Diamondbacks will not trade All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte: Source
The D-Backs had been considering a trade of Marte to help address their pitching needs and possibly clear money to sign Alex Bregman.
The Arizona Diamondbacks ended weeks of speculation about the status of All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte on Friday, determining they will not trade him, a person with the team told The Athletic.
The D-Backs had been considering a trade of Marte to help address their pitching needs and possibly clear money to pursue free-agent third baseman Alex Bregman. Marte, 32, is owed $103.5 million ($41 million of which is deferred) over the next six seasons, a figure most in the industry consider quite reasonable for a player of his caliber.
A scenario exists in which the Diamondbacks could sign Bregman even after keeping Marte, according to people briefed on their plans. But more likely, the team will focus on supplementing its bullpen and adding a right-handed-hitting first baseman.
Marte’s annual $14.6 million luxury-tax charge is relatively low, and presumably increased his appeal in trades. But the D-Backs did not get their desired return, and this likely was their last chance to move him without restriction. Ten days into the season, Marte will gain 10 years of service, five consecutive with the same club, giving him the right to veto any trade.
Marte currently has a limited five-team no-trade list that includes the Athletics, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.
After extending Marte last season, general manager Mike Hazen said that the team’s ability “to have one of the best players in the entire league playing on our team for a long period of time is a goal of mine.”
Marte, who has appeared in more than 140 games once in the past five years (during the D-Backs’ run to the 2023 World Series), earned a Silver Slugger and an All-Star nod each of the past two seasons. He was the 2023 NL Championship Series MVP and has a .344 average and .974 OPS in 21 postseason games.
Marte led all qualified second basemen with a 145 wRC+ in 2025. Only the Chicago Cubs’ Nico Hoerner finished with more fWAR (4.8 in 156 games) than Marte’s 4.6 in 126 games played. But Marte was outperformed on his team by infielder Geraldo Perdomo, who emerged as an MVP candidate with a slash line of .290/.389/.462 and a 7.1 fWAR season that ranked second in the National League. Perdomo finished fourth in MVP voting.
Marte joined the Diamondbacks ahead of the 2017 season, and shortly after became Arizona’s primary offensive catalyst. In 1,054 games, he batted .283 with a .851 OPS, 168 home runs and 537 RBIs. His 30.4 fWAR in that span is tied for 25th-highest amongst all qualified major-league hitters.
His extension in April was the latest in a line of moves indicating the Diamondbacks were seemingly committed to retaining a strong core of players, such as outfielder Corbin Carroll, and starters Brandon Pfaadt and Corbin Burnes, and keeping pace with their rivals in the NL West.
The Diamondbacks wound up as sellers at the trade deadline within two months of Burnes, in the first season of a six-year contract, suffering a season-ending elbow injury. They finished fourth in the division with an 80-82 record.