Seth Martinez is back on the open market after a brief and largely unremarkable year with the Boston Red Sox’s organization.
The 32-year-old right-hander elected minor league free agency this week, joining a small group of former major leaguers who chose to leave their Triple-A clubs rather than wait out the end of the season on the roster.
The move was recorded on the official minor-league transactions list as the playoffs began, giving him a head start on finding a new club for 2027.
Boston signed Martinez to a minor-league contract in early January and brought him to spring training as a non-roster invitee. He did not make the Opening Day roster and spent most of the year with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox.
The assignment was the familiar one for a veteran depth arm: long relief, the occasional spot start, and the hope that a hot stretch would force a call-up. Worcester used him in both roles. The results were mixed.
He generated ground balls and limited walks at times, but the strikeouts that had once made him a useful middle reliever fell off, and the home-run rate climbed. It was the profile of an emergency option rather than a pitcher pushing for a permanent big-league job.
The call did come, briefly. On August 9, the Red Sox selected Martinez’s contract from Worcester, optioning left-hander Raymond Burgos to clear a spot.
Two days later, Martinez made his only appearance in a Boston uniform, working a scoreless-looking inning on the surface until the box score settled: one inning against Toronto, two hits, one earned run, and a strikeout.
The Red Sox designated him for assignment the next day. He passed through waivers unclaimed and was outrighted back to Worcester on August 14.
Because he had been outrighted before, he could have rejected the assignment and become a free agent immediately. He stayed, finished the year with the WooSox, and only then exercised his right to walk.
The résumé underneath that short Boston chapter is longer than the 2026 line suggests. Martinez, an Arizona native who pitched at Arizona State and was taken by Oakland in the 17th round of the 2016 draft, debuted with Houston in September 2021 and spent the next three full seasons in the Astros bullpen.
Across six major-league seasons, he has a 6-6 record, two saves, and a 4.03 earned-run average in 145 innings, almost all of them with Houston.
A low arm slot, a sinking fastball in the low 90s, and a sweeping slider have been the tools. After Houston he surfaced with Miami in 2025, threw 6⅔ innings, was outrighted, and elected free agency that September before landing in Boston.
He is out of minor-league options, which narrows the market. Any club that wants him on the active roster will have to keep him there or risk losing him on waivers.
For a pitcher whose recent big-league work amounts to a handful of innings with the Marlins and a single frame with the Red Sox, that is a hard sell. Still, six seasons of major-league service and a career mark just over 4.00 are enough to draw another minor-league deal with a spring invitation somewhere. That is the lane Martinez has occupied for the last two winters, and it is the one he is entering again.
