The Red Sox have signed right-hander Carlos Martinez to a minor league deal, as per Martinez’s MLB.com profile page. Martinez had been signed to a minors contract with the Giants, but San Francisco released him from that deal on April 28.
The timing could indicate an opt-out, since Martinez was one of several Article XX(B) free agents who faced a mandatory decision date of May 1 on whether or not to opt out of their minor league contracts. If the Giants let Martinez know in advance that he wasn’t going to be added to their active roster and Martinez subsequently informed the team that he would opting out, it may be that the two sides decided to part ways in advance of that May 1 deadline.
Martinez has yet to pitch this season, as he continues to recover from the thumb injury that prematurely ended his 2021 season. The thumb issue was the latest in a series of injuries (including a shoulder problem, two oblique strains, and a nasty case of COVID-19 that required hospitalization) that have set Martinez back since midway through the 2018 season. Prior to those health problems, Martinez had three years of strong work at the front of the Cardinals rotation, reaching the All-Star team in both 2015 and 2017.
While Martinez still pitched well as a reliever in 2018-19, he has only a 6.95 ERA over 102 1/3 innings (in 21 starts) since the beginning of the 2020 season. That lack of performance led the Cards to decline their $17MM club option on the righty for 2022 campaign.
The Red Sox will now see if they can manage a second act in Martinez’s career. The 30-year-old would at least seem to have some viable potential as a reliever going forward, and the Sox are certainly on the lookout for bullpen help given how their relief corps has struggled thus far in the season.
There is some irony in the signing, as Martinez originally signed with the Red Sox for $140K as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic back in 2009. That was when Martinez as known as “Carlos Matias,” but due to questions about both his name and birthdate, MLB voided the righty’s contract with Boston. Martinez had to serve a year-long suspension, but then inked a deal with the Cardinals for a $1.5MM bonus in 2010.
The white flag of surrender.
Not a bad signing. C-Mart was excellent prior to the 2020 season and his rash of unfortunate injuries. If he could somehow get healthy, he instantly becomes Boston’s 3rd or 4th best reliever (which doesn’t say much for the Boston bullpen), so this seems like a low-risk, high upside deal for Boston.
Carlos is terrible, trust me.
Can’t be worse than what’s already in the bullpen. Could be the Closer in no time
So whose brilliant idea is it to start today’s game at 11:35 AM?
Don’t they know Mothers Day is all about breakfast and/or brunch, not to mention Sunday morning is church time.
And for everyone else, Sundays are for sleeping late after being out late Saturday night.
It is a new NBC Peacock streaming deal. Each weekend will have an early game. I don’t like it either.
By the time I got home from church, it was already 3-0. So is it better to miss that, or suffer thru it?
Joe: Story dove for a ground ball and it hit off his glove. Then Devers misplayed a weak ground ball, but did not get an error. If they make those two plays they get out of the inning still tied at zero. Instead 3 runs came in. Just a really tough year so far.
That’s the story of the season. Any misplay, anything off the glove, any HBP, all threaten to score, and we don’t have the offense to overcome anything.
Even worse, good starting pitching is followed by weak BP performance. And a bad starting pitching performance will be followed by a good BP performance.
If we were averaging even 4.5 RPG, we’d be 17-11.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a brutal stretch before.
suit – Thanks, I should have known it was related to TV. I would imagine home teams aren’t happy with landing the early game.
Head Case!
Crash Davis said it best. He’s got a million dollar arm, but a five cent head. If you enjoy being stressed out watching baseball I’d say he’s the right man for the job.
Have you watched this teams games?
@Dorthy…sorry man…I love the optimism because I had it every year with Carlos as a cardinals fan…he just isn’t good
@Cards81 – Thanks for real story on C-Mart. Living in Boston, I honestly haven’t watched much of him lately. I do remember watching him while he was excelling as a starter but it sounds like the wheels have fallen off in a big way (sigh…). I was hoping he could be the next Andrew Miller type of find for Boston but it sounds like I’m setting my expectations way too high. The Sox AAA park in Worcester is an extremely hitter-friendly park so it will be interesting to see how he fares down there once he’s ready to pitch. I’m dialing back my expectations on him after hearing from you wesstl and WMH24.
His real name is Carlos Ramirez the Jackal, and he’s hiding out from the CIA in Fenway Park.
Bloomy reads a lot of Robert Ludlum.
When he’s not playing Strat-O-Matic.
I was an APBA guy myself. Good times.
This team is unbearable. They can’t get three outs in the ninth inning? Ever. It’s horrible. They could be 18-10 instead of 10-18 if they didn’t stink so much. I know, that’s just a silly comment. Three guys who can hit at all and not one pitcher who can get three outs in the ninth inning? Are you kidding me? Augh.
@whyhayzee – Garrett Whitlock can get 3 outs in the 9th, but ‘unfortunately’ he has been moved to the rotation to throw 5-6 excellent innings. It still leaves that huge gap of how to get the final 9 outs; especially the last 3 in the 9th. Matt Barnes needs to be put on the 60-day IL for a mental health break, he has lost his confidence on the mound and has been putrid since last August. Maybe it’s time to bring up a couple of kids and see if they can become the next Whitlock. At this point, why not try it?
Pivetta finally throws a nice one so maybe he’s straightened out. The rotation is ok, and I guess I like Whitlock starting. But they have to hit or they’re sunk. And no one in the bullpen seems to have the instinct to succeed in the ninth. The games are always close so they need a shutdown guy. This could be brutal. I’ve been with this team for sixty years so I have experienced just about everything. If they’re not playing better by June, they’re done.
Whitlock has to go back to the pen. Over the past ten games, our starting pitching ERA is 1.76. Unfortunately, we’ve only averaged 2.8 rpg, meaning that our BP has to be near flawless. I don’t remember the last time our offense has been this poor for this long.
60 games is one thing, and 162 is quite something else. See ya!
Martinez was punished with a $1.36 million raise from the Cardinals – lesson learned.
More dumpster diving from the Red Sox. Pathetic
What’s your suggestion?
Yeah, who else is sitting out there to be signed? Where is there besides the dumpster to dive at this point?
Yeah, who else is sitting out there to be signed?
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Some of the fans are waiting for us to claim Trout and Scherzer off of waivers.
Fire Bloom. Fire Cora. They may have spent more during the Dombrowski era but they had good seasons to show for it. And they were exciting to watch. This team is dreadful. The Orioles will finish ahead of them. Who “retools” the year after nearly making it to the World Series?
Dombroski walked into a team under the salary cap and with a loaded minor league system. By the time he left, the team was over the cap in multiple years, and the minor leagues were gutted. Completely different circumstance for Bloom. Bloom has had to rebuild from the shambles left to him. Which will naturally take more time.
If you can’t see how this team is building from within (5 players just made BA’s top 100 players). And, that the Red Sox will be a power house in one or two years. Maybe you should root for another team.
Ownership is rotten. Let’s a generational talent go for less than No No Nanette, hires a bean counting hack from Tampa to turn this team into the Back Bay Ray’s. This season is lost, say goodbye to Bogie and Devers too.
@ Mookie’s Wager – Boston hired Bloom to create the next Toronto Blue Jays / Houston Astros and not the next Tampa Bay Rays. When Bloom took over, the cupboards were pretty much baren. He has done a great job rebuilding the farm system and it’s at a point where you can see the next generation of Red Sox stars right around the corner.
I agree that trading Mookie was extremely painful but it was a decision that had to be made. If they had re-signed Mookie to that mega-extension, they’d have (6) players on this team today making just under $150M alone: Mookie – $36M, Price – $32M, Sale – $28M, Xander – $20M, JDM ~ $18M and Eovaldi – $16M. They knew they couldn’t round out a competitive team with so much money going to so few guys, as they didn’t have nearly enough rookies or pre-arbitration players ready to fill out the remaining roster spots. They would have been stuck with signing a bunch of lower level, $3M-$4M free agents, which still would have put them way over the CBT threshold, reducing their draft position and IFA spending limits all the while having no chance of winning a title.
They made the tough decision to do a quiet rebuild through the draft and via some very savvy trades. Moving Mookie & 1/2 of Price’s deal knocked $53M off their payroll in 2020 and prior to the questionable Trevor Story signing this year, the most they committed to in free agency was $14M for Kiké. The Sox delivered surprising results last season but more importantly, their youngsters had another year to develop. I’d hate to say it but we’ll probably see Xander, JDM and Eovaldi all walk at the end of this year too. Couple those savings with the Price money and Pedroia money coming off the books along with Casas, Duran, Bello, Seabold, Walter and possibly Mata joining the team next year, and Yorke, Mayer, Rafaela, Jiminez and possibly Groome a year or two behind them and the Sox will have completely overhauled their roster much like Toronto did. They can then start adding high priced free agents in 2024 who are in their prime and this will be one hell of ball club. By 2024 or 2025, this team will be able to legitimately compete for a title, not for just one lucky season but for many seasons to come. A lot does hinge on their youngsters meeting their expectations once they are called up, but this is the best crop of minor leaguers that Boston has had in decades. They have tons of depth their too. If Yorke falters in his first year, they have Downs and Hamilton to give reps to. If Casas falters, they have Binelas and Jordan to give reps to. If some of the young pitchers falter, they have Winckowski, Murphy, Ward and German to give innings to. While 2022 and possibly 2023 will be painful seasons, I’m more excited about the long term outlook of this Red Sox team than I have been in decades. We just need to be patient while the plan comes together.
Revenue and payroll should never be an issue for the Sox, Yankees, or Dodgers and a lesser extent the Cubs. Atleast the Dodgers owners act like payroll isn’t an issue and year in year out put out the best product possible.
I agree, Mookie. The Red Sox apologists are running out of ideas. Hiring Bloom, trading Betts, & rehiring Cora – mistakes. The Betts trade is inexcusable.
Mookie was not going to stay in Boston. He can say he wanted to stay all he wants but he has only expressed that sentiment SINCE signing his mega deal with LA. All we heard while he was with the Sox is how he planned on testing the market. Why? Because getting the maximum amount of $$$ is good for the the Union. A player like Betts can set the bar high and help ensure that free agents after him get similar contracts. Mission accomplished. Knowing this, What’s the better option for the Sox’ brass? Let him play out his last year and watch him walk? Or send him packing while partially shedding a crummy contract in Price and acquiring some players. That mega deal, like many others, is going to hamstring LA in a few years.
I do t understand how people don’t see why they had to trade Mookie. He wasn’t going to re-sign with them, and who wants to be hamstrung with a contract that pays $30M to a speedy player into his late 30’s
Can everyone stop doing these posts criticizing Front Office’s for minor league signings? There is absolutely no risk to the signing, if he’s terrible keep him in AAA. If he’s decent, he get can innings for the big league club.
There is absolutely no risk to the signing,
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They’re just being haters. There is unlikely to be any upside to this, but there is almost no chance that there is any downside.
Joe – Agreed. Every team takes a flier out on filler type guys with the chance they may be able to help at the ML level. You never know when the injury or illness bug will create needs on the ML or AAA level.
Please John Henry fire Bloom already and stop this low balling of players on contracts and this dumpster diving to pick up players. This season is already ugly with the horrible JBJ trade for Renfro, not signing Schwarber, not picking up solid relievers(not the garbage Bloom signs) Send Dalbac down to the minors already. How on earth do you give 10 million to a guy who is no help this year in Paxton. Kiki Hernandez has reverted to his usual 242 batting average as well. Please hire a good GM.
Yes they should hire me. I am guaranteeing first place
I for one wish Martinez the best of luck. As a Cardinals fan, I’ve followed him from very early on. He’s had a lot of injuries but when he was on he was an all star. Were some of his injuries frustrating? Sure but he’s still just 30 years old. Take a look at another former Cardinals pitcher in Wacha. He was injured a lot, took some time but he’s doing great for…Boston. Same team taking a flier here
Thanks for jinxing Wacha. LOL
This guy has talent and lacks everything else needed to succeed in baseball.
HAHHAHA omg he throws meat balls. What a ridiculous signing. Chaim is a joke. Hey Chaim hows spending no money treating you? 9.5 back of the yankees already!? What a joke. If I were the GM the Red Sox would be in first place. Chaim has no idea what he is doing.
@M1 – It’s a minor league deal for C-Mart so this does no harm to the team or the payroll. Read the novel I posted above and tell me how you’d have this team in first place this year along with being competitive for the next 4-5 seasons after this one too.
Watching the Red Sox/White Sox game, with Cease pitching, the only thing I could picture Cease saying is, “I’ll be your huckleberry,” to the batter in southern twang, with a cigar hanging from his mouth.
If you don’t get the reference, I can’t help you.
One of your best posts of all time, Yankee Clipper, but it’s “I’m your huckleberry”.
Ah, you’re right, DM, my bad. Been too many years since I’ve seen it – great excuse to watch it again…
Unfortunately baseball lost it’s real life “Doc Holiday”. What a terrific pitcher he was and a joy to watch.
If A GM or head of Baseball OPS can’t see the look in the eyes of Barnes, Dalbec, JBJ, yes and Robles, to mention just a few players, when they are in the spotlight for that fleeting moment it’s time for someone else to do the evaluating.. Bob Tewksbury, now with the Cubs, a Mental Skills Coordinator, use to do the same thing in Boston in addition to pre and post game with NESN.
It’s time to send a message to Management, AC, the Coaching Staff and the players this type of performance is not acceptable..
We have no closer–Barnes, Robles don’t want the job. What’s wrong with using Whit or Houck to throw their BP when they are between starts? Obviously use them only if you have a lead.
Yeah all those Red Sox pitching coaches and mental skills coaches have done such a great job helping the bullpen and half the lineup, they all deserve raises! How on Earth did the Sox ever manage all those years with just one pitching coach and no mental skills coaches? How did the players cope?
I actually think the Sox are in a pretty good position, and I’m not some kind of hometown honk/homer.
They’ve already got a top 10 farm system. The current team is terrible, and circling the drain. They’ll soon trade Eovaldi/Bogaerts/Martinez/Kike/Vazquez.
By the end of the season they’ll likely have a top 5 system, a very high draft pick/pool, and gobs of money to spend in the offseason, with very few guaranteed dollars on the books. They will spend up to $230. mil, the fans here will crush the ownership if they don’t.
They want to be the Dodgers. Chaim was hired to do follow that design. This is how you do it.
Not with “Rube Goldberg” cheap fix mentality! Bloom is a Tampa Bay mentality GM where the Rays do not draw fans. Other players see how they lowball guys like Boggaerts and do not talk to guys like Devers. Story was a panic signing because Bloom did nothing in the off season but pick up throwaways. Now we are stuck with a National League Coors Field hitter. Don’t worry we will trade him to the Dodgers, eat half the contract and get Dodger low level prospects like we do. Remember when we traded all those guys Beckett, Crawford, Punto for Ruby Del La Rosa and Webster ? None are around anymore or stuck.
That was just a plain old salary dump. And none of the players the dodgers got did anything for them. BTW Adrian Gonzalez was apart of that deal as well.
Not only that the red sox won the world series the next year. They wouldn’t have done that with those players, so I don’t understand why you’re complaining.
Please stop calling things ironic that aren’t ironic
I’ve seen enough of Martínez in recent years to know Sox fans can expect him to come in to a clean inning, and the next thing you know he’s thrown 23 pitches, traffic everywhere, and suddenly a crooked number on the board with only one out. I hope I’m wrong, but Martínez has a magical way of falling off the tightrope every time he takes the ball.
Redsox collecting Farhan’s rejects. First Jaylin Davis now Martinez. Recycling recycled players. Is there not enough minor leaguers that teams has to get these type of 6+ era that 30yo?
I’m not afraid of being a Boobird!
Especially when deserved.
Time to change the deck?
Yep.
StarvinMarvin, I think you need to take a look at Bostons minor league affiliates. Woosox at .500, the other 3 all well below. The whole system sucks, and at this point it’s on Bloom.
I never forgave him for trading Mookie Betts. David Price had a big mouth and could be a jerk at times. Bloom needs to go and quick although this year is sunk. I knew he sat on his hands and picked up throwaways this past off season was going to be bad. I am So tired of this pauper act from a wealthy team like the Red Sox. He put this bad product on the field, no bullpen, no closer, no production in centerfield, or first base, lowballing Boggaerts, and not talking to Devers. The panic Trevor Story signing and he deserves to loose his job. Please give me a GM halfway between Bloom and Dave Dombroski. I also think he is afraid to bring rookies up and see them flop and people soul get really peeved.
Spitball
Did you really bring up wins and losses in the minor leagues to say that the system sucks. That’s shows quite possibly the worst acumen about the minor league prospects I have ever read. Your record in the minors means absolutely nothing.
I know everyone is frustrated with how poorly the Red Sox season is going but as someone who follows the minors and prospects quite closely the Red Sox do have a good minor league system.
The frustration I have at this point is why not play Duran everyday and see if he is going to viable big leaguer there really isn’t much to lose. I’m fine with keeping Casas down for now I would wait until he goes on a real hit streak and then call him up he has only been OK at AAA so far this season. I think it’s time to call Fitzgerald up and see what he can do he really doesn’t have much more to prove at AAA. It’s time to shake things up a bit.
The problem with the Red Sox start is they have to play so well from here on out to even come close to remotely getting back in it. They have to do that without a closer since they are keeping Whitlock as a starter. Under the best conditions if they started to hit they would still lose games at the end because no one besides Whitlock can close. It is for this reason that I think should start bringing up the guys at AAA and see what they have there. I think this happens in June if they don’t make a meaningful dent and are playing better and at this point I see no way for this team to compete the way it is constructed even if the offense gets going.
Duran doesn’t really have a position with the RS. I don’t think the arm plays in RF, and Kiki is playing CF.
I think Casas gets promoted when they given Franchy enough ABs to show that nothing has changed. That said, and while I know it’ll be a platoon, Casas hasn’t shown me anything against lefties. He has .459 OPS v lefties this year, and .591 last year. I’d understand if they promoted him, but I am hoping they can develop him into a full-time player. He also has a decided home field split.
Past that, we have limited mobility here. I doubt Plawecki is going anywhere. I doubt Fitzgerald is going to replace Arroyo. I think we have enough minor league pitching to move guys up and down, but as I posted elsewhere, our offense is what it is. If they don’t hit this year, there is very little we can do about it.
Joe
Duran need to be playing everyday in left and you move Duggie to right. The bottom line Duran needs to be playing everyday at least by June if things continue as they are. You are correct that he doesn’t have the arm for right but he needs to be up or traded. Duran has nothing to prove in AAA and needs big league at bats end of story.
As I said earlier I don’t think Casas is quite ready his numbers against lefties are a bit deceiving I have watched him hit some seeds that have been right at someone but agree he might be platooned when he is brought up.
The reality is it should be easy to play Duran when JBJ turns into a late defensive replacement and Duggie plays right.
Having a good minor league system doesn’t equal success. Whats the percentage of those players turning out to be good MLB players?
Aggee – Have to disagree with you my friend. A good farm system can accomplish something money can’t, it can help complete trades for big name players.
Without a good farm system, the Sox never would have been able to trade for Sale or Kimbrel or Eovaldi etc. Prospects can have a lot of value before they ever set foot on a ML field, even if they never become ML stars.
How this guy traded for JBJ and that horrendous contract by giving up Renfroe amazes me. I am wondering if that was a woke move because of a lack of African American players on our roster. He traded away David Price and Mookie Betts. Then we started putting up the BLM billboard with no African American Players on the roster. I hope I am wrong but JBJ was a panic trade before the strike. Now we sit at 10 games out with a crummy hitting roster and we are jerking around Boggaerts and Devers.
I find the BLM stuff amusing. I remember all the hoopla they made about JBJ sitting out a game in 2020, and how the team decided to cancel the game. After the season was over, and the RS played 60 games, I realized that the game was never canceled, just postponed.
But IRT the trade, this is my weekly reminder that the trade included Binelas & Hamilton. Hamilton looks like a solid bet for a future UIF, and Binelas is hammering the ball, even if he lacks a true position.
And JBJ does have a better bWAR, so far, so there’s always that.
Some of these Red Sox fans acting all entitled like they forgot about the curse and 86 years of finding every way to fail.
Mookie hasn’t been good in LA and is getting 300 million and a 65 mil signing bonus. I’m glad the Sox don’t have the contract on the books.
Story was a good replacement signing for Xander if they don’t get a deal done, and it helps keep Kiké in center where helps our defense the most.
The bullpen sucks but bullpens are volatile. It could all change tomorrow, next week or after the deadline.
Our hitting has been weak but that’s typical in the early months
Another stellar pickup for Bloom. Martinez gave up 5 runs in the first inning and could not get out of the inning. Enough, stop picking up garbage and dumpster dive material already. Bloom needs to be fired and soon. Then have the new GM negotiate an extension with Boggaerts and show good faith to a ball player who took a team friendly contract to stay in Boston.
Worchester is doomed, I tell you, doomed!