TODAY: The deal is now official.
YESTERDAY, 4:26pm: Zach Buchanan of The Athletic has tweeted the full breakdown. Marte will receive a $2MM signing bonus and $1MM salary for the coming season, followed by $2MM, $4MM, $6MM, and $8MM salaries through the guaranteed seasons (2019-22).
The options are valued at $10MM and $12MM, each of which come with a $1MM buyout. Incentives (details of which remain unknown) could tack on another $4MM overall.
11:41am: The Diamondbacks have agreed to a five-year, $24MM extension with middle infielder Ketel Marte, Robert Murray of FanRag reports. The deal also comes with a pair of option years worth a combined $22MM, which could make it a seven-year, $46MM pact. Marte is a client of the Legacy Agency.
The Diamondbacks already had Marte under control for the next half-decade, including four arbitration-eligible years, but the extension means they won’t go through that process at all with him. The Phillies made a similar decision Sunday when they signed infielder/outfielder Scott Kingery to a five-year, $24MM guarantee of his own.
The 24-year-old Marte is about to begin his second season in Arizona, which acquired him from Seattle in a blockbuster November 2016 trade. Because the deal also featured Taijuan Walker, Jean Segura and Mitch Haniger, Marte flew under the radar at the time, especially after enduring a rough 2016 with the Mariners. Marte impressed his new team last year, however, even though he didn’t post eye-popping offensive numbers in the majors.
After spending nearly the first three months of 2017 at the Triple-A level, where he raked over 338 plate appearances (.338/.391/.514 – good for a 135 wRC+), the Diamondbacks promoted Marte in late June. The switch-hitter went on to bat .260/.345/.395 (89 wRC+) with five home runs and three stolen bases in 255 PAs. To his credit, Marte collected nearly as many walks (29) as strikeouts (37), and as Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs wrote in December, there’s data suggesting he could be in line for a breakout. Marte was somewhat of a Statcast darling last year, evidenced by his 19th-place ranking in sprint speed and a quality xwOBA (.342).
While Marte’s only a .265/.319/.361 hitter (84 wRC+) with eight homers and 22 steals in 968 major league PAs, the D-backs seem optimistic he’s indeed capable of more in their uniform. And they saw him fare nicely in the field last season, where he logged four Defensive Runs Saved and a 1.1 Ultimate Zone Rating in 507 innings at shortstop. Marte’s now likely to give up short in favor of Nick Ahmed, a gifted defender who missed most of last season, and move to second. It’ll be a relatively new position in the bigs for Marte, who hasn’t lined up at the keystone since logging 31 innings there as a rookie in 2015.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Good for diamondbacks If good defense keeps coming and the bat really comes out
Wow, that trade just keeps on giving for both the Mariners and Dbacks. Good for the players.
Obviously I’m a little bummed that Marte didn’t show such a ceiling in Seattle, but I also sort of doubt he’d have found it. Also if the M’s didn’t have Haniger or Segura we’d be losing a few key factors of their offense.
Ketel is already a fan favorite here in AZ.
86 OPS plus, 1.1 WAR. Arizona must be betting on the break out, because he really hasn’t shown he’s as good as some people think he is.
1.1 WAR in 250 abs is not the same as 1.1 WAR over a full season. I agree this extension may be a little premature because I don’t think he’s a guy who will breakout but he still has a chance to be a solid regular.
I like Marte’s future. I am interested to see how he transitions to 2nd base. He appears to be a gamer and a real team player, but playing ss is obviously his preference.
That’s less than $5 million per year (excluding the two option years) for a solid all around player. He’s worth more than that. This is a great deal.
Hasn’t put a strong or healthy offensive season yet. Paying for potential, not production.
The team has given themselves cost certainty. They haven’t really given any sort of overpay. Given that he was in line for four years of arbitration raises, he was likely to earn close to the initial 5/24 anyway. All he had to do to earn that was be the player he has already been, both in Seattle and in Arizona.
The team has protected themselves AGAINST his having a breakout season and turning into a star that could command more. Additionally, if he develops into more than a 2-win player, the team has a pair of years that they can choose to keep him for only $11 million, which would be a discounted rate. If he continues to be a 1.0-1.5 player, they can simply let him go after the initial five seasons are up and still have broken even.
Doesn’t say if it’s a team, player or mutual option.
The options are team options.
The trade has worked out great for both teams. Zac Curtis is a non factor, but Mitch Haniger showed great potential in 2017, Jean Segura hit .300 again, and got an extension. Now Marte has a team friendly extension after a pretty decent season, and Taijuan Walker was very good in his first season with AZ. One of the few 5+ player deals that work out for both teams.
Odd player, his numbers improved with each step up the minor league ladder seemingly without any adjustment period.
Pretty sure Jeff Sullivan has him pegged for a likely breakout should he be given the playing time. This extension seems to help that scenario come to fruition, should it be imminent.
He’s a very underrated player imo
There’s not much to rate. He didn’t even have half a season worth of ABs last year and the only time he has was his last in Seattle. He flopped there. He’s young and has the potential but there’s no way to say he’s underrated at this point. Has to show something for a full 162 first.
Phillies (Kingery) Reds (Suarez), Red Sox (Vazquez) Astros (Altuve) Dbacks (Marte) extensions, this off-season.
One has to wonder has this off-season influenced the player’s thinking at all into accepting extensions.
Probably not
Cardinals (DeJong) Padres (Hand) Forgetting anyone else
Pirates (Rivero)
“One has to wonder has this off-season influenced the player’s (sic) thinking at all into accepting extensions…Probably not.”
Sorta curious why you don’t see any connection, xabial. Spare a clue?
Appears to me that the depressed FA market created the context for those extensions. Wouldn’t have the latter if not for the former.
I would say it certainly has. No player wants to be stuck in QO limbo like Mike Moustakas. Mid level FA’s aren’t getting the years and the money anymore. I’m certain it’s had some degree of influence.
This guy is a breakout waiting to happen
Or a utility fielder waiting to happen. Gordon Beckham looked like a star in the making. Both player and team take the risk. Hopefully, this works out for both.
So if he busts, the D-Backs are on the hook for a measly (in baseball terms) $24mm over several years. Or they could sign a “free agent” who would command a 3-4 year deal for $60mm-$80mm? and then they are hurt of regress too, so it’s just a hedge at this point. I much prefer getting some money into younger players hands. No more $100mm contracts for past performance. We should be betting on the future. Not paying for the past.
Wow!
The Diamondbacks are setting a great example. I hope more baseball pundits write about this particular deal and we should all be very hopeful this becomes a trend. I just like how this whole deal is structured. This is precisely what teams should be doing. Betting on young players, incentivizing them, getting them some money at young ages and potentially obtaining value in the process.
Marte will be 31 (if option years are picked up) having made $46mm and then if playing well, could always get another free agent deal for a couple years.
This is so much better than playing for $500k for what? 6-8 years, become a free agent at 28, get a bloated $150mm contract and be worth $10mm.
While teams have been doing some variation of this for a while, this is one of the better examples and expect to see it become a trend. One more JD Martinez type of deal and my head might explode.
Im not sure deals like these incentivize the player anymore than their arbitration years would. Had he went to arb and tore it up he’d make a good amount more. Now, I don’t think these guys need an extra motivation they’re already playing at the highest level but I definitely don’t think these contracts do anything for motivation.
The Cardinals have been doing these type of deals for quite a long time now. It’s nothing new
Marte definitely has not torn it up in the Majors.