Russell Martin has a tight hamstring. Should he be rested?

Catcher Russell Martin has could be seen as one of the Pittsburgh Pirates most valuable players this season, next to last year’s National League MVP Andrew McCutchen, of course.

He may have tweaked a tightened hamstring while attempting to beat a pick off at first base in Wednesday’s game which does not bode well for the Pirates. They still are unsure as to whether rest Martin for a few games or not.

Seriously though the loss of the teams’ catcher could be quite a blow to the Pirates who clinched a N.L. Wild Card spot on Tuesday yet lost in Atlanta on Wednesday, the game in which Martin was forced to leave due to hamstring tightness.

Not to mention the importance of a team with a good catcher who can call the game, act quickly defensively AND hit the ball. Martin is a commodity not many teams find. They need to keep him healthy

Russell told the Pittsburgh Tribune’s Travis Sawchik that he had not tweaked the hamstring. Sawchik kept up with Martin’s injury via Twitter both during and after the game.

With the playoff spot locked up, should the Pirates give Martin a few days off? If the hamstring tightness were to become a strain, even just a grade one strain can keep a player out for a long enough period that he would likely miss some or all of the playoffs, should the Pirates lose in the Wild Card round.

At the same time the Pirates do need to pad their Wild Card lead over the San Francisco Giants who are a game back from the Pirates but solidly holding onto the second Wild Card spot by four games over the Milwaukee Brewers. If the Pirates want home field advantage for the one-game Wild Card playoff they need to keep winning going into the final series of the regular season.

So whether or not to rest Martin is a good question. Resting him seems to make the most sense. In a one-game playoff just about anything can go right or wrong no matter what ballpark you are playing in.

Not resting Martin, who’s slash line is .295/.406/.437, would be detrimental for the team in order to simply make sure to hang on to homefield advantage. Martin also has 11 home runs and 67 RBI on the year.

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If you need proof that homefield advantage doesn’t mean as much as you might think, you can look to the 2012 and 2013 Oakland Athletics (you could look back further in this century alone when it comes to the A’s losing with homefield advantage and you would find it happened quite often).

The A’s had homefield advantage both years only to lose both game fives being shutout by Justin Verlander in Oakland, where they have arguably the loudest and craziest fans in the league who are capable of making an insane amount of noise.

Sure a team knows their own ballpark better than any other and the their opponent is at a disadvantage. However, if it comes down to having one of your key players in the lineup or not, simply to help determine homefield advantage? Or having him in the playoffs?

The simple answer is that the Pirates need Russell Martin healthy in the playoffs. Rest him now, allow him to do damage in the postseason. The choice isn’t a hard one. As Nike slogan goes, “Just Do It.”