, $15 million the following season and then $20 million each year from 2017 through 2019. You can expect the Jays to try to make more big moves this offseason.