Dylan Hernandez: Russell Martin's career arc becomes a circle with return to the Dodgers

LOS ANGELES - You're still playing?

Russell Martin looked up.

"You're still here?" he playfully responded. "They haven't fired you yet?"

Martin threw his head back and laughed.

Same smile. Same light spirit. Same old Russell Martin.

Martin is where he imagined he would be in his mid-30s, a veteran leader on the Los Angeles Dodgers opening-day roster.

"It feels great," he said. "It's awesome."

This is where he is supposed to be.

Except that what it means to him today is different than what it did when he was a rising star. A career he pictured as a straight line turned out