Ketel Marte has been the best second baseman in baseball over the last two seasons, producing 6.8 bWAR in 2024 and 4.4 bWAR (in a reduced workload) in 2025. He slugged 28 home runs in just 480 at-bats, and overall, he was one of the most potent bats in baseball. He was a slightly above-average defender at the keystone, to boot, further enhancing his value to a team set up like the Brewers are. With trade season upon us (and rumors of Marte’s unhappiness within the Diamondbacks), could the Brewers pounce on a potentially era-defining move?
Can it Fit Defensively?
Any acquisition of Marte would mean Brice Turang sliding over to shortstop, putting some dent in the premium infield defense of 2025. Turang has proved to be an excellent second baseman, but some arm strength concerns and slightly unexpected range-based metrics at second base in 2025 hint that he may not be the above-average shortstop some hoped he could be.
Combine that with some concerns about whether Turang’s shoulder can handle the longer throws over 162 games, and perhaps this defensive alignment isn’t as viable in practice as it is on paper. This is something the front office would need to have some certainty about, before executing a trade of this magnitude.
How Valuable Is Ketel Marte?
Marte is 32 years old, probably entering the last of his prime seasons. However, his all-around skill set in the batter’s box is something to behold. Marte shows great plate discipline, rarely chasing outside the strike zone. He shows strong bat-to-ball skills that give him both strikeout and walk rates far better than the league averages. He also generates ample hard contact. While he crushes fastballs, he has an expected weighted on-base average (xwOBA) over .360 in each of the last two seasons against breaking pitches.
His contract carries him through his age-37 season and is heavily backloaded, with five years and $96 million guaranteed and a player option for $11.5 million in 2031. That already reflects some escalation from when he signed the deal less than a year ago, because he eclipsed 550 plate appearances in 2025. That boosts his salary in each remaining year of the deal by $1 million, and he can increase his salaries for following years by up to $2.5 million each year if he stays healthy and plays every day. Thus, there’s a good chance this balloons into a nine-figure commitment. However, there are also substantial deferrals in the deal, which brings the real cost back down even as the nominal payouts threaten to rise significantly. All told, it’s a very team-friendly deal for a player of Marte’s caliber.
The only other discussion point around this is that Marte has incurred the ire of his teammates with repeated requests for days off. Ken Rosenthal reported on that in the wake of Marte being away from the team without permission for two days coming out of the All-Star break.
Quote
“The worst-kept secret in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization is out: They will listen to offers on All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte this winter, knowing that while Marte is extremely talented, he can be a diva in the clubhouse, agitating his teammates and coaching staff … The D-backs won’t trade their three-time All-Star and NLCS MVP who has [$107.5 million] left on his contract after this season without getting fair value in return, but they’re also aware that he’ll become a 10-and-5 player early next season that gives him full no-trade rights. Certainly, the phone lines will be open.”
The Brewers are constructed to outwork their opponents, grinding harder day to day and fighting for every inch available. How Marte fits into that is anybody’s guess, and the front office would surely need to do enough background research to know whether he would disrupt things before pulling the trigger on a deal.
What Would a Trade Package Look Like?
With Marte locked up for at least five more years and Turang under team control for another three, it opens some possibilities in the short term for the Brewers. They may be able to sell high on Cooper Pratt—whose bat has struggled to create impact in the minor leagues—and wait on the arrival of Jesús Made. They have a plethora of strong prospects, all of whom (except Made) could be used to chase Marte.
A package could look somewhere along the lines of this:
The Brewers would be trading away a strong defensive shortstop with power that many scouts consider untapped, in Luis Peña, one of the hottest prospects in baseball; Robert Gasser, a left handed arm who showed well during a small sample so far in the major leagues; and Brock Wilken, an upside third baseman with thump who could profile similarly to Eugenio Suárez at his peak upside.
It’s an enticing deal for both parties, costing a lot of capital for the Brewers, but with monumental improvements to their offensive production in the short and medium term. It would give their lineup a dynamic a bit closer to those of the other elite teams in the National League, and the players they might trade to make it happen (while very valuable) could be drawn from places where the team enjoys a surplus.
Would you take this deal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!