Martin looks for enduring quality

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Hoping to avoid wearing down the way he did last season, Russell Martin said he has started counting calories and mapped out a better in-season workout program.

But the task of preserving the workhorse catcher will largely be the responsibility of Joe Torre, something the new manager acknowledged Saturday would be a test for him.

“I’m going to have to have the self-control not to play him in as many games,” Torre said. “There’s such a void when he’s not in the lineup.”

Martin, who turned 25 Friday, played in 152 games last season, in part because the disappointing production of Nomar Garciaparra and the since-departed Luis Gonzalez made it difficult for then-manager Grady Little to take his bat out of the lineup. Martin was hitting .306 at the All-Star break, but batted only .275 the rest of the way.

“I didn’t feel as good as I did earlier in the season,” he said.

Torre said it would be harder managing Martin than it was Jorge Posada with the New York Yankees because there isn’t a designated hitter in the National League.

“You really have to lay a plan out,” Torre said. “We won’t make any decisions until we talk. But you have to look long-term when you’re dealing with someone with this kind of ability and potential.”

Martin said he reduced his body fat from almost 10% to 9% by working out this winter at the Athletes’ Performance Institute in Tempe, Ariz. He also said he was following eating tips he learned at API, to which he was referred by his agent, Bob Garber.

Torre’s clubhouse rules are “softer” than they were in New York, joked reliever Scott Proctor, who played for Torre with the Yankees. Facial hair will be permitted, so long as it is “neatly trimmed,” Proctor reported.

Nothing was said of long hair, which was banned on the Yankees. Such a rule would most affect left-hander Joe Beimel, whose hair almost reaches his shoulders.

“He said something about my hair but didn’t tell me what to do,” Beimel said. “I’m just waiting for the official word.”

Beimel said he preferred not to cut his hair because the last time it was short, in 2004, he had a tough season, getting cut by the Pittsburgh Pirates in spring training and spending most of the year with the Minnesota Twins’ triple-A affiliate in Rochester, N.Y. He pitched in three big league games, giving up eight runs in 1 2/3 innings.

Jason Schmidt, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, threw his first side session and will be on a more conservative throwing program than the other pitchers. While most will throw every other day, Torre said, Schmidt will get two days of rest and won’t throw again until Monday.

Outfielder Nook Logan, identified in the Mitchell Report as a player who purchased human growth hormone from former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers that doesn’t include an invitation to big league camp. Logan, who broke into the majors in 2004, spent the last two seasons with the Washington Nationals.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com