It was the one trade everyone had predicted all offseason and it finally happened on Monday: The Pittsburgh Pirates traded outfielder Starling Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks for two prospects. The Diamondbacks needed an outfielder, and with the Pirates stuck in the mire of Nowhere Land, it was up to them to trade a 31-year-old outfielder while he still had two years of team contractual control remaining.
What are the Diamondbacks getting? Other than a subpar 2017, when Marte was suspended 80 games for a positive performance-enhancing drug test, he has been a consistent performer at the plate, with an OPS+ ranging between 113 and 120 every other season since 2015. He did set career highs in 2019 in home runs (23) and slugging percentage (.503) thanks to the lively baseball.
Marte is a two-time Gold Glover, with those awards coming in 2015 and 2016 when he primarily played left field. He played center field the past two seasons, and he posted the worst defensive metrics of his career in 2019 with minus-9 defensive runs saved. The Statcast numbers, however, are a little more kind to his glove work, crediting him with two outs above average and a high jump rating. Given his speed remains near elite, Marte reasonably projects as at least an average defender in center field, sandwiched between David Peralta and Kole Calhoun.
