Of the 13 players who received qualifying offers before Tuesday’s deadline to accept, only Cincinnati Reds right-hander Nick Martinez agreed to the one-year deal worth $21. 05 million, while Juan Soto and 11 others rejected the one-year deal to enter the free-agent market officially. The other players who rejected the offer along with Soto were the Houston Astros’ Alex Bregman; Milwaukee Brewers’ Willy Adames; the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso, Sean Manaea and Luis Severino; Atlanta Braves starter Max Fried; Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández; Boston Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta; Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker; and the Baltimore Orioles’ Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander.

AdvertisementAll 12 players are now officially free agents. Any team that loses a player who rejected the deal is eligible to receive draft pick compensation. Of the 144 players who’ve received a qualifying offer since the system was implemented in 2012, Martinez is just the 14th to accept one.

The last players to accept qualifying offers before Martinez were Joc Pederson and Martín Pérez from the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers, respectively, in 2022. While the system began in 2012, no player accepted the deal until 2015 when three players chose one-year deals over free agency. Martinez was ranked No.

25 on The Athletic’s Free Agent Big Board. Only Pivetta was ranked lower (No. 31) among players who received a qualifying offer.

The Athletic’s Tim Britton projected Martinez to receive a three-year deal worth $40 million on the open market. Martinez will be able to test the open market again next offseason, this time with no qualifying offer attached and the chance of having a full season in the team’s rotation. Martinez, 34, was second on the Reds in innings in 2024 with 142 1/3 despite spending much of the season in the team’s bullpen.

Overall, he went 10-7 with a 3. 10 ERA in 42 games, 16 as a starter. He will help solidify a Reds rotation that struggled to stay healthy, but saw Hunter Greene make his first All-Star team, lefty Andrew Abbott build on his impressive rookie showing and fellow left-hander Nick Lodolo set a career high in innings pitched.

The team also saw its 2023 first-round pick, right-hander Rhett Lowder, debut and pitch well enough to become a front-runner for the rotation next spring. Signed to a two-year contract with an opt-out last winter, Martinez opted out of the deal that would have seen his salary cut from $14 million in 2024 to $12 million in 2025. Instead, he’ll make $21.

05 million. Martinez began the season in the Reds rotation due to injuries, and after starting the season 1-3 with a 3. 19 ERA in 11 games and five starts, he moved to the bullpen full-time.

In 20 games from May 26 to Aug. 2, he was 4-2 with a 2. 25 ERA.

He then moved to the rotation to finish the season and was 5-2 with a 2. 42 ERA in 11 starts, including a complete game in his final start, a 1-0 loss. Advertisement“When I signed here, I set my mind here to be for two years,” Martinez said Tuesday.

“Essentially, I just got a raise for the second year, so it’s a no-brainer. ”Martinez was an 18th-round pick by the Rangers in 2011 and made his big-league debut for Texas in 2014. After four seasons with the Rangers, Martinez played four years in Japan.

He returned to the United States for the 2022 season, signing with the San Diego Padres. In two years in San Diego, he appeared in 110 games, with 19 starts. He also finished 21 games, including nine saves.

His ability to switch between the rotation and the bullpen was part of what made him attractive to the Reds. While the Reds changed managers, firing David Bell in the last week of the season and later hiring Terry Francona, the team kept its pitching coaches, led by Derek Johnson. That continuity played a factor in Martinez staying in Cincinnati, he said.

He also noted that he’s excited about this Reds team. “I think we can do something special even though our record didn’t reflect that,” he said. “I really believe that we’re not far off from the best teams in the league.

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