NY Mets rumors: Starling Marte trade interest should come with caution

According to Mike Puma of the NY Post, Starling Marte has trade suitors. A few months ago, this would have been one of the more pleasant New York Mets rumors to report. Marte was on the outs with fans and seemed more like a burden than a contributor.

Sports Illustrated’s Pat Ragazzo confirmed this, stating how other teams would expect to pay a lower level prospect with Marte becoming a bench piece.

Sign me up? Well, maybe not.

Mets rumors of a potential Starling Marte trade aren’t worth celebrating

Marte has been amazing against left-handed pitchers. Boasting a .284/.361/.405 slash line against them, he’s a fully capable hitter versus southpaws. The only Mets player on the current roster performing better is Jeff McNeil who has received far fewer at-bats against them.

As a team, lefties have made the Mets look retched. Luisangel Acuna and Brandon Nimmo are batting over .250. No one else with more than 10 at-bats is over that standard of going 1 for 4.

Their .672 OPS against lefties is 19th in Major League Baseball. Remove Marte from the equation and it becomes even worse.

Yeah. Marte isn’t the greatest fit. If they’re able to get Jesse Winker back and healthy, his playing time diminishes further. And what if Mark Vientos finally starts to hit? Things get really crowded, really quickly.

It doesn’t sound like Marte would have any sort of expanded role with another club if he was to get traded. So it’s not as if the Mets would be doing their veteran outfielder any favors. The one benefit would be to open up some financial flexibility and maybe even a roster spot. The Mets have had a hard time convincing anybody (including themselves) that an additional bat is coming to Queens before next Thursday’s trade deadline. There are better, or at least more useful players, they could have on their roster than the right-handed half of a DH platoon. 

Just because teams have inquired doesn’t mean the Mets are in any rush to trade Marte. As one of the team’s leaders performing up to the highest we could expect, it would be a stunner to see him moved for such a minor return.