Cincinnati Reds land starter Nick Martinez after reliever Emilio Pagán
The Cincinnati Reds are spending money again, adding reliable innings to a needy pitching staff and looking like they might be serious about finishing a playoff run in 2024 that fell two games short in ‘23.
Assuming the agreements this week with a pair of veteran right-handers are signals of more to come with next week’s winter meetings fast approaching, the Reds figure to stir some intrigue, if not excitement, at RedsFest this weekend.
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That includes a two-year, $26 million deal for San Diego Padres free agent Nick Martinez, 33, to join the rotation after spending the past two seasons as a swingman for the Padres' high-priced, star-studded roster, sources confirmed.
That deal, which comes after the Reds agreed to terms on a two-year, $16 million deal with Minnesota Twins free agent reliever Emilio Pagán, includes a $14 million salary for Martinez in 2024.
Both deals were awaiting physicals to become finalized, and both include player opt-out clauses after the first year.
Reds president Nick Krall has emphasized since the end of the season about adding innings to his very young pitching staff, with the obvious priority being starting pitching (their 5.43 rotation ERA ranked in the bottom three in the majors this year).
Whether Martinez answers the rotation question as well as the Reds believe, he gives the team at the very least the kind of experienced versatility they lacked on the staff in 2023.
He produced a 3.43 ERA in 110 1/3 innings for the Padres last season in roles ranging from starter to late-inning reliever. His innings total ranked fourth on the Padres staff and would have been third on the Reds' 2023 pitching staff.
Martinez opened the season in the rotation for four turns, averaging just more than six innings in those starts, then returned to the bullpen for much of the rest of the season and led his team with 63 appearances.
Martinez, who spent four seasons in Japan before returning to the majors with the Padres in 2022, made nine starts total last year, without allowing a run in any of the final six — albeit, only two of those lasting at least five innings with his late-season starts coming without the chance to build up his innings first.
Over the past two seasons with San Diego, Martinez is 10-8 with a 3.45 ERA in 19 starts and 91 relief appearances across 216 2/3 innings.
He declined a player option of more than $8 million Nov. 6 after the Padres declined their club option of $16 million.
Pagán, 32, spent the last two seasons with the Minnesota Twins, producing a 2.99 ERA in 66 appearances for the Twins’ American League Central winner in 2023.
The eighth-year veteran is a fastball-slider pitcher who has a mid-90s fastball that has ticked up in velocity slightly the past two seasons and a 10.3. career strikeout rate (per nine innings).
Pagán has averaged 63 appearances over the past five full major-league seasons.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Starter Nick Martinez, reliever Emilio Pagán just the start for Reds?
