Philadelphia Phillies: Trade rumor links team to Starling Marte

Philadelphia Phillies planning to trade for Starling Marte?

According to Jon Morosi of MLB Network and Fox Sports, the Philadelphia Phillies are reportedly being mentioned as a possible suitor for veteran outfielder Starling Marte. The Phils were just recently active in the trade market, going out and acquiring three AL East relievers. Pushing for another arm out in centerfield could be the team’s next course of action.

A nine year veteran in the major leagues, Marte has made a name for himself over the last decade as being one of the more complete outfielders in all of baseball. He can hit for power (23 HRs in 2019), can hit for average (.288 career avg), can field at a high level (two Gold Glove awards), and has recorded 30+ steal seasons on four different occasions. When going down the list on what makes a player a good outfielder in today’s game, Marte ticks off all the boxes.

After spending the first eight seasons of his career in Pittsburgh, Marte made the move this past offseason out to Arizona via trade. Across 29 games with the Diamondbacks thus far, Marte is slashing .311/.388/.443 with 11 total RBIs. He’s also hit two homers, eight doubles, and has already recorded five steals.

The Diamondbacks are currently sat dead last in the NL West, so it would make quite a bit of sense for them to be “sellers” leading into this year’s trade deadline. Marte has exceeded expectations through his first 20+ games as a DBack, so now would be about the perfect time for the team to salvage some value from that offseason trade.

For the Phillies, this move might initially come as a bit of a surprise at first (considering the team undoubtedly needs more pitching first), but when you start to dive into it a bit more, it starts to make sense.

Joe Girardi hasn’t been super solid in his centerfield position thus far, relying on a “platoon bat” approach to things. Roman Quinn gets the nod on most nights due to his speed, with Adam Haseley and Scott Kingery filling in when need be. However, Kingery is currently batting .123 and Haseley has been fighting nagging injuries all season long.

Marte’s current OPS of .832 would rank third best on the Phillies, and he would give Girardi an everyday starter that he can rely upon out in CF. Marte also has some career experience playing in left field, so he could rotate out there on days where Andrew McCutchen needs off.

Marte is on the hook for a $12.5 million salary in 2021, but he does have a $2 million buyout clause attached to him as well. If the Phillies do end up trading for him, they could easily cut him this offseason to save cap space. Or, if he massively impresses, they could keep him around for another year as a Jay Bruce-type replacement in the outfield.

Marte’s power and ability to get on base would be an instant boost to the already cooking Phillies lineup, and his desire to steal bases fits in perfectly with the ideology that Girardi has been implanting as of late. Considering the Phillies have already dealt away two prospects to land relievers, it’s unlikely the team would be looking to give away anything too drastic for Marte’s services. To me, this is more so a situation where the Phils are “checking in”. If the price is right, we could definitely see the team pull the trigger on another “win now” type of move.