The Boston Red Sox spent most of the offseason looking for an upgrade on the infield.

A player they were targeting, and who others wanted too, was Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte.

In the end, Marte didn’t get traded. Arizona seems content to head into the season with him still on their roster.

In part, that’s because the Diamondbacks didn’t get the players they wanted in return.

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The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier shared more details about the negotiations on Monday.

According to Speier, the Red Sox were willing to deal minor league shortstop Franklin Arias with one of the young pitcher duo of Payton Tolle or Connelly Early.

The guy the Diamondbacks wanted? Marcelo Mayer.

Boston refused to deal him, according to Speier. That’s what stopped the negotiations from going forward.

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It makes a lot of sense that the Red Sox would want to hold Mayer. They’re counting on him also being a starter this season, for one, and he’s under club control for a long time still on an affordable contract.

Mayer has been one of the most highly touted Boston prospects in the last few years, and so the Red Sox didn’t want to give up on him before getting to find out just the type of player he can become.

Marte is good, but Mayer can be good, too, and likely for much longer from this point on.

So in the end, Boston stayed put, and the Red Sox will wait to see how that turns out.

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