CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Nick Martinez takes a second to pause and consider the question: Are you the type of pitcher who gets better later in the season? <\/p>\n
\u201cI like to think so,\u201d Martinez said. <\/p>\n
He followed that path in 2024, and he\u2019s trending in the right direction again as the stretch run approaches this year. But what Martinez can do as a starting pitcher over the next two months isn\u2019t what\u2019s on his mind. He shifts the conversation in that direction. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs we get closer to the playoffs, those games start to mean a lot,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cObviously, we want to finish strong. I really want these guys to feel that feeling. That feeling of playing really meaningful games. The kind of fire that brings to the clubhouse and to yourselves. It\u2019s really fun baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez, who picked up the win in Friday\u2019s 5-2 Reds victory over the Rays, isn\u2019t here because the Reds guaranteed him that he\u2019d get a chance to be a starter all season. In fact, there\u2019s talk about moving Martinez into a hybrid bullpen role when Hunter Greene returns from the injured list. <\/p>\n
Martinez easily could have declined the $21 million qualifying offer from the Reds last November, tested the free agent market and landed a pretty nice payday at 34 years old. Instead, he bet on himself and bet on the Reds. <\/p>\n
His 4.69 ERA this season is far from flashy, but Martinez has the second-most quality starts on the team as well as the second-most innings. He\u2019ll make himself available out of the bullpen between starts. He\u2019s one of the best clubhouse guys the Reds have had over the last few years. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe competes like crazy,\u201d Terry Francona said. \u201cIt\u2019s very contagious. If it gets to me, I\u2019m sure it\u2019s getting to his teammates. He\u2019s just what you\u2019re looking for. He\u2019s not going to back down. He\u2019s going to give you everything he has. And he\u2019s going to enjoy doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conversation at this point of year always revolves around the trade deadline. Following Friday\u2019s win over the Rays, the Reds cut their deficit in the Wild Card race down to one game. The product hasn\u2019t been consistent enough yet, but the Reds have shown that they\u2019re capable of playing some good baseball. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re aware of the trade deadline looming,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cThe boys want to play. The boys want to win. We want to make a push. We\u2019re certainly playing like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cNo one in there wants to sell. We want to win.\u201dAt this point, with the quality baseball the Reds have been playing for most of the last two months, selling looks more unlikely. But in the case that they did, Martinez would be the player who the Reds\u2019 front office would receive the most calls about. Every team in baseball can use Martinez, who\u2019s the most versatile pitcher in the sport. He\u2019d be a season-changing piece right now on teams like the Dodgers, Yankees and Cubs. It isn\u2019t a standout class of starters on the trade market this season, and Martinez is in a contract year.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d fetch a pretty good return, but he carries a significant amount of value to the Reds. Cincinnati needs him right now more than the Reds ever have during Martinez\u2019s two-year Reds career. <\/p>\n
Looking at the rotation, Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo are pitching at a high level. Brady Singer has struggled, but his durability is an asset. Chase Burns is flashing his potential, but the Reds really have to manage his innings. Hunter Greene is on a rehab assignment and is trending toward a return in the next few weeks, but he\u2019s coming back from a tricky groin injury and will have to get into a rhythm again when he returns from the IL. Carson Spiers and Rhett Lowder are out for a while. <\/p>\n
The rotation depth is already a question, and trading Martinez would crush that depth. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to manage Burns and his innings coming up soon,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHopefully, we\u2019re getting Hunter back sometime soon. We can manage it. Rhett has a chance to help us at the very end. We\u2019ll see where that lies. It\u2019s TBD. We can manage it ok provided no one goes down. We\u2019ve got some guys in Triple-A who can help us. To what degree, I\u2019m not exactly sure. Hopefully we don\u2019t have to dip too far into the pot there.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2021, 2023 and 2024, the Reds season ended when they ran out of pitching. Chase Petty is the Reds\u2019 top starter in Triple-A, but the 22-year-old prospect still working through some stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor him, it\u2019s going to take a full year of Triple-A for him to really understand where he\u2019s at,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to remember that he\u2019s 22 years old. He has a lot to figure out about himself anyway. It\u2019s part of learning your craft. He has done well. He\u2019ll continue to keep going. We\u2019ve got good people trying to help him out. It\u2019s just a matter of time to try to figure things out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Reds need quality pitching to get through the season. Martinez is a pillar of that plan along with the other starters in the Reds\u2019 current rotation. <\/p>\n
Then, there\u2019s the best case scenario with everyone staying healthy and Greene returning from the IL and making an immediate impact. In that case, Martinez\u2019s versatility would unlock the best version of this pitching staff. <\/p>\n
\u201cMartinez is obviously proven and is willing to bounce back and forth and be in that swing role,\u201d Brad Meador said. \u201cThat can be a possibility at some point if we\u2019re at full strength. Those are decisions to be made a little bit further down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
One way to manage Burns\u2019 innings would be using Martinez as a piggyback starter with him. Maybe Martinez just piggybacks Burns in games the Reds are winning. Martinez is as trusted as any of the Reds\u2019 relievers, so Francona could put Martinez in a high-leverage spot to close out a game with a multi-inning appearance. Martinez also could slot in from time-to-time for a spot start to buy Burns an extra day.<\/p>\n
You could call it a \u201crover\u201d role with Martinez filling high-leverage bulk innings and providing the bullpen the versatility that it\u2019s lacking while also making some sporadic starts. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so good because he can do either one (starting or relieving),\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe\u2019s willing to do either one. We\u2019re probably going to have to make some choices here coming up and figure out what we\u2019re going to do on a couple of different ends. He\u2019ll factor into that for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, Martinez is a flat out quality starting pitcher. The numbers on the season may not totally reflect it, but Martinez hasn\u2019t also yet reached the ceiling that he has shown that he brings to the table. For example, his command and pitch efficiency can take a realistic step forward.<\/p>\n
While Martinez isn\u2019t an ace, he\u2019s an experienced big game pitcher who wants to go through the postseason experience with this Reds core. <\/p>\n
2025 WXIX<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Nick Martinez takes a second to pause and consider the question: Are you the type…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2400],"tags":[537,5,12528,535,50,4259,6095,4,557,536,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-203432","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-reds","8":"tag-athletics","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-cardinals-reds-baseball","11":"tag-cincinnati","12":"tag-cincinnati-reds","13":"tag-cincinnatireds","14":"tag-mens-sports","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-professional-baseball","17":"tag-reds","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}