Veteran reliever Chris Martin turned 38 in June and is a free agent at season’s end, but the Red Sox righty tells MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith that he still intends to play in 2025. Next year, however, will “95%” be his final season, per Martin himself. The towering 6’8″ righty discusses the decision at length in an interview with Smith that fans will want to read in full for a wide slate of candid quotes. Broadly, Martin cites a growing family — his wife is pregnant with their fourth child — and the increasing toll the game can take on one’s physical and mental health in the latter stages of a career for his plan to wrap things up after the ’25 campaign.
Martin has had separate IL stints in 2024 for a left (non-throwing) shoulder injury, right elbow inflammation and anxiety. He’s been effective when on the mound, posting a 3.35 ERA in 40 1/3 innings. As is typical for the big righty, he’s missed bats at an above-average level and shown off perhaps the best command in all of Major League Baseball. Martin has punched out 28.8% of his opponents and issued walks at a microscopic 1.2% clip. That’s a sensational mark even by his own lofty standards, but Martin’s career 3.2% walk rate (and 2.7% mark since 2021) has long illustrated his elite ability to locate the ball.
While Martin has lost a mile per hour off his four-seamer this season amid those injuries, he’s still checking it an average of 94.7 mph with the pitch. The slightly reduced fastball hasn’t adversely impacted him all that much; his 11% swinging-strike rate is right in line with last season’s mark, and his opponents’ 79.7% contact rate is down ever so slightly from last year’s 80% mark. If anything, his four-seamer has been more effective this year. Opponents hit .313 off the pitch and slugged .521 against it last year. Those marks are down to .241 and .389 in 2024. Martin’s sinker has been hammered by opponents this season, and he’s begun to throw it less frequently as a result (8.7% in ’24 compared to 15% in ’23). That’s contributed to a dip in ground-ball rate (51% last year, 44% this year), but the overall blend of whiffs, command and grounders remains an effective package for the nine-year big league veteran.
Notably, Martin didn’t address whether that final season would come with the Red Sox or with another club. It’d be a surprise if the Sox didn’t want him back, given how well he’s pitched under his current two-year, $17.5MM deal. He’s delivered 91 2/3 innings of 2.06 ERA ball with plus strikeout and walk rates — all while piling up 37 holds and five saves along the way.
There will, of course, be widespread interest in Martin — as one would expect based on his overall track record. He’s rattled off six straight seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA and twice posted sub-2.00 marks in that stretch. Overall, Martin has a 2.79 earned run average, 83 holds and 13 saves dating back to 2019. Given his age and current plans to call it a career after the 2025 season, one would imagine he’ll prioritize signing with a contender in hopes of adding a second World Series ring to match the one he earned with the 2021 Braves.
[Related: 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List]
Martin will have plenty of competition on the relief market, but the fact that he’ll presumably limit himself to one-year offers should create a wide array of suitors. He’ll be one of the top leverage relievers on the market. Names like David Robertson, A.J. Minter, Yimi Garcia, Andrew Kittredge and Tommy Kahnle (to name a few) have had nice seasons working primarily in a setup capacity. Kirby Yates, Carlos Estevez, Clay Holmes, Aroldis Chapman and teammate Kenley Jansen are among the impending free agents who’ve spent a notable portion of the 2024 season working as a closer.
I’m sure Gwyneth will be delighted to have him at home.
Not likely since they’ve been ‘uncoupled’ since 2014. He’s been with Dakota Johnson for quite some time, growing up an Overboard/Miami Vice fan.
Now you can continue ignoring National Enquirer at the grocery store. lol
See no reason he can’t get another 8m next year. Still sits 95mph, solid slider, pinpoint control and knows how to pitch. As good of an 8th inning guy going as there is, 38 or not. he may want to pitch for a team next year where he can win if it’s to be his last, which might just put Boston out of the picture.
He has anxiety issues, getting away from the Red Sox “fandom” is the solution.
john – I don’t know, I think teams will shy away from him because of his physical and mental health issues combined with his age. I could see him go to a big spending team like the Dodgers or Yankees though.
As for winning, he got a ring just 2 years ago so I think money will be the driving factor. It’s the reason he and Kenley signed with the Red Sox, one of the few times Bloom was willing to outbid other teams.
Genuinely curious what he was anxious about. He had a 1.05 ERA last year and has a 47 to 2 K/BB Ratio this year. He’s been about as automatic as you can be
Because he was pitching awful right before he went on the IL for anxiety. He went from automatic to horrible at the start of this season.
I thank him for his performance last year but I hope.he is another teams problem next year.
There will be a question mark at the backend of the pen with Hendricks, they don’t need another one.
Martin hasn’t been much of a problem at all for the sox. when healthy he’s been great.
anxiety isn’t something that’s tied to any one particular thing so it’s not really wise to speculate on it.
Acell – you know what should help with his anxiety? The 7.5MM he’s getting paid to throw a ball every few days.
In a team sport, you find ways and push through the issues because your teammates are depending on you.
Don’t get me wrong, mental health is important, but when other people are depending on you, you find ways to get by.
You literally do not understand how anxiety disorders work bruh. Everything about your post shows this. If you agree that mental health is important you might want to actually learn something about it.
Hat – So Martin went on the IL with anxiety. This was an isolated incident.
If he had an anxiety disorder, it would have been a reoccurring issue.
It sounds like he was experiencing anxiety which is completely possible without having an anxiety disorder…. Genius.
Maybe you should understand how anxiety disorders work before attempting to insult someone else online about them?
“find a way to push through it. you’re far from a mental health expert obviously. You can’t in one breath bring up his contract as a way to disparage Martin for having anxiety then in the same one talk about mental health being important. That’s the height of hypocrisy.
I’m a mental health professional with my own lived experience of anxiety disorder Joe. I know what I’m talking about. Anxiety disorders can be situational and acute or they can be long term and chronic. When an individual has an ongoing, chronic anxiety disorder, this does not mean that symptoms are consistent in their acuity and the degree to which they impair functioning the whole time. It is entirely possible and very common for individuals with persistent mental health challenges to experience periods of heightened acuity and impairment due to dynamic changes in their situation and the ebb and flow of stressors and factors that influence our mental states in day to.day life.
Anxiety like any other mental health presentation and set of symptoms becomes a “disorder” when it causes clinically significant distress and/or impairs one or more important areas of function. This is literally the definition used in the dsm-v. So given that Martin went on the IL for anxiety, it literally meets the prevailing clinical definition for an anxiety disorder.
You’re very confident and arrogant for someone who literally does not know the foundational concepts and definitions for the subject you’re talking about.
>> So given that Martin went on the IL for anxiety, it literally meets the prevailing clinical definition for an anxiety disorder.
People on the injured list are on there because they are physically not able to perform their job. Was Chris Martin physically not able to perform his job, or was he just doing it poorly?
Nope. The fact that he went on the IL for anxiety demonstrates that Martin, his treatment provider and the red Sox agreed that his anxiety was impairing his ability to perform his job to the extent that it was necessary for him to step away for treatment. Hes not the first player to go on the IL for mental health and he won’t be the last.
The fact is that people in the nonsports workforce can and do access medical leaves, disability benefits and etc for mental health. Effectively an IL stint is a paid medical leave from a team’s active roster. No job in the whole world is entirely lacking in needing a certain baseline level of mental functioning in addition to physical capacity.
Every season there are inevitably reports if certain players performing poorly on the field due to nagging or unreported injuries that they are trying to play through. And in these situations players often do eventually land on the IL. This appears to essentially be the case with Martin’s anxiety. For a physical injury thay played out as martin’s mental health struggles have, I doubt you’d be so quick to dismiss it. Rather than doubling down on your ignorance and bias here, maybe you should educate yourself a bit on how mental health disorders impact people’s ability to function to their fullest ability and potential.
Troy – Anxiety is a cruel mind game that is often illogical, it can come on quickly and without warning or justification.
Let me be the first ( and only person) to say… Bring him back!!! Incentive laden contract…….. 10% beer sales on under age patrons… 15% hot dogs sold to all vegetarians…. 3% cotton Candy sales to all diabetics and finally the big one!!! ( this gets the deal done) 25% peanut sales to those allergic!!! Since his departure I can name 15 relievers he is better than that have pitched for us!!! Would you believe 7??? How bout 2 and Dom Smith??? He can throw harder than BROCKSTAR!!( but not Dom Smith) Oh boy it’s going to be a long winter…
And in case you haven’t figured it out.. I’m not talking about Martin!!!
Olm – I know, I know ….. you’re talking about Koji. Hey he’s only a few years older than Hill so why not?
Love it!!!
“Oh boy it’s going to be a long winter…”
Says your wife.
Unless his wife signs a free agent contract before they agree to a contract extension
Olm – There’s always the Breeders Cup to look forward to, right? Not that I’m wagering on it because Del Mar is notorious for favorites coming in ….
cue Fix You 🙁
Clocks for an encore seems fitting given the situation lol.
Stay in Boston. Please and thank you.
Probably too expensive for Henry.
let – “It’s expensive to have baseball players” — John Henry, 01/20/23
Thank you for this very important info we NEEDED to know.
I’d take him back for 1 more year in a heartbeat. despite some rocky outings, he has been solid. No reliever is perfect, and he has been very good for the Sox. ONE MORE YEAR…..
Coldplay was clutch in atlanta on our playoff runs, good career
Dude has walked 44 batters his entire career. Never more than 8 in a single session. Remarkable.
For a relief pitcher, limiting walks and what happens to inherited runners is the key.
Golga. Better than that really. 10 of those 44bb’s are intentional, so actually it’s 34bb’s in 342 career IP, then he’s got the 354k. he turned the career around 10y ago after returning from Japan.
My prediction. He signs elsewhere and struggles due to Father Time . Breslow & company will pick him up in early July via wavier or a low budget trade. They will sell the narrative that he’s got something left in the tank and Bailey can bring it back.
I would be fine in bringing him back. The guy throws strikes and is a solid addition to anyone’s bullpen.
I would also like to see them transition Wikelman Gonzalez into the pen. It’s not working out as a starter time to see if his control improves in short bursts. The Red Sox will already have decent depth options next season assuming they bring in an established starter or two. Fitts, Priester, and Dobbins will be legitimate depth in AAA next year. They really need to at least one guy one starter preferably a tor arm bit if they add two then those three will be really solid depth for the inevitable injuries that will occur. I think they will also stretch out Zack Penrod as well and he will be in the AAA rotation as well.
one of Priester and Fitts should ideally be more than depth and actually contributing to the big league rotation. that shouldn’t preclude them from adding to the rotation though. Also no disagreement on Gonzalez.
Acell I don’t want them to rely on those 3 on want them to fill the rotation and if one of those guys comes in and dazzles then you have a decision to make. They are going to have 10 starters next year gotta feeling Sandlin is going to take a giant leap this offseason and dazzle next spring as well.
I hope so. I’m not as high on Crawford as others are so I see him as more of a swing starter and feel that his role could be up for grabs. While he was somewhat better than expected this year he still profiles as a number 5 type started especially with the amount of HR he gives up
Bruin – I really like what I’ve seen of Fitts thus far, hope he gets the start tomorrow instead of pitching in relief.
I know it’s a SSS but I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins the #5 spot in the rotation next spring.
I know we always like the newest shiniest thing but unless Richard Fitts develops a third pitch a changeup big league lefties are going to eat this guy up. His fastball is Ok and his slider is solid but the fact is he doesn’t have an elite pitch to get big league hitters out and his pitches don’t miss bats. I don’t see him as much more than depth pitching at this point. I’m much more intrigued by Priester, a heavy ground ball pitcher with a starters pitch mix, and Dobbins. I’m not saying that Fitts might look totally different after an off-season of working with him but a fastball slider pitcher in the majors is going to have a rough time as a starter. Tanner Houck, who has a much better slider, a true elite pitch struggled until he developed that splitter. I don’t think Fitts fastball or slider grade out as high as Houck’s at similar development times. At this point Fitts has been fortunate in a small sample size in the bigs but based on stuff I can’t see that holding.
Bruin – Thanks, always appreciate your observations!
One of the aspects I like to key in on is mental makeup. Fitts has impressed me in that respect, he was thrown into a difficult situation last Friday and even with an early lack of control he still managed to maintain his composure and pitch out of jams rather than imploding. That’s a huge quality to have, it’s what I first noticed about Houck many years ago.
Bruin1012
I don’t think Fitts fastball or slider grade out as high as Houck’s at similar development times.
_________________________________________
Houck’s assessment before his Major League Baseball debut (2018-2019);
Fastball Slider Splitter Control Overall
2018 65 55 50 50 50
2019 55 60 50 50 50
Fitts’ evaluation before his Major League Baseball debut (2018-2019);
Fastball Slider Changeup Control Overall
2023 60 55 50 55 45
2024 55 55 50 55 45
As we can see, Fitts has a slightly worse slider, but better control.
If he develops a 3rd pitch he could be a starting pitcher in the middle of the rotation.
Remember how Houck debuted in 2020 and Fitts debuted in 2024…
Barring some sort of trade scenario I think the Red Sox rotation next looks like:
Houck
Bello
Gio
Kutter
Criswell
I do think they will go out and add at least one probably two starters so that will likely move Criswell to AAA as a depth starter. I’m hopeful they play in the high end pitching market and look to sign one of Burnes or maybe Snell. If they don’t then they will need to go into that secondary market and add a couple of more mid rotation arms. They really should have quite a bit of money to work with so it should be interesting to see what ownership allows. I’d expect Boston to have a payroll north of 220 million and anything less is truly bs by ownership in a large market like Boston.
Bruin – I think Criswell is too good to be relegated to the minors, he should at least be a long reliever and spot starter with the Red Sox.
I would pay for a reporter to ask this question of ownership: “This is the third season in a row the Sox have collapsed in August and September. Different players, different coaches, different HOBO’s, but the same manager. Since the only constant over the past three seasons has been Cora, isn’t it safe to say he’s the problem?”
Bruin1012
I see a rotation, without adding free agents and trading:
Houck
Giolito
Bello
Crawford
Fitts
I have doubts that they will add any of the aces – Burns, Fried, Snell…
Red Sox management has said in the past that they won’t give long contracts to 30-year-old pitchers, so, I find myself wondering if they’ll stay that way, I think they will stick to this course.
Most likely, Breslow will make some kind of trade for SP No. 3 and perhaps the Red Sox will add a middle SP in free agency (2-3 year contract) or a rebuilding protector.
And I will be interested to see, if Breslow is allocated a certain amount for free agency (60 – 70 million), how he will manage this budget, I hope he will take the right steps.
What a useless display of hitting tone get. Just pathetic at best.
To night *