While the winter meetings are generating buzz about big-name players in Orlando, other free-agent signings have been quietly going on across Major League Baseball.
Over Thanksgiving week, lots of minor leaguers signed contracts with new organizations that were not reflected on the official MLB.com transactions wire until several days later. One of those deals was signed by former New York Yankees farmhand Omar Martinez, a 24-year-old catcher who elected free agency in November after over seven years in the organization.
Martinez, who reached Triple-A for the first time this past season after beginning the year in High-A, is headed to an organization with a less crowded catching pipeline at the upper levels of the minors: the Los Angeles Angels.
On Nov. 28, Martinez signed a minor-league deal with the Angels, according to the transactions wire on his official roster page. It took several additional days for the deal to show up on the site, a marker of how much goes on behind the scenes during the offseason that sometimes goes unnoticed.
In 104 games across three levels of competition this year, Martinez slashed .220/.319/.358 with 12 home runs and 55 RBIs. He had an OPS of at least .778 in each of his previous four minor-league campaigns, so there could be more production in the bat as he adjusts to the upper levels of the minors.
Los Angeles has a starting catcher who struggles on defense in Logan O’Hoppe and a veteran backup in Travis d’Arnaud who appears to be declining on both sides of the ball. They projected to have a need in the coming years for some talented minor leaguers who could develop into quality defensive backups, and Martinez could be a solid addition from that perspective.
As for the Yankees, it’s more pressing to decide whether Ben Rice or J.C. Escarra will be the backup catcher this year than it is to worry about losing Martinez.
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