Rumor has it the Pittsburgh Pirates might be looking to trade some of their veterans, so does that mean the Atlanta Braves could make a move for one of their outfielders?
The Atlanta Braves currently have an outfield of Ronald Acuna, Ender Inciarte and a platoon of Nick Markakis and Adam Duvall.
Atlanta could be looking at upgrades in the outfield depending on what happens with Josh Donaldson at third base; that seems consistent with reports that the Braves are involved in the market for Marcel Ozuna.
If so, a cheaper alternative could be available – the Pittsburgh Pirates have an outfielder that might be of interest.
Starling Marte will be in his ninth season when the 2020 campaign starts, but the question now is where he will be playing.
Ben Cherington recently was hired as the new GM in Pittsburgh and while the organization has come out and said they are not shopping Marte, now might be the best time to move the 2016 All-Star.
He is coming off the best offensive season of his career. He hit 23 home runs, drove in 82 runs and had an OPS+ of 120.
Marte also has a very reasonable contract. He will earn $11.5 million next season and has a $12.5 million option in 2021 with a $1 million buyout.
What is concerning though is his decline in the field.
According to Baseball Reference, Marte had a defensive WAR last season of -0.7, which was tied for 137th among all center fielders. He was also minus-9 in Defensive Runs Saved.
In 2015, when he was arguably one of the best defensive outfielders in the game, he had a 2.0 defensive WAR and 24 defensive runs saved.
That is a pretty steep drop off, considering he has not dealt with many injuries. He missed some time in 2016 with a back injury, but that’s it. Marte was, however, suspended 80 games in 2017 for violating MLB’s PED policy.
Baseball Trade Values has Marte’s value at 18.6. Based on the responses from my Mitch Haniger trade yesterday, perhaps the masses don’t agree with the values attached to players on BTV.
However, that is the only light to guide me when assessing value.
So a possible deal might look like this:
There have been many who like the idea of trading for Marte, but the declining defense worries me, even if he would likely play left field.
If Atlanta is truly interesting in Marcel Ozuna, then a look at Marte seems like a reasonable possibility; overall there’s concern here that he just doesn’t seem like a great fit.