Sep 9, 2019; San Francisco, CA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Starling Marte (6) runs towards home against the San Francisco Giants during the ninth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
According to Jon Heyman, the New York Mets have interest in trading for Pirates CFer Starling Marte.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody. The Mets have been rumored to be looking for a CFer all offseason to this point. Many have connected the dots to Starling Marte who has been rumored to potentially be on the market.
The Pirates are a team entering a rebuilding phase. They just fired their President, GM, and manager. They are looking to completely reshape their team. Moves like those usually come with selling off older pieces who are nearing the end of their contracts. Marte fits that bill.
Marte is 31-years old, and is under contract for 2020 at just $11.5 mil and he has a team option for 2021 at just $12.5 mil. That’s an excellent price for the final years of Marte’s prime.
Marte is an excellent player. Offensively he’s one of the best CFers in baseball. He put up a 119 wRC+ last season, which was the sixth-best of any CFer in MLB.
Defensively it’s a different story. Marte isn’t a poor defender in CF, but he isn’t good either. He was above average in CF in 2018, but saw a steep decline in 2019. He’s now a fringe-average defender at the position, and that’s more likely to get worse than better.
He would bring a speed dynamic that the Mets have lacked for years as well. He stole 25 bases in 2019 and 33 in 2018. The Mets have been desperate for speed on the bases for years.
The issue was Marte has never really been about the player. It’s always been about what the Mets would have to give up in a deal for him. The deal would likely have to be centered around JD Davis or Dom Smith for there to be a real chance to get a deal done.
If not the Mets are likely going to have to look to deal multiple top prospects to get a deal done. Former Mets GM Jim Duquette outlined what he would expect the deal to look like yesterday on SNY.
A reminder that Jim Duquette was very close to the value of what the Mets ended up giving up for Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano last offseason. This would be a steep price to pay for Marte. Especially after dealing so many prospects for Marcus Stroman, Diaz, and Cano last season.
This post was published on 2019-11-23 14:42
