According to a report from Cuban Baseball Insider Francys Romero, veteran right-hander Nick Martinez is accepting the qualifying offer from the Cincinnati Reds.
Nick Martinez is accepting the Reds’ qualifying offer of $21.05M, per sources.
The final deadline to accept QO is Monday, November 19 (4 PM ET).
Martinez has a 3.31 ERA since returning from Japan in 2022 and was the NL Pitcher of the Month in September.
Nick Martinez is accepting the Reds’ qualifying offer of $21.05M, per sources.
The final deadline to accept QO is Monday, November 19 (4 PM ET).
Martinez has a 3.31 ERA since returning from Japan in 2022 and was the NL Pitcher of the Month in September.
— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) November 17, 2024
Romero corrected himself to say that the deadline is actually Tuesday, the 19th.
Martinez declined a $12 million player option earlier this offseason, so he ends up getting about a $9 million raise by virtue of that decision.
He made 42 appearances this past season for Cincinnati, but only 16 of those were starts. He went 10-7 with a 3.10 ERA, striking out 116 batters in 142.1 innings. Given the newfound financial commitment, it would stand to reason that Martinez will break camp in the starting rotation alongside Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo. The Reds would still need to find a stable fifth option, and they’ve recently been linked on the trade market to Brady Singer of the Kansas City Royals.
Martinez is a seven-year veteran who has pitched for the Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres and Reds. He made his major league debut in 2014 with the Rangers, staying there until 2017. He then went to Japan for four seasons before resurfacing with the Padres in 2022.
The Reds finished in fourth place in the National League Central this past season and haven’t made the playoffs since 2020.
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KC Royals targeting Cincinnati Reds star in trade to bolster batting lineup
While the Kansas City Royals’ offseason to-do list isn’t as long this year as it was last, the team still has some work to do if they want another playoff run in 2025. One of the Royals’ top priorities this winter is bolstering the batting lineup with at least one reliable hitter, and on November 16, The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans and Ken Rosenthal reported that the Royals are targeting a comeback star on the Cincinnati Reds — Jonathan India.
“India, the Cincinnati Reds’ second baseman, is one of several hitters the Kansas City Royals are targeting, according to sources briefed on the team’s discussions,” wrote Rosecrans and Rosenthal. “And [Brady] Singer, a right-handed starting pitcher coming off one of his best seasons, is drawing interest from the Reds and other teams seeking to deepen their rotations, the sources said.”
Is Jonathan India a fit for the KC Royals’ roster?
The 2024 season was a bounce-back year of sorts for India, who struggled with injuries during his 2022 and 2023 campaigns and only managed 103 and 119 games in each season, respectively. His debut season in 2021 saw him slash .269/.376/.459 with 21 home runs and earn the title of NL Rookie of the Year, but hamstring issues and plantar fasciitis kept India’s numbers down over the two seasons that followed.
The Royals currently have Michael Massey slotted in as their everyday second baseman, and like India, he’s never played in any other position at the professional level. Despite putting up career-best numbers on offense in 2024, there’s an argument to be made that Massey would be better suited as a platoon player, and if the Royals are able to utilize the designated hitter position, perhaps acquiring India wouldn’t entirely shake up Massey’s playing time.
KC Royals have pitching depth to lose Brady Singer
On November 3, the Royals announced they’d re-signed veteran starter Michael Wacha to a three-year deal with a club option for 2028. It was the team’s first big move of the offseason, and with Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, and Wacha confirmed to return in 2025, Kansas City has a fierce 1-2-3 at the top of the rotation.
So could the team afford to trade away starter Brady Singer?
A few days after Wacha’s signing, Royals’ general manager J.J. Picollo told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers at the annual GM meetings that he’s confident in the team’s rotation depth, listing the players he can use as starters.
“We’re very comfortable with our starting pitching right now,” Picollo said. “You’ve got Wacha, [Seth] Lugo, [Cole] Ragans, [Brady] Singer, [Alec] Marsh. Kris Bubic was in the bullpen this past year, but we believe he’s a starter. Daniel Lynch went to the bullpen and did a nice job, but he’s another one who could be a starter. We don’t expect to be in the market for a starter moving forward.”
In 2024, arbitration-eligible Singer posted a 3.71 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 32 starts, along with with career-best numbers in strikeouts (170) and innings pitched (179.2). After a disappointing season in 2023 — 5.52 ERA in 159.2 innings (29 starts) — this year marked an impressive comeback for Singer, which only raises the 28-year-old’s value on the trade market.
Still, Rosecrans and Rosenthal clarified that the potential trade of India and Singer “was not close on Saturday, and is just one of several possibilities under consideration for both clubs.”
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