The biggest piece of non-news this winter has been the speculation around the D-backs looking to trade three-time All-Star second baseman, Ketel Marte. The question of what “looking to” meant was rapidly glossed over, in a fever of breathless speculation and click-bait articles. Rampant rumor-mongering followed, with fanbases and writers from Boston to Seattle speculating how they would potentially acquire one of the best players in baseball, on a highly team-friendly contract. These were fueled largely by clubhouse rumblings from after the All-Star break, and Marte’s imminent arrival at 10/5 rights, which include the ability for the player to veto any trade. There was just one problem.
“It never ended up getting that close. Just sort of reaffirming what I’ve been saying the entire offseason, like my expectation was this wasn’t going to happen. I felt like I had to do my job just to listen to what people had to say. He’s a superstar player for us, and has been for a long time, and is going to continue to be.” — GM Mike Hazen
Yep, multiple sources this morning are reporting that the Diamondbacks have pulled the plug on Marte trade discussions. I don’t blame them for listening, certainly. There should never be any player who is utterly untouchable. But it seems that the Arizona front office set a price – most likely involving MLB ready starting pitching – which nobody was willing to meet. The D-backs, again understandably, refused to budge, and the whole thing really proved to be a case of much ado about nothing. All those sites are going to need to find something else to rosterbate about.
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What this should probably mean, however, is an end to speculation linking the Diamondbacks to third-baseman Alex Bregman. It had been floated that the team could trade Marte to open up salary room (and address areas like starting pitching), and then use the additional space to make a play for free-agent third baseman Bregman. With Marte now firmly remaining with Arizona, we can put that idea to bed. There is still likely some room for further spending by the team. But there are a lot of holes to be filled, potentially including the bullpen, designated hitter and left-field, and the odds of a “big ticket” signing appear to be significantly diminished after today’s news.