Right-hander Nick Martinez has exercised an opt-out clause in his contract with the Padres and is now a free agent, reports Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune (Twitter link). Martinez originally signed a four-year, $25.5MM contract on the heels of a breakout in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. That contract paid him a $2MM signing bonus and $4MM salary in 2022, and he’ll also receive a $1.5MM buyout on what’s technically a 2023 player option.
In essence, Martinez is opting out of a remaining three years and $18MM, although Robert Murray of FanSided tweets that he and the Padres have been discussing a restructured deal in recent days, so it’s possible a reunion could come together before long.
This morning, Dennis Lin of the Athletic reported that one idea under consideration in those negotiations would’ve been to remove future opt-out possibilities from Martinez’s deal. The four-year guarantee he signed upon coming over from NPB afforded him opt-out chances after each season, giving the former Ranger hurler plenty of long-term contractual leverage. Now that he’s triggered the first of those clauses, he’d have to renegotiate an entirely new deal — presumably one that pays him more than the $18MM he bypassed this evening.
San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller acknowledged to Lin that Martinez would prefer to work as a starting pitcher. He started 10 games this year but otherwise came out of the bullpen 37 times. He fared better in relief and Lin writes that some within the organization believe he’s better suited for such a role, but giving Martinez at least the opportunity to crack the rotation could aid San Diego’s efforts to keep him around for the next few seasons. The Friars have Joe Musgrove under contract for five years, but Blake Snell and Yu Darvish are headed into the final seasons of their respective deals. Meanwhile, Sean Manaea and Mike Clevinger are now free agents.
Now that he’s officially a free agent, Martinez and his reps at Octagon can field offers from a number of teams. Others could more definitively promise him a rotation opportunity. Martinez posted a 4.30 ERA with a 20.4% strikeout rate and an elevated 11.7% walk percentage through his ten starts. He had an excellent 2.67 ERA in 54 innings out of the bullpen, although his improved performance in shorter stints wasn’t tied to any kind of huge uptick in his raw stuff. Rather, Martinez was a much better strike-thrower in those situations, only walking 6.4% of opponents.
Martinez joins a deep class of starters capable of stepping into the middle or back of a rotation. Others in a similar tier include his now former teammate Clevinger, Michael Wacha, Ross Stripling and Jose Quintana.
Oof!
For a team that plays a lot after dark, it’s Nick at night!
Wouldn’t this mean he out performed his last years contract and that’s a good thing? Isn’t it RYAN?
Have the Mets traded Wil Myers for Noah Syndergaard yet? Have they traded for JT Realmuto and “just extended”him yet?
God I love the new notification system. Now you and others like you can’t just go into hiding when you get called on your debilitating bad takes.
I’m not sure what the issue is between you two. But Nick Martinez opting out is definitely not a good thing for the Padres.
Proofreading your comments is always an option.
Yes he had a good season but the contract could have been a bad one had he not performed well and were on the hook for the rest.
Point is he outplayed his contract and that’s good
The POINT, Einstein, is that it would be BETTER if Martinez couldn’t opt out. Or simply chose not to. Because then the Padres would have him signed for below market value. But because he opted out now they are going to have to pay even more money to replace him. Opt-outs eliminate almost all the upside in the contract while eliminating none of the downside.
You should change your name to “Bad Takes R Us.”
At least I’ll only have one screen name clown.
You should start ANOTHER account called
“No one likes Ryan or respects what he says”
I do t think anyone disagrees that opt outs are bad for the club and good for the player EINSTEIN. Man maybe they could hire you to negotiate contracts?? What a luxury that would be GEEK!
Surprised you haven’t replied yet..you must be still asleep after staying up all night playing fort night
Fortnite? What are you, five?
And you and Pads Fans aka outinleftfield aka BaseballIsLife think opt-outs are good for teams even though every player who has ever had one except AJ Burnett and Nolan Arenado did the exact opposite of what their teams wanted them to do with it. But given the quality of the rest of your and his takes that doesn’t mean much.
You’re 45 and thanks for correcting my spelling. You
Must really know a lot about it.
Feel free to proof read my comment about opt outs being bad for teams.
Since your memory is awkwardly good, I am surprised you didnt repeat your accusation I had multiple accounts as well.
And how come you never admit to being WCR and Red Rooster and who knows who else? Why won’t you admit instead of being the pot calling the kettle black?
Angry type away
Go Pads
Why won’t you address your “Myers for Syndergaard” trade proposals, your “trade for JT Realmuto and just extend him” suggestion, your “Mets will trade Syndergaard and trade for Kluber” claim, your defense of the Eric Hosmer signing and your “Padres can’t sign good players without trading for them first” claim? Manny Machado was already on a Hall of Fame trajectory and the Padres got him. Without him having any preexisting ties to the city of San Diego or the Padres organization at all.
NOW go Pads
More to the point, the Padres just re-signed Martinez for even more money. So clearly the opt-out was not a good thing for them.
Oh well. Next. Senga, come on down.
Okay forget Suarez to Philly. Sign Martinez DD!
I think Suarez could be more important, relative to their expected salaries. Martinez is a legit pitcher, but his SP/RP split is 4.30/2.67. And his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd time thru the lineup is .758/.805/.979. And his pitch count from 1-50 is quite good, but 51-100 is maybe .850.
It could be a function of his usage, and I’d certainly inquire, but I wouldn’t go overboard.
Padres just gave Suarez your money Martinez
I honestly was not expecting this. I’ve been curious for awhile though whether Martinez would try his luck in the open market to try and get an SP role somewhere. He would definitely get an offer even if he was better as a RP. He served in basically every role possible as a pitcher this year and that turned out to be extremely valuable.
HADER is a FA after 2023 and as much as I love him ..we aren’t going Edwin Diaz + on him.. Suarez resigning gives us an awesome 8th/9th situation for 23..and a Closer in hand for 2024.. Great now and 2024 roster management by AJP
I don’t think Hader will come close to Diaz money, let alone Diaz +.
With a sub 3 era in 2023, Hader will get at least Chapman/Jansen money
You can decide if that is “close enough” to Diaz to warrant comparison, but let’s be honest, Hader will be paid on potential. As long as he flashes the ability to remain elite, someone will pay for a lefty of his talent
Ugh..AJ needs to get a restructured deal done with him STAT. He was excellent last year in the swing man role, and looks like a solid 3-4 behind Darvish and Musgrove..
Suarez signed…now on to Martinez. Trade or free agent signing in regards to getting a bat?