Chris Martin was coming off a solid, but unspectacular season with the Braves when he signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Cubs last March. One year later, he’s getting a LOT more than that from the Boston Red Sox:
Two years and $17.5 million at age 36! Good for you, dude.
In case you forgot, Martin had a solid first half in Chicago (30.1K%, 3.0BB% over 31.1 IP), which the Cubs parlayed into a trade for Zach McKinstry (Dodgers) at the deadline. Martin was then even better in L.A., posting a 1.46 ERA with a 37% strikeout rate and a 1.1% walk rate over 24.2 innings pitched. And now he’s being rewarded for it.
The Cubs do need an impact/back-end reliever, but are not really connected to the pricier end of the free agent relief market (except maybe Kenley Jansen?). So there’s probably no impact here.