American professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball. He has previously played in MLB for the Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres, and for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball, Nick Martinez and the Padres finalized a $26 million, three-year contract for the pitcher to remain with San Diego.
Martinez gets a $10 million salary next year, and the Padres have options at $16 million for 2024 and 2025 under the agreement announced Tuesday. Both options must be decided after the 2023 season.
If San Diego declines the options, Martinez would have $8 million player options for 2024 and 2025.
San Diego's option prices could increase by up to $1 million for innings in 2023: $250,000 each for 150, 165, 180 and 195. The prices would increase by $4 million if he wins next year's Cy Young Award, $3 million if he finishes second through fifth in the voting and $2 million if he is sixth through 10th. The prices would go up by $1 million if he is selected or elected to the All-Star roster and by $500,000 if he is a roster addition.
He has additional performance bonuses for 2023 and any player option years, but not for club option seasons. He could earn $2 million for starts: $500,000 each for 10, 15, 20 and 25; $1 million for relief appearances: $100,000 apiece for 10 and 20, and $200,000 each for 30, 40, 50 and 60; and $1.4 million for games finished: $200,000 each for 10 and each additional five through 40, per ESPN.
Martinez gets a hotel suite on road trips and will become a free agent again when the contact ends.
Martinez went 4-4 with a 3.47 ERA with eight saves in 10 starts and 37 relief appearances for the Padres this year. The 32-year-old right-hander spent the previous four seasons in Japan with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and then the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
He had turned down a $6.5 million player option with the Padres, triggering a $1.5 million buyout that ended his contract after one year and $7.5 million. If he had kept his contract, he would have been guaranteed $25.5 million from 2021-23.
Sources: ESPN