Diamondbacks officials met Ketel MarteCharisse Espinosa-Dash’s agent at general managers’ meetings this week, but the D’Backs “don’t appear to have a clear idea of which teams Marte would be willing to approve a deal with,” writes Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Marte has full trade protection as a 10 and 5 player, so even though he’s one of the most prominent trade candidates this offseason, it’s possible Marte stays in Arizona simply because he’s not interested in changing teams.
This puts the D’Backs in a somewhat awkward position, especially since the impending lockout will halt all trading activity for what could last months. If Marte is not dealt by 10:59 p.m. CT on December 1 (when the current collective bargaining agreement expires and the league is expected to lock out players), uncertainty over his future will continue to linger over all of the Diamondbacks’ remaining offseason plans.
As Piecoro puts it, “the Diamondbacks seem to have no choice but to blindly try to make the best deal possible without knowing if Marte will approve of it.” As for what that better deal might entail, Piecoro writes that the D’Backs looked at all kinds of trades in their initial discussions about Marte — bringing in prospects only, trading the second baseman for other established big league talents, or a trade package of veteran and younger talent.
General manager Mike Hazen understandably didn’t go into detail about the Marte negotiations, but the executive expressed some regret over focusing on young, MLB-ready players in past trades of star players such as Zack Greenke Or Paul Goldschmidt. This could suggest that Hazen is looking to add only the best talent available (whether current big players or longer-term prospects) while shopping Marte, which is probably a logical approach since Hazen’s options are already limited by Marte’s non-trade leverage.
One option still under consideration is moving Marte to another player with a large contract, for salary compensation purposes. The Diamondbacks “didn’t seem to be leaning in that direction,” as Piecoro said Arizona’s preference would be to cut a portion of Marte’s remaining $91.75 million salary and then reinvest that money into other team needs. That $91.75 million figure is a bit higher than the $87.5 million Marte was owed under the initial terms of his contract, as Piecoro learned from a source that Marte unlocked incentive bonuses based on plate appearances.
The Blue Jays, Giants, Mariners, Phillies, Pirates, Rays, Red Sox and Tigers all reportedly showed some interest in Marte last offseason, and Toronto’s interest continued this winter. As MLBTR’s Anthony Franco explored in a recent article on Marte’s potential market, Seattle, San Francisco and Pittsburgh are likely out of the running due to various factors that have emerged over the last year. It’s also possible that Marte’s infamous no-show in a game in Boston last August completely deterred former contenders or any other team.
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