Inside The Mets

Mets veteran listed a potential 'best trade' chip

The New York Mets might be keeping this reliable veteran on the trading block.
Grant Young|
Mar 14, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets outfielder Starling Marte (6) walks back to the dugout after striking out during the fourth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images
Mar 14, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets outfielder Starling Marte (6) walks back to the dugout after striking out during the fourth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images | Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

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It's no secret that the New York Mets were actively looking to trade veteran outfielder Starling Marte during this past offseason, as a way to offload his contract to free up more cap space to sign other players.

In a February 9 article, Mets on SI's Pat Ragazzo wrote, "The New York Mets tried trading right-handed hitting DH/outfielder Starling Marte during winter meetings in December, as Mets On SI first reported.

"They discussed a deal that would have sent Marte to the Kansas City Royals for right-handed relief pitcher Hunter Harvey, but an agreement never came to fruition. The Mets would have paid down a portion of Marte's salary as well."

Obviously that deal did not go through, as Marte remains with the Mets. However, that doesn't mean he won't get dealt at some point this season. Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller echoed this in an April 4 article that was titled 'The 10 Best MLB Trade Chips for 2025 Season,' in which Marte was listed.

"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," Miller wrote.

"Worse than pointless, frankly, because his $20.75M salary is more like $43.575M to the Mets.

"As a luxury tax offender for a third consecutive year, they are paying an additional $1.10 for every dollar spent over $301M. They are presently a projected $27.4M over that mark, so they could've saved (and could still save) quite a bit of unnecessary spending by convincing someone to take Marte off their hands," Miller continued.

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"Surely that convincing is the hard part, as Marte was worth 0.3 fWAR and 0.0 bWAR over the past two seasons. That's a hefty price tag for replacement-level production.

"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. 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," he added.

Time will tell whether Marte does indeed get traded at some point this season.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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