On Tuesday, the Atlanta Braves re-signed another piece of their bullpen. The team struck a deal with right-hander Chris Martin. The two sides agreed upon a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $14 million.
The re-signing of Martin is a notable pick up for the Braves as they look to improve upon their patchwork bullpen of 2019. The Braves added Will Smith this year, as well as re-signing Darren O’Day. The team looks to be heading in the veteran direction for the 2020 version of their bullpen.
The Acquisition
Martin will rejoin the team that traded for him at the deadline. The Braves sent to the Texas Rangers a highly touted pitching prospect Kolby Allard to secure his services. The 33-year-old pitched very well in 2019. The Braves are hoping he can improve upon his numbers heading into a full season with them.
All told, Martin had a 3.40 ERA across 55.2 innings pitched. He struck out 65 batters and kept the walks way down with a 0.8 BB/9. It seems that Martin has finally figured something out in the big leagues and could be a key arm in the Braves bullpen.
For the Braves, they will be adding Martin back into the mix of a seemingly underrated back end of the bullpen. The Braves already had Shane Greene and Mark Melancon to lock down the end of ball games. This move helps the depth of the bullpen and gives the Braves’ manager Brian Snitker plenty of options to mix and match.
Martin gets to continue a dream come true for him. Unfortunately, shoulder pain led to him having to give up his aspirations of baseball and pursue some other jobs. As Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, Chris Martin held a number of jobs while out of baseball. He worked at Lowe’s and UPS as well. Fortunately, Martin’s shoulder was not bothering him anymore and he was able to continue the pursuit of his dream.
