St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Carlos Martinez was arbitration-eligible for the first-time in his career. The Cardinals decided to buyout Martinez arbitration years, and signed him to a five-year contract, worth $51 million. The contract has two option years, so it could go through 2023. The first option is worth $17 million, and the second option is $18 million. So, the total value of the contract could be $85.5 million. The contract is the largest ever for a first-time arbitration-eligible pitcher, that record had previously belonged to Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber back in 2015.Martinez, 25, was signed as a free-agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2010. He's since evolved into an ace for the Cardinals pitching staff. In 2016, Martinez won a career high 16 games. The 16 wins were good for 5th in the National League. He started 31 games, and had 20 quality starts (good for 6th). He pitched 195.1 innings (10th), his era was 3.04 (9th). While doing all of that, Martinez was able to hold opponents' to a .233 batting average (12th).
Behind him, Martinez, had 33 double plays turned. He was only one-shy of the franchise record. His ground-ball rate was 57.7 and ranked second in the NL.
Martinez' career stats: 34 wins, 21 loses, 3.04 era, 140 games, 68 starts, 2 saves, 466 strikeouts, 178 walks, 492.2 innings, and a whip of 1.29.
Getting Martinez signed long-term has helped give the Cardinals a solid offseason after signing free agents Brett Cecil, and Dexter Fowler. The Cardinals could use another outfielder before the season starts. Will that happen? Who knows. It would be nice if it did.
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