Late last season, veteran reliever Chris Martin said 2025 would likely be his last season in the big leagues and implied that he hoped to pitch close to his Dallas-area home. Martin will get his wish.
After two strong seasons with the Red Sox, Martin signed a one-year deal with his hometown Rangers on Monday night, according to an announcement from the club. Martin is an Arlington, Texas native and pitched for Texas before, making 84 appearances in 2018 and 2019.
The value of Martin’s new contract remains unknown, but WEEI’s Rob Bradford reports that Martin turned down a more lucrative offer from the Red Sox in order to sign close to home.
Martin, who turns 39 in June, had a successful run as Boston’s setup man over the last two seasons. After returning to the organization on a two-year, $17.5 million contract two winters ago, he made 100 appearances in a Red Sox uniform, posting a 2.16 ERA and recording 96 strikeouts in 95 ⅔ innings. Along the way, there were pockets of prolonged dominance as the eighth-inning bridge to closer Kenley Jansen. He issued just seven unintentional walks in those two seasons.
Martin’s 2023 season was outrageously good. He had a 1.55 ERA in 51 ⅓ innings with a 46:8 strikeout-to-walk ratio and gave up only one run in 37 appearances after June 6. Last year was more of an up-and-down campaign for Martin, who dealt with an injured left shoulder (non-pitching arm) that affected his delivery during the first half, spent time on the injured list in June because of anxiety and then spent July 5-Aug. 7 on the IL with right elbow inflammation. In total, he logged a 3.45 ERA (2.78 FIP) in 44 ⅓ innings.
Martin was interested in a reunion with the Red Sox, who continue to look for bullpen additions even after adding lefties Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson to a group that projects to include righties Liam Hendriks, Justin Slaten and Garrett Whitlock in the late-inning mix. At the Winter Meetings last month, Martin met up with manager Alex Cora on his way to formal sit-downs with a few interested teams. The Rangers were always near the top of his list as he heads into his 10th — and likely — final major league season after telling MassLive’s Chris Smith in September that he was 95% sure 2025 would be it for him.
“To be 100% honest, I think next year will be my last year,” Martin said in September. “We have a fourth (child) on the way,” Martin said. “Obviously I want to be there for them. And they’re getting to the ages where they’re starting to play sports. I’m getting older. Obviously 40 years old and playing baseball is going to be hard on me mentally and physically. I think that probably will be the cutoff. We’ll see. I don’t want to say 100%. I’d say 95% that next year will be my last year. I just want to be completely focused these last 11 days here and then if the opportunity comes next year — a team’s still gotta want me so we’ll see.”
Of Boston’s seven major league free agents this winter, Martin is the third to sign, joining Tyler O’Neill (Baltimore) and Danny Jansen (Tampa Bay). Left-hander James Paxton retired. The Red Sox will open next season against Martin’s Rangers at Globe Life Field on March 27.
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