Ketel Marte is staying put.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have decided to keep the All-Star second baseman after entertaining trade offers, according to The Athletic.
General manager Mike Hazen had indicated the saga was nearing a resolution, saying late last month that the D-backs were “very likely to put an end to this shortly.”
“This isn’t going to continue to linger,” Hazen told MLB.com at the time. “We need to focus our offseason. Again, my gut this whole time was that [a trade of Marte] wasn’t going to happen, and I think it seems likely that that’s the case and we want to focus on other things we need to do.”
The righty-swinging Marte, 32, batted .283 with 28 home runs and an .893 OPS in 126 games last season, and he is owed a hyper-reasonable $102.5 million over the six years remaining on his contract.
But the Diamondbacks considered parting with Marte after a disappointing 80-82 season in which they traded away several veterans before the deadline. Marte became the subject of criticism when he missed three games following the All-Star break after his Phoenix-area home was burglarized.
Arizona was said to be seeking a superstar-worthy return for Marte, a three-time All-Star who finished third in 2024 National League MVP voting.
The Mets, who would benefit from a big right-handed bat to protect Juan Soto, were floated as a potential fit, even though they had already added Marcus Semien this offseason to play second base.
Marte has experience playing the outfield, but he’s made only two appearances there over the past four seasons and none in the last two years.
Complicating the situation was that Marte’s contract reportedly has a no-trade list of five teams, including the Yankees, whose own second baseman, Jazz Chisholm Jr., was the subject of trade rumors earlier in the offseason.
Marte will obtain the ability to veto a trade to any team in April, when he achieves 10-5 status as an MLB player with 10 years of MLB service time, including five with the same team.
The removal of Marte from the trade market adds another layer of inactivity to what has been a particularly slow-moving MLB offseason.
