Veteran right-hander Nick Martinez is accepting the Qualifying Provide from the Reds, in line with a report from Francys Romero. Martinez will stay with Cincinnati for the 2025 season on a one-year, $21.05MM deal.
Martinez, 34, was a considerably shocking recipient of the QO after a powerful inaugural season with the Reds. The suitable-hander joined the membership on a two-year, $26MM assure final winter after each he and the Padres opted out of their simultaneous choices for the 2024 marketing campaign, making him a free agent. The cope with Cincinnati proved to be one thing of a coup for the Reds, as Martinez turned in a superb 3.10 ERA and three.21 FIP over 142 1/3 innings of labor in a season that noticed him break up his time between the beginning rotation and the bullpen.
Whereas the righty posted totally dominant numbers in aid, sporting a 1.86 ERA in 53 1/3 frames out of the bullpen, his 3.84 ERA throughout 16 begins noticed him flash the flexibility to be a high quality rotation piece. A more in-depth have a look at Martinez’s work this season reveals that he struggled badly out of the rotation early within the yr, with a 5.46 ERA by means of the tip of April. He ended the yr on a dominant word after returning to the rotation in early August, nevertheless, with a 2.42 ERA in 63 1/3 innings throughout 11 begins down the stretch. That glorious late-season efficiency might encourage extra confidence in Martinez’s skills as a rotation piece waiting for 2025, though it’s value noting that his strikeout price (22.5% vs 19.1%) and groundball price (42.8% vs 33.7%) have been each higher out of the bullpen than the rotation this yr.
After all, a part of Martinez’s worth since returning to MLB following a four-year sojourn to Japan (the place he posted a 3.02 ERA in 378 1/3 NPB innings) is his means to shift from the rotation to the bullpen based mostly on the wants of his staff. The suitable-hander has labored as a swingman in every of the final three seasons, logging 184 innings throughout 35 begins within the rotation and and 175 innings over 117 aid outings. On the heels of a season that noticed Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, and Andrew Abbott all miss time as a result of harm, it’s straightforward to think about the Reds inserting further worth on Martinez’s flexibility as they try and map out a plan for his or her younger rotation arms. That’s particularly priceless given the presence of prime prospect Rhett Lowder, who seemed dominant in a late-season call-up however is probably not prepared to leap straight right into a wire-to-wire huge league season in 2025.
That mixture of manufacturing and flexibility satisfied the Reds to increase Martinez the QO, regardless that $21.05MM constitutes a increase of greater than $7MM over his 2024 wage. The perimeters reportedly mentioned a multi-year extension within the days main as much as the QO deadline earlier this month, however didn’t in the end come collectively on a deal. Given Martinez’s age, it’s seemingly that his incomes energy on the open market can be tamped down in any multi-year pact. That actuality certainly made accepting the QO a pretty possibility for Martinez, and that’s precisely what MLBTR predicted he would do in our annual High 50 MLB Free Brokers record.
Whereas including Martinez to the membership’s pitching workers for 2025 is bound to enhance the staff, that hefty increase would possibly trigger some problems for the membership’s finances. RosterResource estimates the membership’s present payroll for 2025 to be just below $81MM. Whereas the Reds are dedicated to a payroll “at or above” their 2024 stage, the membership spent simply $100MM on payroll final yr and the addition of Martinez’s $21.05MM wage would push the Reds to $102MM, simply over that mark. Potential non-tender candidates like Santiago Espinal and Jake Fraley might assist the membership save just a few million {dollars} right here and there, nevertheless it appears as if Cincinnati might want to exceed their 2024 payroll by a notable quantity so as to make additional additions this winter.
As for the free agent market general, this winter’s market stays deep in attention-grabbing mid-to-back of the rotation choices even with Martinez off the board. Yusei Kikuchi, Nathan Eovaldi, and Nick Pivetta are among the many mid-rotation arms anticipated to pursue multi-year offers in free company this winter, whereas bounce-back candidates like Walker Buehler and Max Scherzer might present important upside as they appear to re-establish themselves on one-year, high-AAV offers much like Martinez’s.
