Padres, Nick Martinez agree to reported 3-year, $26M deal

Nick Martinez isn't going anywhere.

The San Diego Padres and the free-agent reliever agreed to a three-year, $26-million contract plus incentives, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

"I love the city," Martinez said Wednesday, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. "The fans were incredible. The support, the love. I feel like they have the same desire to win as the team does. Obviously, you talk about the clubhouse, how great the group of guys are, it was really a no-brainer."

Martinez opted out of his previous contract with the Padres last Thursday, choosing to leave three years and $19.5 million on the table in favor of free agency.

The new agreement could rise from $26 million to at least $42 million over the three years through a series of options and bonuses, sources told Dennis Lin of The Athletic. Next winter, San Diego will have a club option on Martinez for the 2024 and '25 seasons at $16 million a year. If the team declines those options, Martinez can either exercise a pair of $8-million player options or opt out again.

Martinez also gets a series of performance incentives based on both starting and relieving, as well as escalator clauses for the options, according to Lin.

The 32-year-old originally joined the Padres last spring after completing a dominant four-year run in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. A starter in Japan, Martinez made 10 starts with San Diego early in 2022 before finding sustained success in the bullpen.

He was an important reliever for manager Bob Melvin, holding opponents to a .599 OPS while posting a 2.67 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and eight saves in 37 relief appearances.

Martinez will be the second Padres reliever to return to the team after briefly testing free agency. San Diego re-signed reliever Robert Suarez to a five-year, $46-million contract last Thursday.