Red Sox 3-Player Trade Idea Ships Diamondbacks' Ketel Marte To Boston

Is this the right move to boost the offense?

Sep 5, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno (14) and second base Ketel Marte (4) celebrate after defeating the Boston Red Sox at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

Ketel Marte seems to be shockingly available for a three-time All-Star who just got a contract extension last year.

Could the Boston Red Sox benefit from the Arizona Diamondbacks' desperate need for young pitching? The D-backs are coming off a hugely disappointing season, and Marte, who is under control for the next five seasons, suddenly finds himself at the heart of every trade rumor.

Marte is the best second baseman in baseball these days if healthy, and the Red Sox haven't had an All-Star at the position since Brock Holt in 2015. It would undoubtedly take a steep price to land him, though.

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Duran, Witherspoon a fair asking price for Marte?

How steep? ESPN's Paul Hembekides attempted to concoct a package from the Red Sox to Arizona on Wednesday.

Hembekides suggested that Boston could send outfielder Jarren Duran and right-handed pitching prospect Kyson Witherspoon (the 15th overall pick in this summer's MLB Draft) to the Diamondbacks in exchange for Marte.

"Roman Anthony's 2025 breakout rendered Duran expendable in an outfield already staffed by Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu, both of whom offer more remaining team control," wrote Hembekides. "And with presumed second-baseman-of-the-future Kristian Campbell struggling as a rookie (86 OPS+, -1.0 WAR), the door swung open for a move of this magnitude.

"Duran's proclivity for doubles and triples will play beautifully in Arizona (just ask Corbin Carroll), and Witherspoon, the No. 15 pick in the 2025 MLB draft, instantly becomes the club's best pitching prospect."

There's an argument to be made that this is about the best value the Red Sox might be able to find in a Duran trade. But on the other side of the coin, we saw how fast a draft pick can become a star pitchiing prospect in Payton Tolle's case, and Witherspoon was a more advanced pitcher in college.

If anything, Marcelo Mayer is the former top prospect who could be displaced by a Marte acquisition, not Campbell. But the Red Sox should be worrying about how to ensure their offense will operate at maximum efficiency this year, not how to justify high prospect rankings from a year ago.

All that being said, if this trade were actually on the table, the Red Sox should take the plunge.

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