Nick Martinez, Michael Wacha likely heading to free agency after Padres decline their club options

Nick Martinez has been one of the San Diego Padres most valuable arms so he’ll be missed if he ends up going to free agency and signing elsewhere. Him going to free agency seems likely at the moment, as Kevin Acee reported this afternoon that he and the Padres have declined their options.

The Padres had a $16 million club option for each of the next two seasons and Martinez could have taken his $8 million player options for 2024 and 2025.

Dennis Lin tweeted earlier in the day that Martinez is now represented by Scott Boras, which makes this news unsurprising.

Martinez could end up signing a new deal with San Diego before free agency begins after this weekend but him hiring Boras makes that seem unlikelier than this time last year when he ended up returning coming off an NLCS appearance.

Martinez made nine starts last season, posting a 2.32 ERA, but the majority of his work came as a reliever (4.12 ERA in 54 games).

The only club option decision left for the Padres was Michael Wacha’s and according to Dennis Lin, San Diego has also declined his.

Wacha has a $6.5 million player option but there’s no way he’s taking that when he could earn double that in free agency per year. The 32-year-old posted a 3.22 ERA last season in his first year with the Friars.

He was able to make 24 starts and would’ve made more if he didn’t go on the IL with shoulder inflammation. Whoever signs Wacha probably has to figure he’s going to get hurt at some point during his next contract. They just have to hope it’s not for an extended period of time.

The Padres rotation only has two starters in it at the moment: Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove. Both ended the season on the IL.