The Red Sox have released right-hander Carlos Martinez, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Boston had signed the longtime Cardinals righty to a minor league deal earlier this month.
Martinez has now spent time with both the Giants and Red Sox organizations on minor league deals this year, although he didn’t pitch in a minor league game with the former as he finished up mending the thumb injury that ended his 2021 season. He took the mound for a pair of starts with Boston’s top affiliate in Worcester but was hammered for 10 runs on nine hits and a trio of walks in just 4 1/3 innings. He struck out just four of the 25 batters he faced (16%).
It’ll be the second brief stop for Martinez as he looks to make his way back to the big leagues. He’ll now search for a third organization this season, though it’s hard to imagine any club would place him directly on a big league roster after that showing with the WooSox and after he finished up the 2021 season with a 6.23 ERA, 15.7% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate in 82 1/3 frames.
That said, Martinez has a lengthy track record of big league success — and that alone ought to continue intriguing pitching-hungry clubs. From 2015-19 — Martinez’s age-23 through age-27 seasons — he was one of the best young pitchers in the National League. A two-time All-Star with the Cardinals during that run, Martinez compiled 747 innings of 3.22 ERA ball while striking out 23.7% of his opponents against an 8.9% walk rate. Martinez fronted the St. Louis rotation for much of that time but also spent a good portion of the 2019 season as the team’s closer, racking up 24 saves with a career-best 26.5% strikeout rate that season.
Injuries, however, have completely derailed the right-hander’s career in recent years. He only landed in the bullpen in 2019 after a spring shoulder injury delayed his season and led to concerns about his workload as a starter. He missed seven weeks of the shortened 2020 season with a lengthy bout of Covid-19 and suffered a strained oblique muscle quickly after returning to the field. Martinez’s 2021 campaign was a roller coaster when healthy — he fired eight shutout innings in a May 2 start and a month later was rocked for 10 runs in less than one inning — and last year’s season ended for him in July when he suffered a torn ligament in his pitching hand that ultimately required surgery.
Martinez ought to be able to get a look with another organization, but he’ll need to string together some good outings in Triple-A before he’s viewed as an option to return to the Majors.
Too bad about Carlos not being able to pitch anymore. Appears to have no marketable talent.
He needs to run for a high political office….or be an analyst on TV discussing something he knows nothing about…or he can be a teacher.
I agree.
-Jen Psaki
I’ll have to circle back on that comment.
Or post drivel here.
Whyhay – it was better than your cr@p
3o yrs old, $52.6 m in earnings. I think he’ll land on his feet
Who taught you to be such an idiot
If Urena keeps getting more chances then C-Mart probably will.
IMO, it should become acceptable in society to throw stones at people who bring up partisan political BS out of nowhere. Go yell that garbage into a hole somewhere
Like I said when he signed, he’s terrible.
He isn’t terrible. He is hurt and a head case. He needs counseling for his mental health issues and if he wants to stay in the “bigs” he needs to take his conditioning and workouts seriously.
Evoldi is next. Jk
They had to release somebody after that beating last last…. Didn’t matter who.
That was reminiscent of the good old days with buzzers and trash cans – the bats couldn’t miss…
My guess is that he was tipping pitchers. Outside of injuries, it is difficult to hit almost anyone as hard as they hit Eovaldi. That was worse than the outing Catfish had a gazillion years ago.
If he was tipping pitches wouldn’t they have at least 15% more velocity?
BOO THIS MAN
The wind was blowing out of fenway. An aberration, no cause for concern.
Ah yes, it was the wind that caused it.
Never mind the fact that he was pitching in AAA.
Barnes should be the one released. He’s been terrible since last year.
Pitching batting practice to Conforto seems like a natural fit at this time. I”m sure Boros can afford him.
StuWinfeld, do you mean Boras?
Injuries and apathy killed his once promising career. Reference: Drew, JD….
JD Drew’s career is interesting to me haha. Was supposed to be a can’t miss blue chipper. Got drafted 3 times. Played for 4 teams, was only traded once.
slimmy – He had all the talent in the world, but there’s three things most people didn’t like about Drew:
1) He refused to play unless he felt 100%. He would sit for the most minor of injuries.
2) He refused to swing at anything outside the strike zone, no matter how hittable the pitch. I never saw any other player who cared more about walks than base hits.
3) He refused to go anywhere near walls. Time after time, he would let catchable balls drop within a couple feet of a wall.
You know, I thought both he and Wacha were going to be huge stars for the Cardinals for years. In this guy’s case, it always looked to me like he was continually in love with the idea of overpowering batters. Figured someone would teach him how to pitch. Wacha is a bigger mystery to me. Guess you never know
Both had injury issues. Wacha with his shoulder issues and Martinez as well. Not much of a mystery. Martinez rarely could control his emotions on the mound too
Injuries don’t explain why Martinez is having so much trouble now, nor why half his starts last year were terrible (while the other half were good) before last year’s injury.
Martinez was NOT committed to his off-season rehab when his injury woes were RAMPING UP to full effect. He came into camp that year and had CLEARLY (according to the trainers) NOT done the work to strengthen his ailing shoulder. So having to shut him down for two months at full contract value was a big problem for the club.
And things spiraled from there.
He’s always been a party boy and a ladies man (with multiple kids from multiple different women he dated), but it caught up with him when his raw talent could no longer get him through and he had to put in the work.
He didn’t commit to his fitness, his craft or taking his life seriously.
I hope he turns things around for his sake and for the sake of all the children who depend on him as a parent.
Agreed. While I don’t know much about Martinez aside from what I’m reading here, it seems Wacha never regained old form after the injuries.
Yeah Wacha got hurt. But he only really had 2 great years at the start of his career. More likely a combination of the injuries and the league figuring him out.
Martinez always acted like a clown and then he became one. All the potential in the world, but it seems like he never put in the effort.
Yea I feel like this is a guy who needs to get his head screwed on right if he’s gonna have any future success.
I agree with you——But unfortunately it doesn’t appear he has an IQ High enough to even get his head together.
He needs the Josh Hamilton treatment if anyone signs him. If he has a trainer to keep him in shape and out of the bars at night he could get another 5 years of good pitching out of his body.
i thought wrong. i thought he would be ok once he got away from molina
Because Molina had been a bad influence?
Molina was the reason he had any success. First ballot Hall of Famer!
no, because he couldn’t live up to molina’s expectations.
Worcester AAA rotation is loaded with quality prospects!
Bello
Seabold
Winckowski
and others
The only question was why bother signing him in the first place. His first start in AAA was 5 earned runs in 2/3 innings, and the second start was not much better. The innings and roster spot were better allocated to other younger controllable players.
They should have tried him out in the “pen” to see if he is better in relief/closer role. Nothing to lose.
Orioles should sign him and then trade him to the Blue Jays for Biggio
Ratio
i mute ratio
Injuries aren’t what derailed his career, it’s his complete unwillingness to follow team-issued recovery plans and put in the required effort to remain an effective pitcher. This was widely reported over the last few years with the Cardinals; every time he reported back from an injury or an off-season, the work that he was given was not completed as it should have been and his physical state made that glaringly obvious. He just doesn’t have the drive, not everyone does.
That’s interesting. It was reported that Carlos wasn’t on the same page as the Giants staff.
I don’t think he’s been “on the same page” with any team’s staff.
He got his deal from the Cardinals then kinda sat on it.
He is not on the same page with reality. Nothing but echos between the ears.
O’s take a flyer?
You can blame injuries all you want, Carlos biggest problem is Carlos. He was the Cardinals version of Carlos Zambrano. Great ability with two cent attitude and head. This guy couldn’t straighten his act out with people like Yadier Molina trying to mentor him for years. Fact is no Yadier Molina, he was probably gone years ago from Cards. Other organizations can see now he can’t even pitch on top of his crappy being. One of my best days as a Cardinals Fan when we got rid of him once and for all.
You take Z’s name out of your mouth redbird, this is a lazy comparison. Zambrano had hothead passion not attitude and was beloved by his teammates. He was many times the player Martinez is. 43 career WAR to Martinez’ 13.
Cubs turned corner once Zambrano gone. In my book about W and championships not War. Zambrano presence hurt them more than helped them, And yes I am qualified to say this as a Cardinals fan who lived 1993-2015 in Chicago witnessing it.
Yadier Molina completely ruined him. He took away his confidence and continually called for pitches right over the plate. He sabotaged his career as he’s done with others he did not like. He’s an embarrassment who now attempts to fight fans. Only a matter of time until they find a weapon of some sort in his catching gear
This is better if you imagine it as the narration of a private detective in a film noir. With like a saxophone playing in the background.
I was picturing it as if Yadi is some sort of mob goon ala Joe Pesci from Goodfellas.
Cosmo2 – YES! Good one. 🙂
LOL!!!!!!
Something something HPV
Carlos Martinez was lazy about his work before his big contract, and got even lazier after it. Early on in his career his “stuff” was often good enough to get going on. He was a two time All-Star, so it wasn’t a facade.
I think it was obvious a year or two before his contract was up he was gone the instant the Cardinals could let him go. Him failing to stick on a major league roster, or even an minor league one at this point is hardly surprising.
10 earned runs in only 4.1 innings. I feel like the pulled the plug a little prematurely but maybe he wasn’t good in the clubhouse. Either way he’s gone.
The Red Sox are a disgrace to baseball. Making the big market money but can’t just put a consistent product on the field. Also have to go dumpster diving so the owners can go spend it on other franchises. Well the fans are still paying the price. And what do they get in return???…hold the fans off with a new ballpark??? Nope our ballpark is over 100 years old and falling apart. No room to sit. Everything sucks at Fenway. But the owners will continue to push off dealing with a new ballpark because they are lazy and don’t want to spend the money. Shoving “the Fenway experience” down our throats. Fenway park is a dumpster
Ugh with the ridiculous hyperbole. Boston is a very well run organization.
Blasphemy! Thou shalt not call the Cathedral of Boston a “dumpster”
Fenway, like Wrigley Field is an American institution and is not easily replaced. There were rumblings of building a new ballpark in 1999 but that was mostly a smoke screen to build sale value of the team. The proposal, which would have also included a new stadium for the Patriots in the same complex was officially killed when the Patriots threatened to leave for Hartford and got Gillette Stadium built in Foxboro
Rsox – Right around when the team was up for sale, one of the interested buyers owned land and wanted to build a new domed stadium for the Red Sox. But of course the sale was a bag job and Henry got the team instead.
Yes Fenway is a magnificent park with lots of history and character and charm. But from a comfort perspective, it’s awful. I’ve sat in just about every section over the years.
I’ve sat in the grandstand seats with the wooden slats that were built so narrow many adults would have a hard time fitting in them.
I’ve sat in the right field box seats that cause you to get a sore neck because the seats are facing CF instead of the infield.
I’ve sat in rows of seats that were literally squeezed into walkways, and seats along the left field line where the front of the seat was angled up against the wall.
Combine that with no parking and no roof for rainy weather and freezing temperatures, i can see why so many people don’t like Fenway. If you haven’t visited other parks like the ones in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland and Arlington then you wouldn’t know how much better it is to attend games in those cities.
I see a LOT of Cardinals fans on here talking a lot of smack about this guy who pitched very well for them for a bunch of years… best fans in baseball!! LOL
He did pitch well but a questionable attitude coincided with his decline so it’s reasonable to expect some criticism.