Why the New York Mets need to trade Starling Marte

By moving the veteran outfielder, the Mets can free up some time at designated hitter and make the defense better.

New York Mets right fielder Starling Marte (6) hits an RBI single during the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game five of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB playoffs at Citi Field. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The New York Mets added generational outfielder Juan Soto this offseason on the largest free agent contract in baseball history to play right field.

They also returned outfielder Jesse Winker on a one-year deal while expecting full seasons of health and effectiveness from outfielder Brandon Nimmo and second baseman/part-time outfielder Jeff McNeil.

What playing time does that leave for veteran outfielder Starling Marte?

According to Will Sammon, Mets beat writer for The Athletic, it shouldn't leave any.

In The Athletic's "One pressing question for all 30 MLB teams heading into spring training" article, published Wednesday morning, Sammon takes the Mets writeup and makes the case for the team trading the 36-year-old Marte, even if it means eating some of the money left on his contract to do so.

"On the Mets’ roster, Marte stands out as a luxury — someone who proved he can still be productive when healthy, but also someone regarded as depth and who will probably mostly see time against lefties (.844 OPS against them in 2024)," Sammon writes. "Trading Marte would open a path for someone like Mark Vientos to DH against lefties, allowing for someone like Acuña to play third base in just one configuration."

Read More: Mets Explored Starling Marte, Hunter Harvey Trade With Royals in December

There is merit to this idea from Sammon. Marte hasn't graded out positively on defense since 2021, with New York no longer giving him any reps in centerfield and occasionally switching him out of right field late in games for additional defense last season. With the addition of Juan Soto, who was a Gold Glove finalist in right field for the New York Yankees last year, Marte is likely relegated to a platoon at designated hitter to start the season.

Given New York's willingness to pay down bad contracts in order to move a player - the front office retained $56M of 2024 salaries in their deadline deals of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander in 2023 - the team could receive a legitimate prospect or reliever for Marte's services if they were willing to make a deal.

As first reported by Pat Ragazzo of On SI, Mets talked to the Kansas City Royals during winter meetings about swapping Marte for righty reliever Hunter Harvey, but an agreement never materialized.

In other news, Mets discussed trading Starling Marte to the Royals for righty reliever Hunter Harvey around time of Winter Meetings, sources told Mets On SI

NYM were willing to pay down a portion of Marte's salary in the deal but it wound up going nowherehttps://t.co/sRSAhaIgHe

— Pat Ragazzo (@ragazzoreport) January 17, 2025

Utilityman Luisangel Acuña was the return for Scherzer for the Texas Rangers, with the youngster expected to play a key role on the team's bench this year. Sending Verlander back to the Houston Astros along with cash to cover part of his salary netted the organization Ryan Clifford and Drew Gilbert, two higher-level prospects that are in camp this spring as non-roster invitees.

A move of Marte and cash to cover a portion of his salary could prove fruitful for an organization that is close to graduating a wave of pitching prospects to the majors. Receiving a young arm in return, preferably one that didn't need to be on the 40-man roster this year, would be a win-win for both the Mets and Marte himself, as it would allow Marte to play a larger role as he nears the end of his time in MLB.