Nick

Martini

Martini became a free agent earlier in the week when he refused an outright assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque from the Rockies. The 34-year-old outfielder returns to the team that he broke into the big leagues with during the 2018 season, but if he couldn’t hold a roster spot on perhaps the worst team in the history of baseball, his chances of seeing meaningful run with the A’s seem low.

Martini is a near-lock to elect free agency and search for an opportunity elsewhere after being removed last week from Colorado’s 40-man roster. The 34-year-old journeyman outfielder hit .225/.288/.294 in 111 plate appearances over 43 games this season for the Rockies.

Martini lasted weeks longer than he should have, if he even should have been on the roster in the first place. The 34-year-old journeyman was hitting .225/.288/.294 in 111 plate appearances. For better or worse, the Rockies will probably simply turn his at-bats over to Sam Hilliard.

It was surprising that Martini made the Rockies out of spring training, and it’s even more surprising that he’s still with the club now, given that he’s hitting .230/.294/.300 and he’s driven in a total of four runs in 109 plate appearances. Four! The Rockies don’t have any outfielders banging down the door for a callup, but they might as well give Martini’s at-bats to Tyler Freeman and see what he can do with them.

Tovar will get a rare day off for the series finale against the Brewers. Kris Bryant will also take a seat, as will Hunter Goodman. Kyle Farmer will hit third and play shortstop in Tovar’s place, while Jacob Stallings is catching and hitting ninth and Nick Martini serving as the DH and hitting fifth.

Jordan Beck was sent down Monday to create a spot. Veen, who was considered for the outfield this spring, will make his major league debut after opening up with a .387/.472/.677 line in eight games for Albuquerque. He’s primarily played right field in the minors, so we imagine he’ll start there over Nick Martini most nights. He’ll probably do some sitting against lefties, though. Mixed leaguers with an open roster spot could give him a try. He’ll get three home games against Milwaukee this week before the Rockies begin a tough road trip to San Diego and Los Angeles. Not many of their hitters will be worth using during that sequence.

The 23-year-old outfielder was off to a sizzling start at Triple-A, hitting .387 (12-for-31) with a homer, eight RBI and a stolen base through his first eight games. Rosenthal notes that he’s expected to play in the corner outfield spots for the Rockies, which could cut into the playing time of Nick Martini and Mickey Moniak. Jordan Beck is expected to be optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move. The Rockies aren’t promoting Veen to sit on the bench, so he’s immediately worthy of an addition in any fantasy leagues where he may be available.

With the Phillies starting left-hander Cristopher Sanchez, the Rockies will keep Nick Martini on the bench and let Bouchard patrol the outfield. This should be the platoon situation for the immediate future.

We’ve seen this movie before. Martini got off to a red-hot start with the Reds last year before falling off fantasy radars. The 34-year-old is currently a regular starter against right-handed pitching, which may give him short-term value in deeper formats given his home park, but we wouldn’t recommend chasing this in most formats.

Martini has somehow beaten out top prospect Zac Veen for a spot on Colorado’s season-opening roster. The 34-year-old journeyman is a perfectly serviceable emergency stopgap option, but it’s puzzling that the Rockies are going to roll with him over Veen. He batted .212 with five homers in 52 games last year for the Reds. Martini can be safely ignored in all fantasy formats with the exception of deeper NL-only leagues.