Baseball Prospectus has published another article quantifying the effects catchers have on their pitching staffs, and once again, Russell Martin ranks among the top in the game.

The money shot: Martin has added 1.7 wins in catcher defense per year. Overall, this means he’s been between an all-star and an elite level player pretty much every year of his career.

Reportedly, the Yankees offered Martin a 3 year / $20 million extension in the offseason, which would actually be a paycut from the annual salary he will earn in 2012 ($7.5 million). It was definitely a lowball offer and RussMart wisely turned it down.

Already above-average offensively for his position and with the increasing buzz about his defense, Martin is going to get PAID. Three years for $30 million would have been much fairer offer, but because they lowballed him, they now put themselves at a significant risk of losing him in free agency. The Yankees do have a great stable of young catching prospects, but it’s still a big gamble — one they may lose.

It also makes you wonder how the Yankees go about offering contracts. They lowball Martin and yet give contracts to certain players that are so far above their actual production value that you wonder if they’re drunk when they negotiate.