Trouble and bad luck keep finding Russell Martin on the baseball field.
Once the gem of this group of budding Dodger prospects, Martin was close to becoming the face of the Dodgers.
Then 2009.
Martin hit just .250 with seven home runs and 53 runs driven in last season, both career lows. He stole just 11 bases, his lowest since his rookie year, in which he didn't play the full season in the bigs. His slugging, on-base and OPS were all the lowest they have ever been. He slugged just .352. There were players (well, at least Joe Mauer) who had higher averages then Martin slugged. Not good.
So after averaging over 140 games per season for the better part of the last four seasons, the busiest backstop in the game is shelved for a while with a groin injury and might not be ready for Opening Day. This is not good for Mr. Martin, more than anyone.
For one, Martin is a slow starter. He hit only .205 last April, and hit .167 for the first week.
He did the same thing in 2008, hitting just .197 for the first three weeks. So, we can see he is a slow starter, so missing Spring Training, especially when trying to rebound from a sub-par year, is not going to be good.
How bad does this hurt the club?
Not too bad, I submit.
