Martin wants to stay, and it's got to happen

Russell Martin wants to stay.

Not going to lie here: I was not sure about that. Not all the way. Not until more than an hour after the Pirates’ 3-1 throttling of the Cardinals on Wednesday at PNC Park, after Martin had ample time to scrub off six consecutive days of catching big-league ball, a grind unlike any in sports.

Not until Martin told me this: “I love it here. You can see that. Everyone can see that.”

And this: “I’ll listen. Of course I’ll listen. You’d have to be an idiot not to listen.”

He was referring, of course, to a possible contract extension, an issue that looms so large for the Pirates this fall that it’s seen by many — outside and, yes, inside the organization — as nothing less than a wholesale litmus test for Bob Nutting and the front office.