The Texas Rangers are in a similar position to the one they were in this time last year, in need of a rebuilt bullpen. They retraced their steps to help do so again.
The Rangers have agreed to a one-year contract with right-handed pitcher Chris Martin, a person with direct knowledge of the transaction confirmed to The Dallas Morning News. The deal’s completion is pending a physical.
Martin, 39, had a 2.98 ERA in 49 games with the Rangers last season but was limited by multiple injuries. He was placed on the injured list three different times and missed more than a month-and-a-half of the season because of shoulder fatigue, a left calf strain and thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms. It was his second stint with the team after he spent a season-and-a-half with the Rangers from 2018-19.
The Arlington native was effective when healthy, though, and largely operated as an eighth-inning setup option for a Texas bullpen that rotated closers for the bulk of the season. He’s had a 3.05 ERA or better in each of his last four seasons
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He can fill a similar role if healthy for a Rangers bullpen that is once again in the midst of reconstruction. The Rangers signed left-handed pitcher Tyler Alexander, right-handed pitcher Alexis Díaz and traded for Rule 5 draft selection Carter Baumler last week. Martin has the most high-leverage experience among them but Díaz, a bounce-back candidate after a down season with the Atlanta Braves, saved a combined 65 games for the Cincinnati Reds in the two seasons prior.
The Rangers identified mechanical changes in Díaz’ delivery that they believe might’ve caused a dip in his velocity and ability to put force behind his pitches. The 29-year-old’s fastball averaged 93.5 mph last season; two seasons prior, when he was an All-Star and saved 37 games, it ran 94.5 mph.
“We feel like we’ve got a great group of pitching coaches, a pitching department, that identified some things that we think will help him,” Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said Tuesday night.
Young said that the Rangers will “remain engaged” on the bullpen market as the winter progresses. Martin, if he remains healthy, and Díaz, if the Rangers are able to make necessary tweaks, could both potentially have high upside at the back end of the relief staff.
“I think what this organization has proven is they identify certain things in certain pitchers and those guys end up having career years,” manager Skip Schumaker said Tuesday night. “Díaz was really, really good a few years ago, and he’s still young. It’s not like he’s 40-years-old and out of baseball. He’s still really young and healthy.”
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