Starling Marte Trade

[Surgnbuck]

Starting individual threads for some of the more notable, and even some of the less notable trades that have occurred during the Ben Cherington regime to date. Though not 100 percent complete, I won't continue down too many rabbit holes, but will list some pertinent info on the players the Pirates got, what happened to them, and what happened to who they traded.

Starling Marte- Traded to Arizona on 1/27/2020, GMBC's first big trade. Pirates received RHP Brennan Malone, SS Liover Peguero, and International Bonus slot money.

Malone is 24, has been injury riddled since the trade, but still in the Pirates organization, last assigned to FCL Pirates, and has never made it above A ball. Peguero has a -0.4 WAR and currently on the Pirates roster.

Marte accumulated 1.1 WAR for the Diamondbacks. Traded by AZ to Miami on 8/31/2020 for Humberto Mejia (currently playing in Japan), Caleb Smith (who was released, and signed a Minor League FA deal with the Pirates, ahd TJ surgery in Nov 2023, elected free agency, and last pitched for the Cleburne Railroaders of the American Association) and Julio Frias, who was the PTBNL in the deal, and last played in 2022 in Venezuela.

Marte accumulated 3.3 WAR for Miami, who traded him to Oakland on 7/28/2021 for Jesus Luzardo, who is currently a starting pitcher for the Marlins and has accumulated a 6.4 WAR for them.

Trade grade- Unless Peguero somehow manages to become an average MLB player and earn about 2 WAR for the Pirates, this trade is a complete bust. Malone was considered one of the elite HS pitchers when drafted, but has been plagued by injuries his entire pro career. The only thing that makes this trade even remotely not sting so bad is the Diamondbacks made an even worse trade. The Marlins however, found a gem in Luzardo, and if he can stay healthy, still can reap more rewards from the trade. Marte became a FA at the end of his rental time with Oakland.

[Bobster]

I have no doubt that they could have received more for Marte. Marte was a very productive veteran player and just 30 years old. Malone had pitched 8 professional innings, 7 of which he pitched poorly in a rookie league. Peguero had risen as far as low-A where he it .262 in 22 games. Marte was a valuable asset for a team to acquire, so I strongly suspect Cherington was offered a much better deal. But as usual, Cherington accepted players on minor league salaries years away from MLB. That keeps payroll low and also buys time while he talks about development and rebuilding. The time to win is never now. It's always about some ambiguous future time when these acquired prospects will be key players. I can just imagine the SD GM saying to Cherington, "That's it? That's all you want?"

[Surgnbuck]

I have no doubt that they could have received more for Marte. Marte was a very productive veteran player and just 30 years old. Malone had pitched 8 professional innings, 7 of which he pitched poorly in a rookie league. Peguero had risen as far as low-A where he it .262 in 22 games. Marte was a valuable asset for a team to acquire, so I strongly suspect Cherington was offered a much better deal. But as usual, Cherington accepted players on minor league salaries years away from MLB. That keeps payroll low and also buys time while he talks about development and rebuilding. The time to win is never now. It's always about some ambiguous future time when these acquired prospects will be key players. I can just imagine the SD GM saying to Cherington, "That's it? That's all you want?"

As I continue to review some of these trades, this one really hurts because there was absolutely no major league ready guy, let alone even so much as a major league scrub, in this trade. I'm amazed by how much even worse, if that can actually happen, a trade the Diamondbacks made.