It was about as short as call-ups get. The Red Sox selected Seth Martinez's contract to the big leagues just 3 days before cutting him loose, and in between he got into exactly one game — an inning that cost him a run on 22 pitches. That's the whole tenure.
The move itself is roster math more than a referendum on Martinez specifically. Boston needed a spot for lefty reliever Alec Gamboa, who got the call up from Triple-A Worcester, and because Martinez is out of minor league options, the Sox couldn't just option him down — they had to DFA him first. He cleared waivers and has now been outrighted, the formal step that opens the 40-man spot back up while keeping him in the organization's minor league pipeline.
This isn't Martinez's first rodeo with roster churn. The 31-year-old righty, an Arizona State product, is in his 6th season of big league ball, bouncing between Houston, Miami and now Boston. Across those stops he's a 4.03 ERA pitcher with a 20.5% strikeout rate, limited more by stuff than results — he sits 90-91 mph, light for a modern bullpen arm. He's typically been sharper at Triple-A (3.71 ERA over 208 2/3 innings there for his career), though this year was rougher, a 5.55 ERA in Worcester driven by too many homers allowed.
There's a wrinkle here worth watching: because Martinez has already been outrighted once before in his career, he now has the right to reject the assignment to Worcester and elect free agency instead if he clears waivers again. For a reliever fighting for whatever bullpen innings are left in August, that's a real decision — stick in the Red Sox system as organizational pitching depth, or test the market for a team that might carry him on an active roster.
None of this moves the needle much for a Boston club managing the stretch run, but it's a reminder of how thin the margin is for fringe relievers right now. One bad inning, and a 40-man spot is gone to make room for the next arm up.