{"id":378476,"date":"2025-12-31T02:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T02:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/378476\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T02:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T02:26:08","slug":"d-backs-gm-marte-trade-talks-will-end-shortly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/378476\/","title":{"rendered":"D-Backs GM: Marte Trade Talks Will End “Shortly”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The big question of the D-Backs offseason has been whether to trade\u00a0Ketel Marte<\/a>. They\u2019ve reportedly fielded calls from upwards of a third of the league with teams like the Mariners, Red Sox and Reds most prominently linked. Although general manager Mike Hazen called a trade of a star hitter \u201cmostly unlikely<\/a>\u201d at the GM Meetings in early November, they\u2019ve kept the line of communication open given their needs around the roster.<\/p>\n

According to Hazen, they\u2019re not going to maintain that posture for the entire offseason. \u201cWe\u2019re very likely to put an end to (Marte trade talks) shortly,\u201d the GM told Steve Gilbert of MLB.com<\/a>. When pressed for specifics on the timeline, Hazen said that he \u201c(hasn\u2019t) figured that out yet\u201d but said they can\u2019t afford to remain in a holding pattern for much longer. He implied they were likelier to take Marte firmly off the table rather than nearing agreement on a deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to focus our offseason. Again, my gut this whole time was that (a trade) wasn\u2019t going to happen, and I think it seems likely that that\u2019s the case and we want to focus on other things we need to do,\u201d Hazen said. The GM added that talks to date haven\u2019t gotten \u201canywhere near\u201d the significant asking price they\u2019ve set to move their star second baseman.<\/p>\n

On one hand, it\u2019s easy enough to write this off as a general manager trying to pressure interested clubs to raise their offers. Even if Hazen isn\u2019t setting a public deadline, the Snakes could do so internally to get teams to make their best and final trade proposals. At the same time, this generally aligns with the GM\u2019s stance on Marte trade rumors dating back to the summer. Speculation has abounded since August when multiple reports emerged about some of Marte\u2019s teammates being frustrated with the number of off days that he took.<\/p>\n

Hazen spoke with Wolf & Luke of Arizona Sports<\/a> at the time and was naturally asked about the possibility of a trade. \u201cKetel is one of, if not our best player,\u201d the GM said then. \u201cHe\u2019s a superstar in this league. You win with superstars in this league. Yes, I do know it\u2019s a team game and putting a team together to win baseball games is also equally important. That\u2019s on us to figure out what the right mix of players is.<\/p>\n

We went to the World Series with this player on our team (in 2023). \u2026 So this mindset of where he is on our team and his inability or ability to help us win is hard for me to just take that. \u2026 Where this lays down at his feet and where it\u2019s coming from now is a little bizarre to me. I\u2019m not ignoring the inconsistencies with some of the things that have happened. He\u2019s addressed those things. We\u2019ve addressed those things with him.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not blind to having an imperfect clubhouse and an imperfect roster. \u2026 I\u2019m also in a job and position to put players on the field that can win you baseball games, because ultimately that\u2019s what this comes down to. We are going to put the best team on the field every single day we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The D-Backs have nevertheless heard teams out as the clearest way to acquire controllable starting pitching. They\u2019re expected to scale back payroll from this past season\u2019s franchise-record $195MM mark. RosterResource<\/a> currently projects them for $168MM in spending. Marte is set for a $15MM salary next season, but $6MM of that is deferred until 2036. They\u2019re not under any financial pressure to move him, nor are they entering even a soft rebuild. The goal in trade talks would be to acquire multiple MLB or near-ready pieces who could deepen the overall roster.<\/p>\n

Despite the payroll limitations, Arizona has addressed the rotation with a pair of free agent pickups. They brought back\u00a0Merrill Kelly<\/a> on a two-year, $40MM deal and added swingman\u00a0Michael Soroka<\/a> for a $7.5MM guarantee. They could certainly still upgrade a rotation comprising Kelly,\u00a0Ryne Nelson<\/a>,\u00a0Eduardo Rodriguez<\/a>,\u00a0Brandon Pfaadt<\/a> and Soroka. It\u2019s not as pressing a need as it was two months ago, however.<\/p>\n

The bigger focus now should be the bullpen, which was decimated by injuries last summer and is still without top two arms Justin Martinez<\/a> and A.J. Puk<\/a>. The Snakes also need to decide whether they\u2019re content with\u00a0Jordan Lawlar<\/a> as an everyday player (either at third base or in the outfield) and could upgrade in center field or at first base. The Marte trade rumors have come alongside reporting that the Snakes could make a surprise run<\/a> at Alex Bregman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to need to start focusing on our position player group at some point a little more specifically,\u201d Hazen noted to Gilbert. \u201cThat\u2019s the other reason to finalize what we\u2019re doing with other players, so we have a little more direction on what we can do and what it might look like.\u201d Readers are encouraged to check out the MLB.com column for the full scope of Hazen\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The big question of the D-Backs offseason has been whether to trade\u00a0Ketel Marte. They\u2019ve reportedly fielded calls from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,27438,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-378476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-ketel-marte","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}