The Rangers re-sign veteran Chris Martin

Tuesday night at 5 p.m., Jeff Passan reported that the Rangers had reached an agreement with Chris Martin on a one-year contract.

Martin posted a 2.98 ERA over 49 appearances in 2025. He posted a 2.20 ERA in the first half of the season and a 5.59 ERA in 9.2 innings in the injury-riddled second half. Martin had a good year for the Rangers and was their go-to guy in the 8th inning, where he had a 3.16 ERA in 25.2 innings, and he pitched a total of 9 innings in the 9th inning, where he posted a 2.00 ERA.

Chris Martin fits the criteria the Rangers like, pitchers who fill the strike zone. In his career, Martin has a career 3.3 BB%, so he certainly fills the zone. His stuff also scores well, most recently having an ERA+ of 124. All of his pitches also score above 100 on the Fangraphs Stf+ charts. Martin’s primary pitch is a cutter, he also occasionally features a 4-seam fastball, a splitter, a sinker and a sweeper. His best strikeout pitch in 2025 was his splitter, which he got at 38.9 K% and opponents hit .200 against. His cutter was hit a bit this year, with opponents hitting .310 against it. It appears that when opponents got hits against the field, Martin left them in the middle of the plate. In contrast, when batters swung and missed, he got the ball at the corners of the plate. If the Rangers and Chris Martin can reduce the number of cutters hitting the middle of the plate, he will be very valuable to the Rangers, especially in high-leverage situations. Even at 39 years old, Chris Martin is still a good pitcher and can be effective in the major leagues.

Chris Martin is definitely a good addition to the Rangers bullpen and will be used in high leverage situations. The Rangers bullpen is now starting to take shape with three relief pitchers. Right now, the Rangers have Robert Garcia, Chris Martin, Cole Winn, Alexis Diaz, Tyler Alexander and most likely Luis Curvelo (in no particular order) in the bullpen. I would still like to see the Rangers add at least two more bullpen arms.

With the addition of Chris Martin, the Rangers remain “committed” to the bullpen market as the winter progresses. They are still looking for a starting pitcher, a right-handed bat and more bullpen arm(s).

Some weapons I would like to see the Rangers add are Hunter Harvey, Tyler Kinley, Taylor Rogers, Danny Coulombe and Shawn Armstrong.

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