The Associated Press

BOSTON - Pedro Martinez has stopped contract negotiations with the Boston Red Sox and will test the free agent market after this season, news reports said.

Martinez has asked his agent to notify general manager Theo Epstein and team president Larry Lucchino that he no longer will talk about his contract with the club during the season.

The story was first posted on the Boston Herald's Web site Friday night. The Boston Globe and the Hartford Courant also reported in Saturday's editions that Martinez will test the free agent market.

Martinez's agent, Fernando Cuza, did not respond to a message from the Associated Press seeking comment early Saturday.

"I'm just really sad for the fans in New England who had high hopes that at this time I could say, truly, that I was going to stay in Boston, but now they're going to have to compete with the rest of the league," Martinez told the Herald on Friday before the team was scheduled to play in Texas.

He is 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA in his seventh season with the Red Sox and was scheduled to pitch Saturday night.

"It is club policy not to comment on contract negotiations during the season," Epstein, who was not in Arlington, said through a Red Sox spokesman Friday night.

Martinez is making $17.5 million this season. He accused the Red Sox of raising questions about his right shoulder to bring down his salary or threaten his chances of signing with another team.

"If you don't want me, it's OK. Just let me go with somebody else. Don't try to damage my future by just sneaking things around when I didn't do anything to this management or the fans," said the right-hander, who is 170-69 in his career with a 2.62 ERA.