Final grade for the NY Mets free agent signing of Starling Marte

Coming off of a 47 stolen base season where he hit over .300, the addition of Starling Marte to the New York Mets on a four-year deal was welcomed. He was one of the eleventh hour free agent signings made by the Mets prior to the MLB lockout that had us all believing the team would be much better in 2022. Under the guidance of Billy Eppler and a disappointed Steve Cohen whose Mets club failed to make the playoffs in 2021, all bets were suddenly off. At four years and $78 million, it wasn't a deal capable of holding them back fi

Marte batted .272/.329/.405 in his four seasons in New York. An All-Star appearance in 2022, the campaign was his most lucrative in every way. His defense wasn’t even considered poor at the time. Worth 0 dWAR, he was as average as it gets.

With age came injuries and a longer period where Marte was sidelined with those ailments. He failed to reach 400 plate appearances in any of his final three seasons with the Mets with a $20.75 million pay day before agent fees and taxes. Gone or not, how does this contract grade?

Give the Mets free agent signing of Starling Marte a C

Apparently a great locker room guy to have around, Marte’s slowing offense in his final three years vanquished the good will built up in year one with the Mets. The injuries in the middle and the usefulness in only a DH role throughout 2025 with the exception of a few games in the outfield definitely drop this grade.

It wasn’t all bad, though. Marte had a role to play and he did it well. His 108 OPS+ ranked him above an average hitter. However, he was also getting paid to be more than an average player.

Perhaps most frustrating during his Mets tenure was how he was signed to be a center field candidate only to be a right fielder in year one and a defensive liability in the corners by year two. Marte lost a step. His stolen base totals didn’t vanish completely, but changes in the rule book to encourage more running on the base paths seemed to help him out at least in 2023 and 2024 when he swiped 24 and then 16 bases.

Grading his contract a C might be kind to some and cruel to others. It depends on what grades you got in school. It’s average; or at least meant to be.

We all knew when Marte signed with the Mets he’d fade by the end of the four years. It didn’t go quite as expected with the least productive seasons coming in the middle with year two being his worst. Any locker room positivity he might've brought is difficult to accurately measure. If that was measurably, perhaps this deal deserves a better grade.