Forget about Kyle Tucker, Ketel Marte is the blockbuster deal the Yankees should pursue.

First things first, the Yankees need to re-sign Cody Bellinger. He loves playing in NY, his swing is perfect for YS and his versatility and ability to flat out play ball is very rare. He also hustles hard. In short, Belli is the anti-Gleyber. I think $30M aav for 6 years plus a club option year with a $10M buyout gets it done.

The Diamondbacks are a rebuilding franchise now. At the 2025 deadline they traded pitchers Merrill Kelly and Shelby Miller, and position players Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, and Randal Grichuk. This has already happened. Zac Gallen is a free agent and will likely want big money in his next contract. They are not the same team that went to a WS in 2023.

And there is reliable reporting that the Dbacks will listen to trade offers for Marte:

https://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/arizona-diamondbacks-news/diamondbacks-will-reportedly-listen-trade-offers-ketel-marte

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25240350-5-best-ketel-marte-landing-spots-amid-diamondbacks-drama-and-trade-rumors

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/diamondbacks-teammates-reportedly-frustrated-with-ketel-marte.html

So, to the Marte acquisition. Here's a comparison of Tucker and Marte's 2025 numbers:

So as you can see the numbers from this past year are pretty comparable with Tucker stealing more bases but Marte exhibiting a bit more power. You can look up exact numbers but Marte's stats vs RHP and LHP are almost identical, his splits are very stable. And the best part of a Marte acquisition is his contract. The Dbacks signed Ketel Marte to a long term deal before Juan Soto or Vladdy Jr. signed their megadeals and created a whole new market. Starting in 2026, Marte's owed the following:

$16M, $12M, $20M, $22M, $22M, and then an $11.5M player option in 2031 which is functionally a buyout. That's $103.5M over 6 years.

Meanwhile Kyle Tucker is rumored to want a monster long-term deal of $40M aav for 10 years. That's as much as Aaron Judge makes and would put Tucker under contract until he's 39. It's insanity for the Yankees to tie up that much payroll in a single player not name Judge, Soto or Ohtani.

The downside to bring Ketel Marte aboard is it sets off a chain reaction in the infield. Marte can only play 2B where he is a competent fielder. That means finding a new position for Jazz and since the Yankees are committed to McMahon at 3B and Jazz probably doesn't have the range for SS the best bet is a move back to CF. Jazz has the speed and athleticism to play CF well. It took him a while to get comfortable there in Miami but he's a "team first" guy and I think the Yankees could ask him to make the move back there especially if it leads to a return to the WS. JD takes over at DH in the early part of the season for Stanton who we probably shouldn't expect back until early to mid July since it seems he may only have 250 – 300 PAs of quality ball per season left in him. We need Playoff Stanton back, he may have peaked too early this year! Spencer Jones comes up and becomes 3rd/4th outfielder to see what he can do in the bigs.

The Dbacks would have to be paid of course. They are a rebuilding team and the Yankees have the assets to help them in numerous ways including controllable starting and relief pitching assets. The Yankees have the best pitcher/catcher factory in baseball and it's time to cash in some of those chips.

The Yankees are a "win now" team. This is a "win now" move. The Cole-Judge-Stanton Yankees only have a couple of years left before the end of this era. It's time to get them a ring.

PS I don't expect anyone to say this is a good idea. No one ever likes any idea on this sub except "spend money, be the Yankees, buy everyone!" So I get it.