BREAKING: Diamondbacks “Definitely Motivated” to Trade Ketel Marte

BREAKING: Diamondbacks “Definitely Motivated” to Trade Ketel Marte

Catel Marte is back in the news headlines. As it seems, the Diamondbacks are keen on working out a trade. Is it actually happening? And would it be worth it? [Music] You are Locked on Diamondbacks. Your daily Arizona Diamondbacks podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. What’s up and welcome to the Locked On Diamond Bags podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. I’m your host Dana Biggs. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Uh we recently just found out that the uh Locked On podcast network, which this podcast is a part of, is now officially by all metrics the number one sports podcast network out there, which is incredible. So that’s uh obviously the Locked On Diamondbacks podcast isn’t necessarily the biggest and grandest podcast of all of the of all of them on the network, but we’re I like to think that we’re doing our part. we’re helping out and um and so that’s very exciting, very cool. So, thank you for making that happen. Anyway, today we have some very interesting things to talk about and today’s episode, as you may have noticed, is quite a bit late and apologies for that. Um it was the coming off of a sickness over the weekend and everything like that and uh couldn’t get to this uh this morning, but we are getting to it now. So, we are definitely getting Monday’s episode to you just a little bit late, but um you may have two episodes to listen to if you’re listening to this on Tuesday. But we have kind of big news to talk about because this morning, which I probably wouldn’t have reported on this this morning because this broke later in the day, is apparently Catel Marte may in fact be getting traded. We talked about this earlier and kind of debunked it and we’re like, “Yeah, well, no, that’s actually not happening. It’s it’s probably not gonna happen.” But now everybody’s talking about it again. So, let’s let’s dig into why that is and what we would get in return for Marte. And then I wanted to talk about as well because we are going to we’re going to kind of lead into this naturally is I also wanted to talk about where we stand right now with starting pitching and where we have been where we are and where we are hoping to be by the start of the 2026 season. Okay, so Catel Marte let’s let’s get into this because this is pretty um this is all over the place. Everybody’s talking about this right now is uh uh USA Today’s Bob Nightingale reported the Diamondbacks will ask a lot will ask for a lot in return, but they are definitely motivated in moving Catel Marte with $71 million remaining through 2030. If they don’t move him by midappril, Marte will have 10 and five rights and a full no trade provision. What that means is w once you have 10 years of service time and five years uh in the MLB total and then five years on one team, you essentially can now veto a trade. So if the Diamondbacks in at at the 2026 trade deadline were like, “Hey, we’re going to trade Catel Marte for these guys.” Catel Marte could go, “No, I don’t want to be traded. I want to stay here.” So that is what Night Andale here is saying. Oh, the Diamondbacks have another reason to get rid of him. So now, naturally, this is kind of blowing up all over the place. Talking baseball is is reporting on this. Um, every other news agency and influencer are all talking about this, but they’re basically saying and posting um, oh, the Diamondbacks are definitely motivated in moving Catel Marte this off season, but we’ll ask a for a lot in return. So, that’s the story. It’s like, oh, the Diamondbacks want to get rid of Catel Marte. Well, here’s here’s why they would maybe want to get rid of Catel Marte. Catel Marte is on a very teamfriendly contract right now. We we have him on the team until 2030 and then there’s a player option for 2031. So we have him for the next five years at least. He is expected to earn six million this upcoming season, but he will at he will it will end up working up to about 22 million per year down the line. So, it’s a pretty big a pretty big amount of money that he’s getting. He has a 4.4 WAR this last year, which is very impressive for a second baseman. Uh he’s he’s very good defensively. He’s even better offensively and three-time all-star two uh back-to-back silver slugger. I mean, he this guy’s the full package, but on a team that’s trying to lower their payroll, trading away Catel Marte would free up a lot of a lot of money and would allow them to acquire a lot more people and keep that payroll at a lower level. The other thing about him, if if they were to trade him, is the Diamondbacks have a lot of depth in the middle infield. They have a lot of infielders. They have a lot of second baseman’s short stops that could fill the role and maybe aren’t I mean obviously aren’t hitting to the same level that Catel Marte is right now but are still developing and projected to be uh very good offensively as well. The Diamondbacks have no shortage of offense right now. They are doing very well as is even without Catel Marte they would be putting up pretty darn good numbers and if they were to acquire or sign any offense this season if they were to sign a mix of Paul Goldmid a good third baseman um maybe if they were to sign uh one of these uh Japanese players who are entering the market then that would be kind of big and trading could Marte would maybe facilitate the Diamondbacks going after one of those much more expensive uh players. So, there’s a handful of reasons to do that. Another one that’s not I mean it’s been reported nothing confirmed but there’s the if if there is a problem in the in the dugout with Cel Marte if there’s a locker room problem if the players don’t like him if he doesn’t like the other players if there’s something that’s not jelling if he’s kind of a diva if he’s hard to work with if him and and Tory Lavell don’t get along or whatever it is I I don’t know again all of this is just speculation um But being as widely reported as it is, there’s bound to be some truth to it. Then maybe there’s that’s another reason why the team is kind of like, you know what, if we need to trade Marte, let’s trade Marte. But the and but the finally the biggest reason why you trade Catel Marte right now is because he is at the peak of his worth right now. He is worth a lot to any team that wants him. And it’s the big teams that want him. It’s these It’s these heavy hitters that are like, “Oh man, if the Phillies could get him or if the Mets could get him or if the Dodgers could get him, I hope we don’t trade them to the Dodgers, but if if any of these big teams, the Red Sox, you know, these guys, if they can get him, then it’s like, oh man, they are super happy with that.” And they’d give up a lot to get Catel Marte. And outside of Catel Marte, we don’t really have anybody else that’s worth much. I mean, we talk about, well, let’s trade Alec Thomas and Jake McCarthy. And yeah, we say that because we don’t really, it wouldn’t hurt to get rid of them, but on the same side of the token, it’s like, okay, well, if we trade them, it’s not such a big deal for us, but it’s also not a big deal for the people getting them. They’re like, “Oh, we’ll take him, but we don’t want to give up anything for him. So, we’re not gonna get anything in return, anything really good at least.” So, so that’s another thing. And like other than Catel Morte, the only big person that I think isn’t untouchable would be Jordan Lawler. If we were like, “Hey, let’s trade Jordan Lawler. could probably get something good for him, which I think we could, but I I don’t even even him I don’t think we’d get as much as we would for a Catel Marte trade. So, is there a is there good reason to trade Catel Marte? Yeah, there totally is. There’s a lot of good reasons to trade him, but there’s a lot of reasons not to trade him as well. And we’re going to talk about that right after this short break. So stay right there. Don’t go anywhere. We will be right back. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. 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But that’s I mean for a for one of the best in the game, that’s I mean that’s not a bad deal at all. If we were to sign anybody else that you know we feel like is worth that much and it has proven to be worth that much, we would or worth worth that sort of production, we’d be paying a whole lot more. Um, Catel Marte is uh, you know, a lifelong Diamondback and pretty much and probably isn’t keen on going anywhere. And the the other thing that that that is really important to consider is that he is a big part of the identity of the team right now. He is kind of the face of the team. And I mean between you have him, you have uh Corbin Carroll, you have Moreno, you have Purdomo, you had Gallon, you have you know you you have quite a few faces to the team, but but nobody really quite matches Catel Marte there. But maybe that’s a maybe that’s why they also want to trade and maybe they want to change directions and they want to they don’t want Catel Marte being the face of it. I don’t know why you wouldn’t really want him to be the face of it unless there’s some serious like attitude issues. Um but another thing so uh John Gambo Gamodoro he tweeted about this and in kind of in response kind of clarifying this this uh report because the way the report sounds is like they’re very motivated to get rid of Catel Marte and it’s going to take a lot but they want to get rid of him and u I think what Gambo says here is actually very very well put he says here is the easiest way to put this. Are the Diamondbacks shopping to tell Marte? No. Would they listen if someone called? Yes, as they should. And I expect after what happened over the summer, they may get a few calls, but actively calling teams to offer him in a trade, that has not happened. I could say only Corbin Carroll and Ryan Nelson would be considered untouchable. Then he later adds, yes, add Pommo to that list. So Carol, Nelson, and Purdomo are probably your untouchables. They’re not going anywhere, nor should they. But could tell Marte, yeah, if the Phillies call and they’re like, “Hey, here’s a all-star level MLB ready starting pitcher and a prospector or two, one of one of one or two of our top prospects.” Then you’re like, “Oh, okay, sure. We’ll listen to that.” And it’s not going to c, you know, and it’s only going to cost us this much for all three of them as opposed to to the 70s something million that we still owe Catel Marte over the next handful of years. Oh well, that you Yeah, you have to listen to that. That’s that’s, you know, that’s not a bad deal. And I think also this reporting is probably doing the Diamondbacks a service because it is kind of being like, hey, if you want Cel Marte, like you can we can talk, you can try, you can offer, but we’re not necessarily going to give him to you. You got to make a good offer. But it sounds like a lot of teams are kind of hearing this and going, “Oh, we could get Kon Marte.” Oh, okay. Interesting. So, so that’s kind of exciting. But the other thing is that as we’ll talk about later today is that the team needs pitching spec. I mean, it needs a bullpen, but it needs starting pitchers in a really big way. And with a bullpen, you can get by with signing a bunch of veterans on on one two-year deals for a few million dollars. And if you know, if you sign five of them and two or three of them work out, that’s actually pretty pretty generous. If two work out, then you’re like, great, we got two pretty consistent relief pitchers for the year and that’s real helpful. And then, you know, we have we have uh Puck and Martinez come back, if they’re able to do well, and if Salrank is able to do really uh kind of continue what he was doing at the end of the season and and if Thompson is reliable and stuff, then you’re like, okay, well, we have a fairly decent bullpen then with a handful of arms and then we bring up people and with Dre Jameson and Kyle Amit and you know, whoever we’re bringing in and and you know what I’m saying is with bullpen, if you have a good starting rotation. The bullpen can kind of adapt and work and then you know throughout the season you go okay we which the Diamondbacks did not do over the last handful of years is they went they did not go oh our bullpen’s struggling okay let’s work during the season to to bolster that. they um they kind of just left it alone all season and just relied on their their minor league team to kind of fill the gaps when they should have they should have made moves. So So the bullpen and I’m not saying that’s what they should do exclusively. I do think they do need to sign some some talent for the bullpen or trade for talent, but I think the priority needs to be on starting pitching when you don’t even have a full rotation. Like even if if this if the season were start to start today, our rotation would consist of our three starters and then maybe like Christian Maya and Bryce Jarvis. And that would be that would be our rotation, which uh wouldn’t be wouldn’t be ideal. We’d have Ryan Nelson as our one like good he’d be our ace, which he’s great. He he did really well this season, but I don’t think I don’t think I’d want him to be our best pitcher if uh if that was the case. I kind of that would make me really nervous. Um, so and and I do think we’re going to sign I’m kind of jumping ahead to the next segment already, but uh I do think we will probably sign somebody like Mel Kelly. Um, but that still leaves one spot open. And trading Catel Marte, somebody who is worth a lot. We could get a lot in return, including a very good starting pitcher would help out tremendously. And then if we have this ace starting pitcher, whoever it is, we have an ace starting pitcher, we have Mel Kelly behind him, Ryan Nelson behind him, hopefully Eduardo Rodriguez as a as a a you know, as he as he was at the end of 2025 putting together good strong outings. Um and uh and then a and then a a final starting pitcher that Am I missing somebody? I said I said, “Oh, and then Brandon F. Brandon F as the final one.” Um, and if he’s able to kind of turn his season around or, you know, turn it around a little bit for this season, if we see 2023 offseason, Brandon F 2026, then you got a pretty good rotation. And then Corbin Burns comes back and now you have two all-star caliber starting pitchers and Mel Kelly and Ryan Nelson who was who is currently our best starting pitcher is now our number four pitcher and then you can pick between fought and Rodriguez whoever is performing better and then you got a real solid rotation. Now, we’re not going to get quite as much output from our offense because we’ve now lost Catel Marte and uh we we that that may hurt the the image and the fan base a bit in the short term, but the fan base will hurt until we reach the playoffs again. Especially if we can have a, you know, go deep into the playoffs. Then who whoever is or isn’t on the team won’t matter. you know, the the the fans are going to show up and they’re going to latch on to whoever it is that’s causing us to go there. So, and we do still have Corbin Carroll, we still have Heraldo Purdomo, we still have uh Gabriel Moreno, we’ll have uh Lordis Geriel Jr. again we’ll you know we’ll have a lot of that group that feels like you know the 2024 2025d back still but uh but we will be missing Katel Marte so basically what I’m saying is I’m making the point to say is it a good idea to trade Catel Marte yes and no it depends hate it when people give me that answer for anything but Uh, it depends. If the Diamondbacks get something good in return for Catel Marte, then yeah, they should. If they’re not going to get something really good in return for Kel Marte, then no, they should not. And so, it entirely depends on who is offered in his place. So, I think the Diamondbacks are doing the right thing. Assuming that like Gambo is correct here, which I think he is, and this is this is kind of how I see it. I don’t think that the Diamondbacks are are looking to get rid of Catel Marte. I think they are listening. They’re saying, “Okay, yeah, if you have an offer, we’ll hear it, but we don’t we’re not keen on letting him go. Like, he’s staying here unless you offer something really big in return.” And I think that’s the way to do it. And if the Mets or the Phillies or the Dodgers or the Yankees or whoever go, “Okay, yeah, we want Cel Marte. here’s a big old here’s a big old list of players we’ll give you then it’s like oh okay sure there you go we’ll make that work but I think also in that report where he says that the Diamondbacks are motivated to trade Catel Marte I don’t think he’s saying let me see the actual let me see the actual line here the Diamondbacks will ask a lot for in return but they are definitely motivated in moving him I think that’s saying what he’s saying isn’t that the Diamondbacks are going, “Oh my gosh, we need to get rid of Katel Marte. I think that’s there is motivation to trade him because there’s motivation to trade anybody, but it’s like, well, yeah, they’d have reason to trade him. I mean, he’s got a lot of money left on his contract, and he’s going to get the 10 and five rights, which I don’t know how big of a I I guess I’m not super familiar with front office management of players and stuff, but I never saw the 10 and five rights as a huge deterrent to keep a player. like arbitration. I can see that being a reason to get rid of a medium, you know, a a mid-tier player. But, but somebody like Catel Marte, I don’t I don’t see 10 and five rights being a huge deal. I could see that being additional motivation, air quotes, but I don’t I don’t see that as oh my gosh, they’re actually going to do it. So, I think this is being blown out of proportion. I think it’s kind of similar to last time we talked about this where it’s everybody was like, “Oh my gosh, the Diamondbacks are getting rid of Kat Marte.” It’s like, “No, it was reported that they’re listening to offers, but that it’s going to be hard to get him from us.” So, so I still think that uh that’s going to be the case. And I wonder how many people are going to watch through to this part of the video and uh and hear this. So, if you leave a comment and you did get to this part and if you leave a comment and telling me your thoughts, which please do, by the way. I love hearing your guys’ thoughts on all this. I love talking baseball with other people, not just myself and a camera and a microphone. But, um, if you get to this part, let me know that you got to this part because a lot of times people would be like, “There’s no way you think they’re going to trade him, you idiot.” And I’m like, I literally said in the in the in the podcast that I did not think that that was going to happen. I’m just reporting on stuff. Okay. but also that’s fun. It helps with the algorithm or whatever, too. So, it’s fine. But let me know if you got to this point because I’d be curious. Anyway, you guys, we’re going to take a little break and then we’re going to dive in to our starting pitching situation and what we have, what is likely to happen, and what we need to happen before the season starts. So, stay right there. Don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back. The NFL season is back and honestly, there’s nothing better than getting to the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your team. But let’s be honest, getting tickets can be a hassle. Between cues, login screens, and prices, jumping at checkout, it’s frustrating. That’s why I use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to fans. Game time is fast, easy, and backed by the Game Time Guarantee. You’ll always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all fees are included. So, the price you see is the price you pay. Honestly, it’s faster, cheaper, and less stressful than any other way I’ve bought tickets. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code L K D O N MLB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. As of the end of the 2025 season, we had as our pitching rotation, it was Gallon, Nelson, Rodriguez fought, and then we had Charismat in there for a little bit. Uh, by the time the season ended, we had cut Chrismat and it was just the four, excuse me. Um before the trade deadline, Mel Kelly was also on that rotation. So it was Gallon, Kelly, Nelson, Rodriguez, and fought. And before Burns got injured, he was on that list as well. And Nelson was in relief, which is ironic as he came back and became our he was our best pitcher or he’s currently our best pitcher. But uh Nelson on the year had was went 7 for3 with a 3.39 erra which is very respectable. Rodriguez was 9 and9 and put up a 5.02 erra and fought 13-9 with a 525 erra. So fa and Rodriguez both put up erraas north of five and did look better. admittedly did look better at the end of the season and hopefully I’m I’m hopeful that that means that the pitching staff and the pitchers started to gel a little bit better, figure each other out a little bit more. That’s kind of what um Gallon and Lavell alluded to. Well, I’m yawning a lot. I’m sorry. It’s not even early in the morning like it usually is, so I don’t know why I’m yawning. But they kind of alluded to like, “Oh, whole new pitching staff, new pitching coach. We’re not making excuses.” And they, to be fair, they it didn’t sound like they were trying to make excuses, but they were like, “But that in retrospect, that does seem like something that may have been a factor, which is why it got better as the season went on because they they were figuring each other out and stuff. So that’s I’m hopeful that that’s the case and that we go into the next season and everybody’s firing on all cylinders and they all they’re all familiar with each other. They know each other and they know how to work together and they’re able to put their best foot forward. I am hopeful and it seems probable that the Diamondbacks will resign Mel Kelly and that he will be I mean he’ll be he’s not gonna he’s he’s not going to be crazy cheap or anything like that. and I had the numbers in front of me, but I don’t know where they are now. So, um, so we’ll have to we’ll have to talk about that more later, but he he would probably we could probably get him on a one two-year deal and um and he wouldn’t be too crazy expensive. So that would add a fourth starting pitcher to our rotation, but that means that we still need another starting pitcher and we’ll almost certainly have to trade for that starting pitcher because we basically if you think about it, we only have so much money, especially now that we know we’re going to have a little bit of a reduced payroll. We only have so much money and signing players from free agency is just a 100%. we we’re we’re sending money out and that’s it. You know, we’re paying full price for this player and that’s it. In a trade situation, it’s well, I’m already paying this much for this player. You’re paying that much for that player. Let’s just swap. And then in theory, you know, obviously this isn’t exactly how it is, not one to one, but then you’re no longer paying for that player, but now you’re playing for this player, but your payroll stays relatively the same. So, that is likely what will have to happen if we sign like Mel Kelly. That’s one signing, but we probably want to save any other big signings for our bullpen. Maybe first base, Paul Goldman, I don’t know. And and so we’ll have to trade for everybody else essentially. Again, Catel Marte is kind of our only big player that we’re really that we could get something for. We could maybe trade like Gabby Moreno. We could maybe trade I mean Jordan Lawler, but I wouldn’t trade um I wouldn’t trade Nelson. I wouldn’t trade Carol or Purdomo. You could I mean there’s prospects and that’s kind of the only real bargaining chip we have which is why we’ve been seeing people talking about that lately is how the Dimebacks are willing to part with their some of their prospects. So that is probably the most likely thing. I think it’s more likely that we’ll we’ll trade some of our prospects before we trade Marte. But again, if a team were to offer their all-star starting pitcher for our all-star second baseman, that kind of does make sense on paper, especially if the pay is roughly similar. It almost certainly wouldn’t have as long of uh team control, but but uh but that would be I mean, that would be a fairish thing, but again, it would have to be a really good pitcher and a really good deal. So, uh, it it would have to be the sort of thing that would make the fans go, “Oh, that’s really upsetting, but dang, I don’t disagree. That’s that’s a good deal.” So, that that’s almost what it would have to be. Outside of that, we do have four prospects on our top 30 prospect list uh who are starting pitchers and could enter the season this year and likely because of injuries and all that kind of stuff will at least make an appearance of some sort. And one of those is Christian Maya, who’s already made an appearance. He should be healthy by the time spring training starts. So, we’ll likely be seeing him in some capacity. he may end up coming into the bullpen and and kind of getting some reps there. Um, and my dog agrees if you guys heard that. Uh, that’s my dog, not yours. Don’t worry about it. But, uh, my dog apparently likes Christian Mana or is that an angry bark? I can’t tell. We also acquired in the trade with um, Mel Kelly, Cole Drake, I believe Mitch Brat as well in that trade. Drake and Brat um are both very good starting pitchers in Triple A and would likely uh see their see make an appearance in MLB this season and they both do need time and maybe half a season is all they need. So, if we do get our five rotation and then, you know, Rodriguez or FA or whoever is just not doing it or somebody gets hurt halfway through the season, then you call up Cole Drake and he’s had a good amount of time in miners to kind of really hone everything then maybe because they’re they’re both also they they both are recently called up, you know, to their respective locations. So, it’s not they haven’t had much time in AAA yet. So Christian Maya, however, has had lots of time. So he’s probably our first go-to if needed. And then another one who it probably also needs a little bit more time to develop, but in a pinch could come up is uh Yumin Lynn from Taiwan. He has been in the system for a good while now and is a very talented pitcher. However, is still he’s still he’s still work in progress in AAA. So and my dog definitely doesn’t like that, I guess. Um, anyway you guys, I need to go figure out what my dog is barking at, but that’s the show. Thank you so much for watching and listening. Be sure to follow us on X and Instagram and Tik Tok and Facebook at Locked on Diamondbacks. We’re on YouTube as well as every other place you get your podcast. If you want to see more of me, you can find more of my YouTube channels and projects at my website, slackshack.tv. Thank you once again for making Locked on Diamondbacks your first listen every day, and I will see you tomorrow, hopefully on time.

Ketel Marte appears to be on the chopping block as the Arizona Diamondbacks are seemingly “highly motivated” to trade their 3x All Star, Ketel Marte this offseason.

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