Mike Hazen, Diamondbacks have offered free agent deals to pitchers
Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen reveals details on the activity of the team to this point in the offseason.
Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen reported increased trade interest in second baseman Ketel Marte.A potential trade could bring young, controllable pitching to Arizona and free up Marte’s salary.
ORLANDO — The second day of the winter meetings included news of the biggest bat yet to come off the board this offseason. Kyle Schwarber’s reported five-year, $150 million deal to remain with the Philadelphia Phillies might have made the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte just a bit more appealing to those clubs unable to poach Schwarber.
That, at least, was the working theory offered by Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen, who told reporters that interest in his star second baseman ticked up for the second day in a row.
As far as specifics, he didn’t offer many. The number of teams in on Marte? Hazen went with “a lot.”
“I don’t want to put a number on it,” he said on Tuesday, Dec. 9. “It’s changing all the time. It’s changed since this morning. There’s definitely a degree of teams that are interested and teams that are more serious, I think, just given the types of conversations we’ve had.”
More and more sources around the industry are becoming increasingly convinced the Diamondbacks actually will move Marte. Hazen, however, continues to say the most likely outcome is that Marte is back with the Diamondbacks come next year.
In theory, a Marte deal would net the Diamondbacks young, controllable, affordable major league pitching – and it would allow the club to reallocate Marte’s $15 million salary on other areas of the roster.
To hear Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo explain it, Marte apparently did not expect his name to be featured so prominently in trade rumors this winter.
“I think it might have caught him by surprise a little bit, but I think he gets it,” Lovullo said during his media session with reporters on Dec. 9. “I told him just what I told you guys: Teams are smart. They want really good players.
“He’s one of the best in the National League. I understand why teams are making phone calls on him. He gets that.”
Hazen said the Diamondbacks are working “other avenues in other markets” that could kill the possibility of a Marte trade.
“Sign a free-agent starter, sign a free-agent reliever, make a trade that doesn’t involve (Marte) — it could change the direction of what we’re doing,” Hazen said.
To that point, Hazen said the Diamondbacks have contract offers out to both starters and relievers on the free-agent market, and he said they are waiting to hear back from other teams on trade offers.