Boston Red Sox' Critical Bullpen Member Dealing with Minor Injury
2:59 p.m. ET UPDATE: It's groin tightness for Martin, per Rob Bradford of WEEI:
Right groin tightness for Chris Martin. Precautionary.
While we don't have any firm details yet, the Boston Red Sox will certainly be holding their breath on critical bullpen member Chris Martin, who walked off the field on Saturday before barely getting his work in.
Per Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe:
Chris Martin threw two warmup pitches prior to his live BP and walked off the mound. Not sure what happened yet.
Already dealing with an injury to Kenley Jansen, the Red Sox can't afford to miss Martin also. The 37-year-old had an incredible season for Boston in 2023, going 4-1 with a 1.05 ERA in 55 games. The eight-year veteran has spent time with the Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers in his career. Martin has served exclusively as a reliever, making all 324 career appearances out of the bullpen.
Lifetime, he's 13-17 with a 3.36 ERA. He also has 12 career saves and would be in line for saves in Boston if Jansen isn't ready for the season when it begins March 28.
The Red Sox are coming off a season in which they finished last in the American League East for the third time in four years. If they are going to surprise anyone in baseball this year, they'll need to have almost everything go there way, and thus far it hasn't.
In addition to Jansen's injury, and now Martin's concern, Lucas Giolito is likely out for the season and Vaughn Grissom is slated to start the year on the injured list with a groin problem.
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