The Mets are open to paying down part of Starling Marte’s contract to facilitate a trade, write Tim Britton and Will Sammon of the Athletic. There’s nothing to suggest a deal is imminent or guaranteed to happen at all, but the Mets could consider the veteran outfielder expandable.
After finalizing the Juan Soto signing, New York has an excellent outfield. Soto and Brandon Nimmo will play the corners. Tyrone Taylor had a nice first season in Queens and projects as the starter in center field. The Mets acquired defensive stalwart Jose Siri from the Rays last month. He’s a quality fourth outfielder who could cut into Taylor’s playing time up the middle.
The Mets don’t necessarily need to trade Marte. They’re willing to pay to stockpile depth under Steve Cohen’s ownership. Yet he’s probably fifth on their outfield depth chart and doesn’t have a great path to playing time. He’s no longer an option in center field at age 36. The Mets probably wouldn’t move Nimmo back to center field to force Marte into the lineup.
An outfield of Marte, Nimmo, and Soto would be limited defensively. The two-time All-Star would essentially be limited to a rotational corner role. He could pick up some at-bats at designated hitter, though the Mets are likely to add a first baseman and may want to leave DH playing time for some combination of Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and (if he’s not traded) Brett Baty. Marte doesn’t have the kind of power teams generally want from their primary DH regardless.
To find a taker, the Mets would need to eat a decent chunk of money. Marte is under contract for $19.5MM in the final season of a four-year free agent pact. If he were a free agent, he’d probably make a little less than half that. He’s coming off a league average .269/.327/.388 showing with seven homers through 370 plate appearances. Marte stole 16 bases in 17 attempts, though his defensive grades in right field have plummeted. His once elite speed is essentially average at this point. A bone bruise in his right knee cost him around seven weeks between June and August.
Marte is probably stretched as a regular, but there are teams that could give him more opportunity than the Mets can offer. Speculatively speaking, the Red Sox may be a fit as they search for a righty-hitting outfielder. The Guardians, Padres, Astros, Royals, Reds and Marte’s old team in Pittsburgh are other teams that could be in the market for corner outfield help.
Soto contract will prove to be a bad move. Just wait.
Oh brother. Premature celebration?
Agree.
$765M over 15 years…what could possibly go wrong?
@Billy
just call it what it is. $805 mil.
I wouldn’t be so sure what team is going to top a 10 year deal with 500MM+ at age 31 for Soto?
He’d be opting out of 10/460
Yes I know but you think he’s gonna risk opting out for a marginal pay raise? Whatever team will need to at least match the 51MM AAV
@Rey
As far as I can tell, he doesn’t have to opp out. The threat that he might could be triggered if he had a great run up to that period. I’d he stays healthy and has a MVP caliber year, they might just offer it to.
I just dont know what salaries will look like in 5 years. 5-6 years ago I couldn’t fathom harpers contract, which now looks like a steal. If soto has 5 more elite years, what will these top players command as a salary?
I think the mets are foolish for not frontloading it more – say 55 a year for the first 5 – so that he’d be opting out of 10/410 instead. By that time, someone going 8/440 prob wouldnt be outlandish.
If Soto has an incredible 1st 5 years as a Met and is in a position that he thinks he can get more money by opting out, Cohen can block it by paying him $4 million more. If he doesn’t play well enough to get more than $51 million he will not opt out. Either way he will stay a Met.
Ma, the Mets did front load to a point by giving Soto a record signing bonus of $75 million. His annual salary is $46 million.
@best. True but i thought they’d do even more. Im assuming they want him to opt out bc the rest of the contract is inane.
@Ma4170,
I don’t agree with your assumption they want him opting out at 31. For context, Lindor’s heading into his age 31 season. Ohtani will be 31 in July. Mookie Betts is 32.
Most likely, Soto will be a Met for the rest of his career.
@longtime
If that’s the case, then as a Met fan I don’t like the contract. After 32, I doubt he’ll have many elite level years, but they’ll be paying him $50M a year for 7-8 more years
I really only want him for his prime of 26-30, and then say thanks for the production, we’ll spend the big money on the next top talent who’s available
Do like the Yankees did with Ellsbury… find some obscure way to break the contract. Have him sit down with Dr Dre and claim he saw a doctor that wasn’t in the Met’s system.
Nothing could go wrong if the owner doesn’t allow the contract to prevent the team from adding talent.
Hahaha
keep hatin’
Mvp, WS, HOF
Book it
How long should we hold our breath?
Wideworldofsports:
Meaning what exactly? That Soto won’t be the great hitter he’s been his entire career? That the Mets won’t have the money to buy whatever player they want regardless? What exactly is your point?
the mets will end up becoming who they’ve been. They will find a way. Whether it’s cespedes on his farm, bonilla contract, diaz injury. They will find a way.
The Mets were able to void the Cespedes deal after the farm so that helped them and the Bonilla “contract” was a buy out put into an annuity. The Mets didn’t lose money on that, you just don’t understand how annuities work. And Diaz got hurt for one year. That’s never happened to anyone before.
Wide world of sports:
And here’s where you lose credibility. Many times organization winning and losing is a cyclical thing. Most organizations are not just who they are. Many organizations go through cycles of being good and being bad so they’re not going to go back to “who they were” simply because of the laundry that they wear. They have been to the World Series several times and won two World Series. So who exactly are they? Were they just not being “who they are” in those seasons?There’s different leadership in charge, including one of the best executives in the game
Whooo…..
What is with these arguments here?
Steven Cohen became the owner of the Mets in October, 2020.
David Stearns became the head baseball person in October, 2023 (one year ago).
The franchise is under new ownership and new management.
What happened years ago has nothing to do with this organization. In fact, what has been done the past year is nothing short of remarkable. Sets a high bar for the next few years.
Cespedes, Bonilla. That was Wilpon karma.
Cohen has put his team in playoffs twice in 4 years after just two playoff appearances in the last 14 years. Then he went out and signed the best free agent available and has said he is willing to spend whatever it takes to win. The Cohen Mets are not your daddy’s Mets.
Injuries happen. Diaz didn’t die. He had a good but not great 2024 and will be a Met for at least one more year, possibly 3.
Cohen could pay Bonilla out, but he thinks its fun, so thats that.
it probably brings in money at this point. Who in baseball hasnt heard of bobby bonilla day heck its advertised on the news every year when he gets his million bucks.
You’re living in the past. Cohen is very much not Fred Wilpon.
Not really going out on a limb now with that prediction. The Mets know the back end is gonna be brutal but if he gives them a 7-10 year window to win it’s worth it to Cohen. Mets are one of the few teams were overpaying a player isn’t a hindrance to the team.
Thank you!
@Reyday The back end might be brutal or at the very least have impact full decline in production. On field production is only a portion of what these contracts are about. The players are the key that drives MLBs product. And aging players typically have far more name recognition and marketability. Simply put they help generate revenue even when on field production is in decline.
Ultimately MLB is a business and businesses are out to generate profit. Cohen didn’t build a tens of billions fortune being financially ignorant.
Cohen clearly made two tens of billions through insider trading, bribery, general chicanery, and thieving. The American Way, in sum.
I disagree with you there Pujols, Miggy, even Trout as soon as their production dwindled their name wasn’t a big factor in driving money or views. Like I said thought if Soto buys the Mets a window of 7-10 years to win I think it’s worth it in end considering how money isn’t a big factor to Cohen. It’s more about winning than anything and changing the culture for the team.
@JackStrawb,
So you say.
@Rey You care to provide the financial figures supporting that the revenue they in particular generated dwindled?
Here in Detroit I can tell you first hand Miggy was still a household name and Tigers merchandise all over had Cabrera more than any other name on it. He still could be seen in ads and while nearing milestones games were all selling out.
Now I’d assume all three that you mentioned saw the revenue directly related to them decline. They still however had name recognition, the fact you mentioned them actually supports that. Point being they all are some of the most recognized names of the past few decades and that has value and creates revenue.
@Tigers Miggy started to decline in 2017 with his first ever negative WAR season.
Tigers Revenue by year 2017 – 277MM
18’ – 276MM
19’ – 276MM
20’ – 111MM
21’ – 268MM
22’ – 260MM
23’- 306 MM (Last year Miggy played)
Those guys will always be household names because they are all HOFers but it doesn’t always translate to revenue if the product on the field turns bad because of their contracts/performance.
@Reyday You abruptly cut off there….
16′-286M
17′-254M
Now let’s take a look at teams opening day payrolls for those years.
16′-204M
17′-199M
18′-125M
19′-115M
20′-43M (covid)
21′-80M
22′-135M
23′-122M
Just not seeing a chane in revenue when Miggy was pretty much lone big name left. Payroll drastically decreased as well which looking at revenue we can see profits increased.
So again the players you mentioned have a name recognition and faces of franchises. These franchises continue to rake in revenue with their product which is professional sports. And the main assets of pro sports are the athletes. Fans want their teams to win, but they also want players to root for. Rooting for someone requires being aware of who they are which as you even said they are household names.
@Tigers
What aren’t you getting, Tigers revenue went down 4 out of the 6 years that Miggy was in decline. I’ll give you the last year Miggy played that definitely brought in eyes and money. But they literally matched that this year 2024 without him when it was suppose to be a “down” year and they had the 4th lowest payroll in baseball and still took home north of 300MM in revenue.
Revenue stayed fairly constant coming out of a pandemic and was right in range of $270M. That was while they went further and further from contending, coming out of a pandemic, and got rid of basically every big name player outside of Miggy.
They also slashed payroll increase profits by nearly $100M. All the while revenues remained relatively constant. Again pro sports are driven by the players and players with name recognition is who fans think of and drives the sport.
As we can see with the revenue it stays fairly constant. In today’s game ballpark revenue is a small portion of what teams bring in. Tigers gutted team as salaries were exploding. There was a sudden spike 1 yr into tearing team apart then the floor dropped out. Meanwhile revenue stayed fairly stable.
You can try and deny it all you want, the #s say otherwise. These players might not produce on the field but there names bolster the brands they represent. Those brands being the franchises they play for and MLB as a whole.
I noticed you didn’t respond to the last part where Tigers had the 4th lowest payroll in baseball last year (No Miggy) and expected to be a down year as before. Yet they still exceeded revenue from 2023 the last year of Miggy deal?
Do you really think people come to watch a 40 year old hit .257 with 4 homeruns ?
Let’s go back to my very first comment. What I was actually asking was only the revenue directly attributed to Miggy and the other 2. Which we know we aren’t going to find figures on obviously. So any thing you are blaming revenue trends for is purely speculation.
You also seem to want to blame one particular star and mega salary yet ignore the 2 who left(Verlander and Scherzer) and tie everything to one player. You also point out it’s impact on viewing, which is irrelevant. TV deals up until recent bankruptcy were signed for multiple yrs and were a fixed # so the TV revenue was already a constant throughout that time.
And yes Comerica was sold out as he was chasing 500 HRs and 3000 hits. They also were packed in as remaining games of his career were being played. Sadly they were staffed for smaller crowds and didn’t bother hiring for those surges so concessions were unreal and you’d lose at least an inning to a line.
As for 2024 the Tigers went on a historic run from Aug 10th on. No team has been that far out of a playoff spot and made playoffs in history of the game. Tigers games became something nobody would miss as Sept went on. So yes 2024 was unprecedented, which just like JV and Max u failed to mention at all.
Again revenues stayed pretty constant even while down or up and profits surged when payroll dipped. These teams make $ regardless and they do so because of the stars that make the sport what it is.
Ok I’m not gonna do this forever since it’s not getting thru. I mentioned Miggy as a couple names didn’t single him out. You actually did. So I responded to that. Max was gone by 2014 and Verlander mid 2017, those guys were still quality players by the time they left.
The whole point was that the backend of these contracts restrict 95% of the teams that sign them aside from maybe 2-4 teams who can afford. So it lessens the product on the field. I never said it’s the only factor just that it’s a factor.
The 2024 Tigers had a .02 % odds at playoffs August 11th. It wasn’t until the last week or two people actually realized they had a real shot. That doesn’t make up for the other 5 1/2 months of baseball revenue.
Are you kidding me??? Tigers were gaining a ton of attention about 10 games into their surge. Well before the last week of the season.
The Tigers played Orioles in 2 of their last 5 series and KC was another one of the 5. All while the Twins had already been in a nosedive. Those series against the O’s and KC were being eyed for awhile as a realistic shot at the Postseason.
It’s quite laughable you just toss out these assumptions. You can go ahead and look it up it was heavily reported on and followed closely well before end of Aug. Continued into Sept and by the last 2 weeks fans were following every inning. Which wasn’t really all by choice as they countless times came back in later innings refusing to lose.
Miggy had a great 2016 as did JV. KV however was coming off 2 seasons that were way down and going into 2017 there was much more concern for JV than Miggy.
Why do you people insist on pocketwatching one of the wealthiest men on earth? He clearly doesn’t care about the financial implications, and he got his man. Why do you care? I doubt it even stops them from getting whoever else they want.
Exactly, will be begging teams to take him in 3 years
Mad1:
Another jealous fan of another team. What destitute team do you root for? Yes, I’m sure in three years when Soto is 29 years old, the Mets are gonna be begging teams to take him away. Try waking up from that dream.
Ok, Yankee
Wrong thread. Do you have anything to say about Marte?
He’ll opt out after five and try to become the first billion dollar man
Cohen’s money. A mere accounting note at the next change of ownership. Hope he sells before he gets bored.
Highly unlikely he’s going anywhere. Cohen made billions in investing. With Mets he has an asset in which he can leverage the billions in value it is worth. Of that leverage $ he invests pays off loans against value at a rate lower then his ROI.
Then there’s the accounting practices. I can only imagine what these owners are getting away with maximizing the complex tax code in their favor and how much a pro sports franchise affords them in loopholes.
I wouldn’t count on Cohen being bored of owning the Mets. He’s been a Mets fan since he was a child. Owning the Mets is a dream come true. and he wants a bunch of championships.
And BTW, David Stearns has also been Mets fan since he was a child.
Just wait? Look at the two starting pitchers they signed and the rest of the rotation
He’s going to head back to the A’s.
That was my first thought
Marte, cash, and baty to oakland seems like a fit.
I could see something like that. What would NY get back? Mets wouldn’t give Baty away, especially if they’re paying down some of Marte’s salary.
Asfan0780:
I know Brett Baty’s stock has taken a considerable dip, but the Mets aren’t looking to give him away. What would they be getting back exactly? They’re not going to trade Marte just to clear salary and give up a player of value. The Mets don’t do business that way.
Mike, Verlander and Scherzer entered the chat. Marte is 36 and had a 0.7 WAR last year after -0.8 the year before. He has little to no value.
Mets can eat a big chunk of the money he is owed, say $15-16 million and get a couple of mid-level prospects or they can eat just a little and get some minor league filler.
Those are their options. Take your pick of poison.
Baseball is the best:
That wasn’t my point. My point is that there’s no reason to trade Baty along with him. I don’t believe Martha has any value. In fact, I think the smartest thing would be for the Mets just to keep him and play him part-time in the outfield and part-time DH.
I agree that it’s best that they don’t include Baty, but Cohen has shown that paying down contracts to get better prospect is a winning strategy for the team because he has the money to absorb the cost.
@Baseballisthebest Good username, but the assertion is absurd. Marte ‘has little to no value’ but some team is going to take on $3.5-4.5m in salary AND give up a couple of mid-level prospects? For Marte? Starling Marte?
How?
Why?
@Miken31 It all depends. Do the Mets think one of their OF prospects is worth bringing up as the team’s 5th OFer? They might also add some flexibility if that prospect can also play at least one IF position.
If no one’s ready hoping Marte can provide a league average bat, do some DH’ing and pinch running until someone is ready isn’t the worst plan.
And why does MLBTR shrink reply boxes ever smaller to the point where anything longer than four letters is broken to a new line?
JackStrawb:
Well, I don’t ever love the idea of bringing legitimate prospects up to sit on the bench. You might have tweener guys to do that but if someone like Gilbert is ready I certainly wouldn’t bring him up just to put him on the bench as a fifth outfielder. I don’t love that strategy. I’m pretty indifferent to keeping Marte or letting him go, but I wouldn’t let him go just for the sake of letting him go just to clear space on the roster unless there’s someone legitimately decent that they want to replace him with. I feel like what you said is kind of what I’m thinking. Let him DH a bit. Play some outfield. Some pinch hitting and pinch running. And if it seems like all of a sudden he’s completely hit a wall they can certainly move on from him.
Well, my question is why does MLBTR make it so impossible to try and follow replies and conversations from other people. I like to read responses and reply, but trying to read through these threads is like deciphering some kind of code.
Best, I don’t think any team is going to give up any decent prospects for Marte if they have to pay much more than major league minimum for him. He has been injured so much the last two seasons that he has been a replacement level player. No reason to give up prospects for that level of play. Just play the prospects.
To get decent prospects back, the Mets will have to pay almost all of his contract and include prospects along with him.
Jack, at this point the Mets don’t need a 5th OF. They have 4 OF now and options in McNeil and even Acuna if the need arises. Jett Williams and Drew Gilbert will be in Syracuse and if they play well could be called up to fill an injury related need.
If they sign a 3B, Vientos moves to 1B and Baty or Mauricio are bench players/DH. Before the injury Mauricio crushed RHP in Syracuse and with the Mets.
To me, Marte has no place on the team. Pay all of his salary and send a low level prospect (rookie/A/A+ ball) along with him to get someone that fills a need in AA or AAA.
Yes, McNeil and Acuna are outfielders 5 & 6…. Cohen can afford to eat the Marte contract, OR package Marte, a prospect, some cash to a team for relief help, pitching bullpen need or some depth pieces in minors AAA OR AA… Though they don’t need him as an outfielder, love to see a healthy left hand bat as DH Platoon option, Jesse Winker…. Don’t resign Iglesias, let one of the kids be back up infielder, OMG…..
Marte still has value.. His problem is staying healthy
@JackStrawb,
If Marte’s healthy he’ll have solid value. He hasn’t been healthy the past two seasons bu perhaps 2025 is new chapter
He still runs fast enough for bolts, has cannon for arm, and fast bat. He’s an experienced pro,
Mason Miller come on, we’ll pay 1/2 of Marte’s $$
@jvent: Oh boy. Another “take our unwanted junk for something great back please” fever dream.
This jvent ninja honestly believes a paid off Starling is good enough to get Mason Miller? LMFAO!
Add $100 milly and Oakland bites.
jvent, that is some top shelf sarcasm.
No chance he’s headed back to oakland
@Asfan0780: “Marte, cash, and baty to oakland seems like a fit”
Since there are rumors of the As trying to raise payroll to not draw the ire of the other owners, I wouldn’t be surprised if the As did not insist on a bunch of cash being included in a potential Marte trade. They could add Marte’s salary and his contract is done at the end of the season. Could be a solid fit if the As payroll rumors are true.
Straight up for Andrew Benintendi. The White Sox will take him!
Maybe to the A’s. They need to spend more money.
The A’s already have five good outfielders. They need pitching. Every time an underwater contract is mentioned people assume the A’s will grab the player. But it has to fit team needs. Stroman, possibly; Marte, very doubtful.
They have two good outfielders.
Rooker, Butler, Andujar, Bleday? Not 5, but not 2,
Rooker is a DH. Andujar is a role player.
The A’s have Butler, Bleday, and Brown in the Of as of today. An above average Butler who put up a 3.0 WAR, a mediocre Bleday who put up an exactly league average 2.0 WAR, and a negative war platoon utility player in Brown.
The A’s need OF. That being said, Marte adds little to that group other than he is a RHB and Brown is a LHB.
That was kind of my point. What I should have said was that they have five outfielders better than Marte at this stage of his career. Butler, Bleday, Brown, Rooker and Ruiz. They need pitching.
Draker, my point is that they need OF. Marte is just not that OF they need.
Good luck with that.
hahahahhahahaaha
“Tyrone Taylor had a nice first season in Queens and projects as the starter in center”
Nothing abt this statement is even remotely accurate
Not going to argue with the first half of this but who are you projecting to start in CF?
Fangraphs has Taylor slotted in. Nimmo in CF with Soto in RF would risky defensively. Siri is a great defender but I don’t know if they’re going to start a guy who slashed .187/.255/.366 last year.
Its dec 10
You rly think mets are done dealing,signing?
Soto played with judge in cf last yr
Mets gonna roll with tyrone f’ing taylor?
Ahhh I see what you’re saying.
I mean you’re right that there is a lot of offseason left and they are not done adding, but until they make those acquisitions I don’t know how those currently unknown players could be projected to be starters
Mets will certainly sign 1 more bat which will help the fluidity of the lineup. For example if they bring back pete, then vientos can handle 3B, and mauricio or acuna can play OF. Acuna started 31 games in 2024 as CF, think thats a coincidence?
On that note, is jett, clifford, or gilbert ready yet? Now would be a good time to join the party & contribute
Yeah, this article appears to have quite a bit of speculation in it. What you quoted plus, “The Mets probably wouldn’t move Nimmo back to center field”. The Mets have not ruled anything out at this point so I don’t know where the author is getting this from.
Right now, it’d probably be Marte in LF, Nimmo in CF, Soto in RF. You have Taylor as a frequent late-game defensive sub (what he and Bader did last year; just now with Taylor and Siri). You have options of DH-ing Soto some days and options with playing Acuna and 2B and McNeil in the corner OF, where he’s not bad. Mauricio also has LF experience.
But that’s just right now. Plenty of time to make moves and you also have Drew Gilbert in the wings who is a CF. Injuries took away much of his 2024 but he did hit better in the last month of the season.
Did you watch Soto in RF at Yankee Stadium? Horrible defense all year! Dude needs to be in LF like the Padres played him and even then he’s really just a DH.
Kash, not true at all. He had a -1 DRS so he was about league average. His fielding run value or FRV on Statcast was also -1.
The hyperbole about his defense is way off base. He was not Tatis Jr. good but he was not Castellanos bad.
BB- Soto committed two errors in 143 games in the outfield this season, while throwing out 10 base runners. But other metrics are against him: Soto registered minus-four Outs Above Average, which was tied for 37th among qualified right fielders, while his minus-one Defensive Runs Saved were tied for 13th among right fielders who played at least 500 innings. This is telling, and compounded by his horrible routes. Please find a ’24 Soto miscue lowlight reel and watch his routes. His first step is usually quite laughable! He’s a DH in disguise, so best to hide him in LF, not RF.
RCT, from Stearn’s statement that Taylor and Siri would share CF.
@Baseballisthebest: ah, I didn’t see that. If true, then apologies to the article author. But my main points stand: Mets already have options but also could make another move.
Marte-Nimmo-Soto would be the worst defensive OF in MLB, by a wide margin.
Stearns said Taylor and Siri would share CF. Taylor probably gets the lion’s share of those starts.
Surprised taylor is taking some heat here. He was an average bat w strong defense. I think he even managed 2 war in 130ish games. Having him start in CF wouldnt be the end of the world.
It’s fan foolishness that demands every position be filled by an All-Star.
Try talking about the Mets going into ST with Mauricio as first on the depth chart at 3B, Baty second on the DC, and a solid IF backup like Iglesias to put a floor under the position if those two don’t cut it, and people lose their minds.
On that basis and with payroll capped at $350m, the idea of taking modest gambles and ‘letting the kids play’ can only be honored in the breach.
Mets should put a package together for CF Luis Roberts to White Sox, he was hurt last season and had an overall bad season… SOX asking for big package for Roberts……In 1968 Mets stole CF TOMMIE AGEE from White Sox in trade, led them to 1969 WS WIN….
I don’t mind you liking Roberts but he has actually been hurt and out in 4 of his 5 seasons. Agee had played 158 and 160 games in the 2 seasons before the Mets trade.
Roberts most games has been 145, then 100.
Perhaps Marte can be included in a trade for someone with a longer term deal like Arenado or Bellinger. I’d even consider Marte for Robbie Ray + Giants paying down a lot of his remaining salary
Wish in one hand and ….
Cubs do not need Starling Marte as an outfielder. I am sure there is a team that would like him if the Mets pay half the cost.
No way, Marte only has 1 year left, not taking back players with multiple years left
The Mets can’t wait for Marte’s deal to come off the books. They’re not trading it for another expensive deal for a fading vet like Arenado.
Bellinger to Mets would be sweet, CF/ 1st base, but another left handed bat as a starter in CF outfield is all left handed, Nimmo and Soto…..
The Red Sox are NOT a fit
Disagree
The Astros will not acquire Marte.
Marte and Mauricio to Cleveland for Josh Naylor?
I dont think they’d give mauricio straight up for naylor. Nothing against naylor, but they really love mauricio’s power/speed combo (as long as the speed is still there post surgery)
Cleveland wouldn’t give Naylor straight up for Mauricio. They don’t want another Amed Rosario.
Mets need to facilitate a trade of starling, baty and mcneil
For no reason whatsoever.
Great idea.
@johncoltrane – Not so easy with Marte & McNeil. Both guys have seen their best years, injury issues and combined have 53M left on their deals. They bring little value to anyone.
Baty should have some appeal to teams.
Send him back to Pittsburgh.
But can he still play RF? Roberts isn’t moving off LF, or shouldn’t at least.
His bat would improve that terrible lineup that only has a few major league hitters
The biggest troll:
He’s causing destruction to who exactly? He can easily afford it. Where is the destruction? And as far as Montas and Holmes, I can absolutely promise you the Mets are not done in terms of adding starting pitching. Those are back end guys, but they’re still looking to improve the front end of that rotation.
The biggest troll:
Well, of course you’re certainly entitled to your opinion. But for one I think they will bring Manaea back and he was very good last season. plus you have to consider the trade market. There’s always guys who are traded that are not rumored and that we don’t even know are available. So I think we have to let it play out and realize there’s options we may not even be aware of now. It’s not just free agents.
The biggest troll:
I totally agree Manaea is not an ace. I absolutely expect the Mets are going to acquire two more starting pitchers. They want to go with a six man rotation. So I think they’re going to sign Manaea and then acquire another pitcher. Besides even if they don’t get an ace right now, if they get two good pitchers, they can go into the season with that and revisit it at the trade deadline.
Resign Manaea and possibly Piveta… 6 man rotation…
Do you get paid to troll or is it for the love of the sport ?
Mets could consider the veteran outfielder expandable—-Expandable?
After a certain age, we all get a little expandable. Perhaps Marte is at that age.
I can relate.
That and the sag.
To mlb trade
Can you give an update on what teams are already in the lux tax and what the multiplier is for additional signings.
Mets trying to accommodate a horrific contract in order to accommodate a different horrific contract.
Man I don’t get this. Just hold on to him and play him at DH. The idea that you need to get power out of the DH spot doesn’t make a ton of sense to me. Like doesn’t production supersede everything else? Who cares if it’s from hitting dingers or just doing what healthy Marte does?
I agree as long as you have other power capable bats in the lineup
Sure, but Marte’s not a DH on a putative contender.
The only reason to do something like that is because you have some reason to believe Baty has figured it out over the winter and you’re willing to give him a month or two to prove it at DH. You hang onto Marte because you think he can be an average bat and put a floor under the position in case the gamble on Baty doesn’t pan out.
That and the fact that even $350m or whatever Stearns has to play with for 2025 only goes so far.
That’s about the only reason I can think of for a team that’s presumably looking to have at least a 3% chance at winning the WS to go into the season with Starling Marte as its 5th OFer.
Braves could use him. I know this would be a near impossible trade but… it’s a need of ours, we don’t want to eat that salary. And I’m sure we’d eat some of it and give up a decent prospect as a “rival” tax
@bravesfan: Please. No. Wake up from your fever dream. Come back to reality. I know we (your fellow Braves fans) are wondering if AA is going to try to plug some of the leaks, but don’t help the Mets. Never help the Mets. Let them struggle. Don’t extend a hand to help them and NEVER give them a prospect or anything else of use.
He’s also 36 and been hurt the last 2 years.
He can still hit, especially LHP, but he cant play a full year. He might be good in a strong side platoon somewhere.
@Ma4170: If “he can still hit, especially LHP” he’s not going to fill the “strong side platoon.” More rh starting pitchers than lh’er’s in MLB. A left handed hitter would be the strong side platoon player w/the righty Marte being the weak side guy.
This is what i get for responding when im exhausted. Weak side platoon, you’re absolutely right. My brain is fading.
@Ma4170: Lol, I get it. Been a long day on here.
Marte has no platoon split over his career. His splits just for 2024 have no statistical significance.
Clear split has developed last three years. OPS vs LHP 90 point higher in 2022, 50 points higher in 2023, and 145 points higher last year.
Just come back to Pittsburgh so I can hear Greg Brown’s Marte calls.
It’s a Mar-te Par-Tay
Marty Jannetty
You saw this coming when they signed Soto.
With his rep, they will have to pay a lot of that salary.
Uncle Steve is going to have to eat all that salary if he wants to move him.
Arenado, Siani, and cash for Marte, Siri, and Baty.
Was thinking maybe the Reds could be a fit with some of their bullpen arms. I thought I read somewhere that they would consider dealing Alexis Diaz? I wonder if there is something that could be worked out with Marte and Diaz as the central pieces and maybe some other pieces attached?
Marte, Tidwell and $10 mill to Cincy for Alexis Diaz
If they deal Diaz, they will actually expect to get something.
Actually think that can happen. Remind me again what the Reds are looking for this offseason?
Actually not a bad deal. Would have been nice if Tidwell had a good 2024 but his stuff is really good. Diaz had a down 2024, so this is not a bad trade all around.
Tidwell has real value, still a 50 grade prospect in the publications ive seen. In fact, he dominated AA last year and struggled in AAA, which is exactly what lowder did. The stuff is there.
Plus his last two AAA starts at the end were very good, so maybe something began to click. I wouldnt want to trade him but obviously wouldnt mind in the right package.
*Sorry – lowder struggled in AA not AAA
Lol, your offers keep getting worse the more I scroll jvent
Absolutely not. That’s a terrible deal for the Reds
Its funny, as a met fan i wouldnt move tidwell in a deal for alexis diaz. He’s coming off a very shaky year, and has regressed each year.
I don’t particularly see him as a fit in Pittsburgh but would be interesting to have him back. Go get Josh Harrison, Russel and AJ to come back while they’re at it hahaha
Well, he did get gilbert clifford and acuna for scherzer and verlander.
I think the soto deal has to be looked at for the outlier it is – overpay for an elite player that every top team wanted. This whole market so far is much higher than projected.
As for marte, he doesnt really have a role, so if they pay $10m and send him somewhere he can play more, why not.
It’s not really sustainable. MLB organization are built on farm systems, losing their first round pick year after year is going to cripple them in a couple years.
Personally i wanted them to reset and stay under the threshold this year, but they couldnt resist soto.
It’s definitely going to be an impossible cycle to get out of going forward. Having to keep overpaying for players and paying even more tax
The biggest troll:
I appreciate your opinion, but I really don’t think you have a good grasp on the Mets. You keep talking about Cohen like Stearns is not in charge. I get where Cohen is going to spend money, but Stearns is all about finding value as we saw last off-season. And some of the starting pitching they signed this off-season are pitchers who we may not look at and think are great, but his evaluation says they will be better than anticipated. So that’s not reckless spending at all. It’s trying to find value. It’s the exact opposite of what they did with Verlander and Scherzer. And the Mets have been valuing their farm and building their farm up. They have about five prospects in the top 100. I wouldn’t claim the Mets are doing better than the Dodgers, but I think the Mets are on the right path.
And his pitching contracts are all short term which is definitely a strategy. If it doesnt work out, easy to cut bait. If it does, take the value they give while here and try again until the young arms are ready.
What’s it been, 2 days ? Mets already sold AAA n high-A teams now player sell-off. Didn’t take long. Pretty soon Met hot dog gonna run u $19.
I’m sorry but that hot dog is $25.
Yeah Cohen’s broke. LMFAO. He’s worth more than twice of any of the other top Owners at $22 B. He can charge $1 dogs all year and still make a boatload of money.
I think the Mets need to dump Marte and McNeil. I wonder if there’s a bad contract they could get in return since Martes a one year deal. Maybe the astros are breaking it down and would send their expensive closer (Hader) to get out from the length of that contract and marte can replace Tucker and if he’s any good be a bench piece for a contender to get some low level prospects. But only if Houston is really breaking it down.
Right. ‘Dump’ McNeil even though he had a .275/350/510 line in his last 200 PA., and even though there’s no one else with a meaningful chance of putting up 2 WAR (let alone 3-4 WAR) at 2B in 2025, and even though McNeil would probably be the best 5th OFer in MLB who can still passably handle CF once a week, if needed.
Small sample size. His season was .238 with .692 OPS.
There were 247 players that had a 200 PA stretch as good or better than McNeil according to Baseball Reference Stathead.
McNeil is still a serviceable player. Just a bit expensive at $33.5 million over the next 2 years. If his decline continues and he has another 1.6 WAR season or worse he will not be a serviceable player.
Cohen has the money so the best case scenario is to move McNeil for another area of need. 2B is not one and the Mets have 4 OF already.
Acuna is a much better defensive infielder and can play OF as well. Even if he is just an average hitter he is a more valuable all around player than McNeil at 33 years old.
Mauricio can also play 2B.
@JackStrawb
I mostly just think he’s going to decline hard and fast and I am too lazy to make the argument, but his overall season is I think, a better indication. He could easily make me eat my words, but if he doesnt his .270+ he strikes me as overpaid and lacking in tools to make up for it.
As players come off the board and the Padres do nothing, I’m getting the feeling that they need to cut salary before they can add. When they got Arraez last year SD got MIA to pay his salary down to league minimum so I think they could be a fit here for Marte if NYM will throw in cash. Clear need for them in LF unless they can find the money to re-sign Profar.
Who has come off the board that you thought the Padres should have been in on?
Only one I can think of is Higashioka, but he signed a huge contract for a 35 year old backup catcher. Every year their GM seems so find a castoff catcher that excels once he gets there, so maybe the loss of Higashioka is not the end of the world.
Beyond him, who else?
They need an OF, C, and probably multiple SP. The catcher market is pretty depleted at this point. Higgy, Gary Sanchez, D’Arnaud, Jansen, etc…
At SP I think the prices on these guys are just not something SD will do right now. Beiber, Cobb, Boyd, Holmes, and guys like that all would have been reasonable targets. Not even saying they should have been in on Snell/Fried types.
Bieber was injured and said he never considered any other team. Cobb and Boyd were injured too. Holmes a reliever that didn’t want to leave NY. Two were not possibilities and two were bad bets because of injuries. I don’t think those are the types of signings that make sense for the Padres on a tight budget.
Higashioka, Sanchez, d’Arnaud, and Jansen got more money than their GM has ever spent on a catcher, let alone a back up. I didn’t see any of them as options for the Padres.
Higashioka and Sanchez came to the Padres making a fraction of what they got this offseason. That is what Preller goes after.
Mets should be looking to trade McNeil, Marte and Diaz. Diaz could be replaced with Scott cheaper, McNeil really doesn’t have a place next year and Marte could rotate through the DH position if not traded. But these guys are making around $60m can fill out the rest of the roster and have money left over. Would stay under penalty for prospects level
Oh god. Another Acuna fanboy?
Scott won’t be back until 2026.
SEA, PIT, DET, COL, TOR, MIL, LAA needs to improve their offense
– Even just as a part time platoon player 375 ABs
Marte is expandable, like those stretchy pants you buy specifically for Thanksgiving.
Sorry Anthony, I had to. Low hanging fruit.
Most of the people on here defending Soto’s contract will be the very ones saying they told everyone how awful this contract was going to end. The last 10 years when Soto starts regressing and then his poor glove and speed really becomes the albatross of a below average player making $51mil a year. I certainly hope Mets fans aren’t expecting 41 homers a year either. Most of those homers hit in Yankee Stadium will be long outs in Queens. I’m just waiting for the meltdown of Mets fans this time next year when they have buyers remorse and on here crying for Cohen’s head for signing him. That’s always the best revenge.
Zips over at fangraphs hilariously projects Soto’s median to be a tolerable DH even at 39 and to be producing 6 then 5 win seasons until his mid30s, or about 65 fWAR overall before he expires. It’s genuinely amusing.
ZIPS uses historical data. Starting with Soto’s 3 year average through this year, factoring in a 3-5% increase over the next 5 years and then a 7-8% decline per season from age 31-35 and 15-18% decline per season from age 36-40.
Then they adjust for skill sets. Soto does not rely on speed or defense to establish his value so the published projections for his decline in WAR would be at the low end of those ranges.
If you have a different system you utilize, publish it so we can laugh at you like you are doing at them.
Even Pujols didn’t start declining statistically speaking till 33, Soto gonna be fine for the next 8-9 years at least.
Take a look at Statcast. They show how many of a players balls in play would have been home runs in other parks. Soto would have hit 46 if he played in Citi Field as his home park as opposed to Yankee Stadium.
“New York has an excellent outfield. Soto and Brandon Nimmo will play the corners.”
Any outfield with Soto in it is not “excellent”. it is handicapped.
That’s why they need a good CF and went for Siri. Siri and Taylor can hopefully make up for Soto outfield deficiencies
Soto is not a bad defensive RF. A -1 DRS and -1 FRV. He has been roughly league average.
Taylor and Siri are excellent. Nimmo is very good in a corner OF spot.
Already strapped for cash.
Soto will be traded in 3 years.
Marte seems fit. Not as expandable as this article states unless he has been hitting the donut shops really hard this off-season. As a DH he might be considered expendable though.
“We’ll pay down his contract” just caused a bunch of ears to perk up in Minnesota
Pirates bring him in for peanuts to platoon with Suwinski and I proceed to jump off the Clemente bridge.
I have a boat, I’ll pick you up
Marte for Arenado, straight up. Neither team has to eat any money.
I disagree with this article. The fact of the matter is the Mets win when Marte is in the line up. He has a year left and is 36, what is the return they get vs keeping a dependable bat in the lineup who can give Nimmo or Soto a day off. He may not be an ideal power DH but a guy who moves the line is valuable in a deep lineup. All while being a veteran presence. Pure salary mathematics, sure, but Stearns is a depth guy. Marte was better than JD or Winker in the playoffs last year and most of the season. Maybe he can hit for power with less strain on his legs playing OF every day. Instead they’ll give DH at bats to more athletic unproven players. Doesn’t jive with the huge contract they signed up to pay.
Agreed!
” The fact of the matter is the Mets win when Marte is in the line up.”
Muted. You make it too easy.
The pitchers the Mets brought in on the cheap last year were better than Verlander or Scherzer were last year. Cohen paid to get rid of those two and in the process brought in great prospects, one of which hit .308 with a .966 OPS after he was called up late in the year. The other two are top 100 prospects in the upper minors.
Agree. It cost them a lot of money but at least they got some good prospects. I think Cohen learned a valuable lesson not to sign old broken down players for top dollar. Stearns knows what he’s doing and he’s not going to spend huge dollars on starters who only pitch 5 innings a week when the games are not decided. Bullpens decide the games every night and they don’t cost nearly as much as starters.
Mets are looking for a reliever, how about:
Padres send Wandy Peralta + prospect for Starling Marte + pay down his salary almost league minimum.
Wandy is owed $4.1m/per season for the next three years. He could use a change of scenery after a down year. He had success in NY with the Yankees ’21-’23, so maybe NY will bring that back out of him.
Padres would like to get under the tax threshold and dumping Wandy’s contract would help. They also need a LF.
As long as Marte is ok as a part time player mostly as the righty part of a platoon at DH I would keep him. He’s still capable of good at bats like he had in the playoffs. Good base runner still. Good insurance against injuries. A lot depends on what happens with Pete. If he returns lineup of:
Lindor ss, Vientos 3b, Soto rf, Alonso 1b, Nimmo Lf, Mauricio/Marte DH, Alvarez C, McNeil/Acuna 2b, Siri/Taylor Cf. Very good balanced lineup. If they can trade Marte and/or McNeil that would be ok but don’t expect much back. Would like another good starter but these days bullpen much more important. Most games decided long after the starters are out of the game. Starters making $30 million + pitching roughly 5 innings a week. Most relievers needed almost every game. Can’t have too many good relievers. How many Dodgers playoff games were bullpen games? That was ridiculous but showed how important bullpen is now.
Marte has no platoon split.
How do fans not know this?
As for TFA, there’s no chance whatever Marte makes ‘a little less than half’ his current remaining salary of 1/19.5m . None.
He’s been replacement level for the last two seasons. When do 5th OFers who can’t defend, play CF, and have bats that project at 36 to be below average make even 1/8m?
He’d get 2-3m in FA, if that was the case. That’s all he has left.
Marte hit .251 with a .659 OPS vs RHP and .310 with an .844 OPS vs LHP. That is a platoon split.
baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=marte…
Similar in both 2023 and 2022. Marte should start at DH against LHP and sit against RHP.
Mets eating some of the money in a trade would help but I don’t think moving Marte should be a priority. He can still hit, run, has decent OBP and adds depth to the bench & can serve as DH vs LHP.
Of course if the right player is available then you have to consider moving him but this Mets fan is fine with keeping him. His $$$ is coming off next season.
Dont have to eat the cash if you take on a worse contract like Bellinger or Montgomery
Montgomery is interesting option. Mets still
Need arms to eat innings. But he had a bad year last year. I prefer keeping Marte. Just my take.
I don’t think anybody should be doing Cohen any favors by taking anything off his hands that is remotely hamstringing him and apart from the principle of not wanting to spend so much of his own money- Cohen can afford to basically swallow every single current contract on the Mets’ books, release/trade away everybody except Soto and sign every big ticket free agent / trade for and take on the remaining salaries of the largest contracts in the game and apart from it being really unfair to the game and principally irresponsible team spending- he can handle the blow to his wallet.
So this Starling Marte thing shouldn’t be treated like some other club trying to off load bad contracts and reboot.
And remember- I say all this as a trillionaire.
I called that the Mets would market Starling Marte at the start of the offseason, or at least was my wish. With the amount of money that players are getting, I think that some teams would call the Mets should they offset the cost by eating 10-12 million dollars..
The Red Sox need a righty OF who will be part of a DH rotation also. If the Mets are actually interested in throwing in some cash, the Sox have some interesting bullpen pieces:
Weissert, Slaten, Winckowski
Are they expecting Marte to gain a lot weight this offseason? Or are they gonna pump air into him and send him away?
Either way, sorta surprised more at him being expendable rather than expandable, but I’m guessing the Mets aren’t completely done or giving Tyrone Taylor a starting job.
Otherwise rolling with Marte-Nimmo-Soto with Siri and Taylor as late game defensive additions isn’t the worst thing especially if Marte has full health.
Marte for Luis Robert in the works I’d say, or Marte for Kyle Tucker, Mets heaping on some more debt.
I’d say Robert is the sensible addition, but Mets will probably sign Tucker 15 yrs / 450M
Twins would probably take him to play 1st/DH at about half price.
Starling Marte would be better in the OF than Zack McKinstry or Andy Ibanez.
The Reds and Mets could be trade partners. Marte and some cash for Emilio Pagan. A trade of two mediocre injured pron players that are overpaid and not really needed by either club. Reds could use Marte. Mets really don’t need Pagan, but if it can be a payroll reduction for them, I’m sure they would take him.
Agree that the Mets and Reds line up well to be trade partners. I know pre-Stearns the Mets expressed interest in Alexis Diaz. I wonder if a larger trade could be built around Marte and Diaz with other pieces added. Seems like a good fit.
Alexis Diaz is not going anywhere. He’s cheap and is under control for another 3 or 4 years. While the Mets may have expressed interest at one time, the Reds did not.
Tigers are looking for a right handed platoon in the corner OF.