Last-minute Starling Marte trade destination has him replacing a NY Mets fan favorite

You have to appreciate the candidness of how the New York Mets communicated their plans to Starling Marte about how open they were to trading him. No deal ever happened, leaving him on track to be the short-half of a platoon at DH alongside Jesse Winker. We’ve had much worse DH situations in the recent past. Marte can still steal a bag and the way he has behaved knowing the team would prefer to move on from him is worth a tip of the cap.

Coming up with any logical Marte trades at this point is difficult because of the money involved. The Mets would conceivably have to eat a large portion of the salary. Trading him would help give them a more well-balanced roster, though. They already have six outfielders projected to make the Opening Day roster which is one too many especially when you have Jeff McNeil available to play both corner spots.

Marte and cash for a player in the minor leagues you never heard of is probably the likeliest type of trade the Mets could make. But where? To the San Francisco Giants to replace Wilmer Flores actually makes a lot of sense.

Starling Marte replacing Wilmer Flores on the Giants roster would improve their overall lineup

Briefly, the thought of Marte and cash for Flores was mulled over. However, after seeing how little he played last year and the poor results, it’s not a good idea. If the Mets are trading Marte to clear a roster spot, it needs to be for someone who can play more than first base which is what Flores essentially does these days.

Flores is coming off of a season here he hit .206/.277/.318 in 242 trips to the plate. The year prior, he actually managed to collect a career-high 23 home runs while slashing .284/.355/.509. He’s in the last year of his contract, set to earn $3.5 million in 2025 from San Francisco. He’s incredibly cheap, but how useful is he?

When searching for a Marte trade destination, looking at projected statistics for right fielders and DHs is imperative. The Giants are projected to have 1.9 WAR from their right fielders. It’s tied for the 8th worst in MLB. The DH spot is worse at 0.5 WAR according to FanGraphs. 

Marte could be a match for the Giants as a regular DH and even a platoon partner of lefty-hitting Mike Yastrzemski. Although projected to be worth 0.4 WAR as a right fielder and DH combined, this is due to limited playing time on the Mets. Replacing Flores on the Giants would allow them to use him more regularly and see exactly how much gas is left in the tank. New York seems convinced to limit the mileage they put on him.

Marte’s 0.4 WAR (yeah, WAR is not EVERYTHING) matches what the Giants DHs are projected to have. The trouble with this kind of deal is largely financial as the Giants wouldn’t employ both he and Flores thus leaving them in a spot to potentially DFA the former Mets fan favorite and eat the salary. If it was anyone but Flores, a swap might make sense. But the Mets aren’t about to acquire a broken fan favorite just to have him on the roster bubble.