The New York Mets could be active at the trade deadline and may move on from an expensive bench player. One of their stars is an ideal candidate to be moved.
Starling Marte signed a four-year, $78 million deal in 2022 and has a $20 million payroll for 2025. He has been reduced to a bench player and has played in just three games so far. He hit just 12 home runs in the last two seasons after hitting 16 during his 2022 All-Star campaign. Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller listed him as a trade chip for the Mets.
“As soon as they signed Juan Soto for a bajillion dollars, this already somewhat expendable, $20.75M, 36-year-old right fielder became basically pointless on a roster that currently has six outfielders,” wrote Miller. “Worse than pointless, frankly, because his $20.75M salary is more like $43.575M to the Mets.”
Marte does not currently have a clear role on the team, but could be a useful player for a team looking to add a designated hitter. He was the subject of many trade rumors during the offseason, but nothing materialized.
“Eventually, though, someone might get desperate enough to help the Mets out a bit, either due to injury or ineffectiveness in right field or at DH,” wrote Miller. “Even if New York has to retain most of the contract, every $1M that the next team agrees to take on saves the Mets $2.1M.”
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The Kansas City Royals were interested in him. Perhaps they could reignite trade talks closer to the trade deadline.
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