Russell Martin Out 4-6 Weeks With Groin Strain

The LA Dodgers learned Sunday that Russell Martin, their starting catcher, has a pulled groin muscle and will miss somewhere between a month and six weeks. Of course I learn this merely minutes after completing tonight's draft. This almost certainly means Russell Martin is out for the rest of spring training and instead will attempt to make his start during the first week of the season. Martin is trying to be ready in time for Opening Day, but at this time, that remains highly unlikely.

According to various reports, Martin acted as if nothing was wrong as he walked into the clubhouse Sunday morning. Martin added that the MRI he underwent showed nothing more than a little strain. Hopefully that's all this is, and we will see Martin recover fairly quickly.

Despite the possible severity of this injury the Dodgers have no plans of making a trade for starting catcher, according to Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports. The Dodgers also do not have any interest in the remaining free agent catchers.

Joe Torre said that the Dodgers are likely to replace Martin with internal options. Torre notably expressed faith in the 29-year old rookie A.J. Ellis. He feels very confident with Ellis as the starting catcher, and will have no problem turning over the catching duties to him. Should Ellis have a difficult time adjusting to the major leagues, the 40 year old veteran Brad Ausmus is more than capable of filling in for Martin temporarily. This is Ellis' shot, similar to what Martin did to Dioner Navarro just a few years ago.

Tough break for Martin as he is hoping to rebound from a dreadful 2009 season. This is certainly not the way he had hoped to get things started. Instead he will hope he has still has a starting job once he is fully recovered from his injury.