THURSDAY, 7:45am: Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Martinez remains a free agent, though sources tell MLBTR that there is no concern the deal won’t be completed after the lockout since an agreement is in place between Martinez and the Padres. It’s also worth noting that Martinez is set to earn $7MM in 2022, so he’d be leaving three years and $13MM on the table if he decides to opt out.
WEDNESDAY, 9:21pm: The Padres are signing Nick Martínez to a four-year, $20MM contract, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal includes opt-outs after the first two years. The right-hander has spent the past four seasons pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. His contract with the NPB’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks just expired today, but his representatives worked quickly to find him a big league landing spot before the anticipated transactions freeze. Martinez is represented by Brian Mejia, Ulises Cabrera, and Alan Nero of Octagon.
Martínez is making his return to the majors for the first time since 2017, though he did pitch for Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics this summer. The Florida native was drafted and developed by the Rangers, where current San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller was then a prominent member of the scouting department. Martínez debuted in 2014 and worked as a back-of-the-rotation arm for the next few seasons.
Martinez, 31, posted a stellar 1.62 ERA with a 24.8 K% and 6.6 BB% for the Hawks this year in 149 2/3 innings. According to Sung Min Kim, Martinez’s fastball velocity increased to nearly 94 miles per hour this year, and his changeup has become more effective. Several American pitchers have revived their careers in NPB or KBO in recent years and returned to MLB on big league deals, including Chris Flexen, Josh Lindblom, Merrill Kelly, and Miles Mikolas. Martinez’s contract tops all of them, as Mikolas had inked a two-year, $15.5MM deal with the Cardinals four years ago. Plus, Martinez maintains the ability to re-enter free agency if he’s able to have success in 2022 or ’23.
Martinez’s $5MM AAV is key for the Padres, one of only two teams to exceed the $210MM luxury tax threshold in 2021. The club is currently in a similar place for 2022, though we don’t know how much success the players’ union will have in increasing the base tax threshold.
Martinez joins a Padres rotation that currently includes Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, and Mike Clevinger. Chris Paddack, Dinelson Lamet, and Ryan Weathers also figure to be in the mix. Though that’s significant depth, but it’s plausible that Preller might look to trade someone as a means of clearing payroll. The Padres already sent Adam Frazier to the Mariners to clear an estimated $7MM or so.
Aside from the Frazier trade, the Padres added to their stock of catchers by acquiring Jorge Alfaro from the Marlins. They also signed a pair of relievers today in Luis Garcia and Robert Suarez, with the latter having played against Martinez in NPB this year. There’s a sense that the Padres have plenty of additional offseason moves to make, but like the other 29 teams everything will go on pause until the lockout ends.
terrible
he was pitching well overseas. if he figured something out over there this could be a diamond in the ruff
And if he is good then he can opt out after year 1 or 2. So there’s no upside. Makes no sense.
if he’s good enough to want to opt out then you’ve gotten pretty good value out of said contract.
@DarkSide830 But you would get better value out of said contract if he couldn’t opt out.
Apparently the deal was not finalized in time. Also, the Verlander signing paperwork was not timely submitted. Both are technically still free agents. Not sure if this will matter but it reminds me of Carlton Fisk from years ago. The article needs to be updated.
@observer
But he likely wouldn’t have signed without the opt outs.
That just makes this a heavily insured deal for Nick Martinez. If he’s good then he’s gone.
The only way he stays is if he’s a disappointment.
Yeah, that’s the tradeoff. He’s not going to sign at that AAV without the opt out. He’s betting on himself.
@stymeedone But that’s not what the people who say opt-outs benefit teams are referring to.
It’s better to have a bird in hand than two in the bush. Why people on here can’t understand that opt outs are good for teams I’ll never understand. Every single player in mlb is easily replaceable that’s not debatable. So it’s better to have a player for one season and he performs well and opts out than be stuck with a crappy muti year contract that’s unmovable.
Like your name, add in 8 innings also
Why
So many questions
Who?!?
Pitcher who emerged as one of the best pitchers in the Japanese league last year. 1.62 ERA in just under 150 innings.
That is like saying emerged in AAA. Not impressed. I would have been impressed by signing Stroman. With all the holes in the Padres rotation, signing a maybe like Martinez is not going to move the needle.
You would have complained about Preller spending money and trying to win the off season if he signed Stroman or any big named player to a huge contract.
Its a 4 year deal with an AAV for 5 mill. People need to stop whining and pouting. Once the new CBA is in place we will see teams fill out rosters before the season begins.
I’m trying to see where the holes are in the Padres rotation. They have one of the best, if not the best, rotations in MLB. As stated in the article, they have Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, and Mike Clevinger (not to mention Lamet). All reports say Snell and Clevinger should be healthy for Spring Training. Most teams would kill for that foursome and any four of those could be an ace (or #2) on another team.
If you expect Clevinger to come back and be an Ace or a #2, you might be VERY disappointed. That said, the hole(s) is depth. Can you rely on those guys to throw a full season?
dont remember the dude from Texas?
Not until i clicked his bio. Terrible numbers. Oof. 4 years? These guys that come back from Asian baseball are good for like 1.5 seasons
Even so, 2 years of “good” pitching is worth well in excess of $20M. If he’s good for two years, he’ll opt out anyways so you’re only on the hook for $10M.
Wow just stupid
They have very little space between them and the threshold and they still have several needs.
Taking a chance on a low-cost starter coming off a strong season in NPB after some adjustments makes plenty of sense. This is similar to what the Mariners did last offseason when they signed Chris Flexen after a successful season in the KBO.
For the price, I’d rather see them take a chance on a guy with potential upside rather than settle for a washed up veteran in decline like Arrieta or Jordan Lyles
LGM
Ah yes, the guy from Fu-cokka…..
Gross overpay
He was horrible in Texas.
Horrible’s a bit of a stretch. In his first two years, he was a serviceable replacement starter. The bottom fell out after that.
I always liked Martinez’s demeanor. He was a bulldog. He just never had the stuff back then to be more than an overachieving No. 6 starter.
I’m actually interested to see if the success he had last year in Japan will translate because his H/9 and K/9 numbers would make it appear as though he added a pitch or made dramatic improvement in some area.
5.27 ERA is horrible.
He got demoted to a lower level league. Going to Japan is a demotion.
His first two years, he posted a combined 4.27 ERA (96 ERA+) over 45 starts and 265.1 innings. That’s not horrible. If he returned that level, he’d be worth what the Padres are paying him in this contract.
And of course Japan is a demotion from the major leagues. But it’s a higher level of competition than Triple-A. And there have been enough journeymen who have have gone over there and resurrected their careers at this point that we shouldn’t dismiss that level of success in the NPB.
Kudos to you for extrapolating below average numbers from a horrible stat line. Will you do my taxes?
Those first two seasons were the two largest samples in a major league career that, to date, has spanned about three seasons worth of innings.
He was bad his last two seasons in Texas, which is why he hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2017. But to describe his entire major league tenure as horrible would be inaccurate. In his first two seasons, he was a serviceable (if limited) starter for a team that desperately needed his innings.
what a steal
said no one
Because Preller loves his ex- Rangers
Might be the biggest overspend of the off-season (mostly joking).
Biggest over spend since Pomeranz
or Jurrickson Profar
Not surprisingly, he was a Rangers farmhand in the early half of the 2010s decade
4 yrs? Dang Chang.
That’s the part that raises many eyebrows. You get that he was a Preller guy in Texas and whatnot. But signing for 4 years coming out of Japan is risky (you’re REALLY assuming the success will translate).
I thought that said Markakis for a sec and was very confused
I think Preller stopped scouting 10 years ago and just goes back to his old notes from his Rangers days.
For all of those trashing this move, go look at Colby Lewis and Miles Mikolas before and after similar runs in Japan.
Japan is a hell of a place for wayward starters to recreate themselves and resurrect their careers.
You name those because they are the successful ones. There have been many more flameouts
There have also been many more successful ones than those mentioned.
If you can dominate Japanese hitters, as Martinez did last year, you can succeed in the major leagues.
It’s the scouts’ job to determine whether or not the stuff will play, but it would certainly appear that Nick Martinez figured something out between 2020 and 2021, just as Lewis and Mikolas did during their time in Japan.
Both returned to the states completely different pitchers than they were when they left.
I agree that the Japanese league is like Triple A or possibly even better, but that doesn’t mean you’ll succeed once you come back to MLB from there.
There are no guarantees, obviously. But there are quite a few examples you can point to now of pitchers who resurrected their careers in Japan.
The NPB is a great place for throwers to learn how to pitch.
And you’re outside of the fishbowl environment of the affiliated system, so you can experiment and work on things that you often can’t as a 30-year-old in Triple-A — assuming you haven’t already been cut by that point.
LMAO. You can count on your fingers the number of NPB pitchers that have succeeded in the majors.
Just since 2010, I can think of Colby Lewis, Miles Mikolas, Chris Martin, Merrill Kelly, Chris Flexen and Joely Rodriguez as guys who went to Japan or South Korea as scrubs and returned as productive major league pitchers.
And there are probably more I’m not thinking of.
Fight the good fight Daniel
Solid posts all around
Lewis returned and put up a 5.18 ERA his first season. Mikolas has a 4+ ERA since returning. Martin had a 4.54 ERA the first season back. Kelly had a 4.42 ERA his first year back. NONE of them other than Mikolas and Flexen were productive their first year back and NONE of them were 35 years old either.
As I said, you can count them on your fingers.
Your comment is rejected for rampant cherrypicking. Try again
People whine and complain because they’re miserable. Preller signs a couple low cost additions to the pitching staff fans whine, moan, and pout. Preller spends money on someone like Stroman they whine, moan, and pout.
I like this move as a Rockies fan. Wish the Rockies would look at adding some pitchers from over seas. God knows we need pitching. If it works out its great. If it doesnt it was a low AAV, 5 mill, acquisition that can be hopefully salvaged as a long relief, spot starter, long relief etc player. Its not like its starter or bust for a pitcher.
So is SF apparently.
WHAT? 4 YEARS?
That part’s definitely surprising, but he had a 1.62 ERA over almost 150 innings in Japan last year.
If he can follow the Colby Lewis, Miles Mikolas track, he’ll be a steal at that price.
Looking at the peripherals, it would definitely appear he figured something out between 2020 and 2021. Hits were way down and strikeouts were way up.
No he can opt-out after years 1 and 2 (and realistically will if he is producing at a level where his contract would be considered a “steal”)
Better than Hosmer for 4 more years lol
Holy mother of bold. I like the cut of Preller’s gib.
If you’ve EVER been in the Rangers organization, you have a job waiting for you with the Padres. Preller is an absolute JOKE
I had season tickets to the Rangers one year. Does that count?
What were his numbers overseas? Article doesn’t state ?
likely will be updated later
Last season was his only elite campaign in three, but he posted a 1.62 ERA over 149.2 innings, allowing 6.9 hits/9, 0.4 HR/9 and 2.3 walks.9 with 8.8 strikeouts/9.
Wow, Preller signs a former Ranger prospect? I’m shocked.
Why are the Padres giving everyone opt outs? Profar last year, Suarez, now Martinez.
I 100% understand the opt-out language in a big contract like Manny Machado’s deal. It’s a $300M contract, if he wants to opt out and leave $150M on the table then that frees up a ton of payroll. And if he’s at a place he can do that, then you’ve clearly gotten value out of him in the first 5 years.
On these smaller deals it seems like SD is limiting upside by doing player options after year 1. The end result is they’re either stuck with an underwater contract (Profar) or if the player actually performs then they will lose them.
ite enticing from a player’s perspective and if the opt out was triggered, you know you probably got decent value out of the years you already had that player for.
@DarkSide830 But you would get even better value out of the contract if you didn’t give the player an opt-out.
@observer
They don’t just give the player the opt out. Its negotiated by the player and agent. Without it, there is likely no contract, and no value at all.
The team is taking on so much risk doing that though. If good, 1 year…if bad 4 years of bad. It REALLY doesn’t make sense in this case
Opt-outs are never good from the team’s POV. Even (or perhaps especially) on the big contracts. They limit the upside because if the player uses the opt-out then that means you have to replace an All Star which is going to cost you more money than you save by him opting out.
4 yr deal????
Usually those guys get 1-3 yrs.
20M over 4 years for a SP isn’t that expensive with the price of pitching lately. If he’s good he probably opts out after year 1 and if not only stuck with 3/15 hardly breaking the bank.
Preller is crashing the Padre jet.
Here, I fixed it for you.
Preller CRASHED the Padres jet.
The Cardinals were zeroing in on Martinez so this is a bit of a surprise. Wonder who is dropped from 40 man roster…Wilson or Norwood?
Cardinals wouldn’t of been dumb enough to offer 2 opt outs. There is little upside for Padres. If he stinks they are on the hook for 20 million for a guy that will hit the waivers or burn a roster spot.
Classic padres overpay
Definitely definitely don’t like the opt-outs after years 1 and 2.
One good season, heres 20 mill lol hopefully it works out for all parties
420.
I was NOT expecting Four years, that said a $5 AAV is not bad for a potential #3 starter.
Stroman at 3 years $71 mil is what a a # 2 -3 starter costs apparently. Martinez is a #5 or insurance if either Paddack, Clevenger, or Morejon ( when he returns) don’t work out. But $5 mil ain’t much still.
If he’s a number 3 starter, he’s gone after 1 year.
And will have helped the Padres thru 2022 while they see how the pitching staff recovers from all their injuries. If everyone was healthy, and stayed healthy, they wouldn’t need another starter.
Martinez had a 5.27 ERA in the majors then after 4 seasons he was demoted to Japan, the equivalent of AAA baseball. Its not a surprise that he did well there. He is not a #3 starter. Maybe a #5.
Martinez’s major league ERA is 4.77. Not great by any stretch, but half a run lower than the number you keep repeating on this thread.
Thanks DY, facts are appreciated
Another former Ranger player. Next up is Juan Gonzalez to play LF. Padres 2022 season is over before 2022 begins. Sorry Padres fans.
You’re probably one of those dudes who also say “winning the off-season doesn’t win anything”
So this comment is ironic
If he were to say that winning the offseason doesn’t win anything he would be correct in that instance.
Well he also sounds ridiculous saying the Padres 2022 season is already over based on this deal, or the last few deals over this past week.
Honestly its just stupid. The Padres still have a solid team without making any deals
I have to believe the Alfaro signing begets additional moves. No way the team breaks camp with 3 MLB Cs and Campusano in the wings
If you are gonna go there just go with Canseco… if they would let him he would sign a contract right now.
According to Kevin Acee, since the deal was not finalized before the lockout, Nick Ramirez remains a free agent.
Can’t say I’m upset considering the contract gave Martinez the ability to walk away from it if it wasn’t going his way after years 1 and 2 but didn’t grant the same protection to the Padres.
Fans reading headline: who? Never heard of him
Read article: oh terrible move!! What idiots!!!!
haha the Padres
The Dodgers were aced out at the freeze. Mercy. What will they do?
Since the deal apparently didn’t get done in time before the lockout, does Nick Martinez wait until the lockout ends to sign a new deal with the Pads? or does he just resign in Japan for one more year.
It takes a certain amount of time (I’ve heard 48 hours) to finish a deal, once the agreement has been made. No idea if an agreement has been reached, but I also have no doubt if both sides succeeded right before the bell, they could shake hands on a point paper outlining the contract, and both sides would honor it. That’s what Preller and Stammen did last year. He said when he finally signed near the end of winter, that a deal had been negotiated and agreed upon around Thanksgiving, but Preller had do some juggling with other trades and $$ before it was official. There was no doubt on either side that the deal was done. This could certainly be the case here, as well. That fact that money and years were announced tells me that it’s as good as done, that the Dodgers or Cards aren’t going to pry Martinez away after the CBA is finalized and MLB reopens for business, but of course, I could be wrong.
The Padres have plenty of high upside, high risk starting pitchers. They needed a guy to just throw innings, and he threw almost 150 last year injury free.
Let me repeat that last part: INJURY FREE
There are no guarantees in baseball, but this guy seems like a good risk for $20M. Preller’s trying to fill to a roster of $140M and $300M+ superstars with adequate pitching. This is a textbook move to fill out the back of the rotation.
For all those denigrating Preller, how long do you think he would be unemployed if the Padres had fired him last fall? If you said longer than a week, then you’re an idiot, willful or otherwise (i.e. just a Preller or Padre hater). One could mention the coup of hiring Melvin out from under the A’s contract, and they’d just say “yeah, yeah, but the idiot hired no-names Green and Tingler …. “. No matter what you offer in balance, they’ve got 25 other “reasons” why Preller stinks, hell, they are regular baseball guru’s.
Baseball ain’t a 100% reward or 100% risk sport. Some stuff works. Some stuff fails. Hosmer was a major fail. Myer …. a push, but nowhere near as big a loss as Hosmer. I hated the Pomz signing and $$ from the moment it was announced, and yeah, I guess I’ve been proved right on that. However, it doesn’t mean that Pomeranz wasn’t worth the signing at the time. If anything, Preller anticipated the problems teams would have with post-pandemic-year pitching due to so few innings pitched in 2020, and tried to get ahead of it. EVERY analyst said that both the Padres bullpen and rotation were stacked, in spring 2021, and Preller hired a highly acclaimed pitching coach to boot (a move which I also hated; thought Balsley should have stayed). That stuff didn’t work out (but just might yet, if Snell and Clevinger come around).
I like the moves Preller has made thus far. I don’t expect any moves on high cost starters, because they’re already on the staff. If anything, it’ll be interesting if Preller can find a deal that works to move Hosmer, without selling off the farm. I could see packaging a starting pitcher (Paddack, etc.), maybe Kim, a second tier prospect, and Hosmer in some sort of trade to dump $$$, free up roster spots, and give Preller some $working room$ to balance out the roster with a corner OF and additional pitching (particularly young guys who can hold their own on a MLB roster, but who have options). There’s no way Preller want’s to start opening day without $20M to $40M in payroll flexibility, and roster space, to be able to take advantage of opportunities throughout the year. Starting the year at the max salary threshold, it just ain’t gonna happen, mark my words on that.
Someone would have hired Preller as a scout if the Padres let him go for sure. But never as or AGM.
Maybe the Mes
This, good insight
Dude no one bats a thousand but good management needs to hit on 50% of their decisions and he’s not close. Yes WHEN he’s let go and this year without a substantial turnaround will probably tell the tale someone will hire him but where he belongs as a SCOUT
Preller is nuts.
Explain why?
This is a depth move and it’s not the worst attempt to get a serviceable back of the rotation arm cheap. Can also be a long man then move into a starters role when one goes down.
Ok now for something no one considered that commented- I read everyone’s comments first- this will be the first guy in 2022 that gets busted for using illegal grip substances.
Second thought – this opens a spot for Bauer in Japan…..
The Padres could still use two more decent SP options with all their injured pitchers on the roster.. At least two more. I hope it happens.
Musgrove, Darvish, Snell, Paddack and Martinez should all be at full health to start the season. Clevenger is on schedule to return as well but after 2d TJ we’ll see. Morejon returns mid summer. Weathers is in the mix but I hope he starts at AAA to regain his confidence. Gore the same. Lamet was retained on 40 man roster but figures to be a RP if he works out at all. I can see the addition of another #4-5 type SP but 2 more at this point seems overkill given the number of guys in the mix by mid summer.
Didn’t Darvish and Snell miss time due to injury in 2021? Paddack isn’t that good any more. and who knows about Clevinger at this point in his recovery. Need two more SP’s at least
Nice. Very excited to see what Garcia, Suarez, and Martinez bring to the club. Very excited to see what the new pitching coach does with them.
Goosebumps
I remember in 2015 he started off 4-0 with an ERA under 2.0 in first 9 starts. Then JPL 3 years later.
I imagine there was some familiarity for Preller with Martinez from they’re Texas day but I’m not really sure this does anything for the Padres. At best maybe Martinez is another Merrill Kelly; a serviceable back of the rotation piece. If not could be another Lindblom who has done absolutely nothing for Milwaukee
Jesus, Preller is so bad. How long iis Uncle Peter going to tolerate this. Another contract with literally no upside for the team. If the guy is good he opts out and goes elsewhere. If he sucks you’re stuck with him for four years. Basically the “Jurickson Profar Special”
QUIT TURNING THE PADRES INTO THE TEXAS RANGERS!
Prediction for his 2022 season
11-7 3.01 era