Thursday, January 15

Welcome to the D-backs Beat Newsletter! I’m Steve Gilbert and I’ve been writing about the D-backs since 1998. Spring Training is rapidly approaching and we got a resolution to one of the biggest questions of Arizona's offseason yesterday. So let's start off with part of my story on Ketel Marte and then dive into the news a little deeper… 

The Diamondbacks asked for a big return in a potential Ketel Marte trade, and none materialized. So GM Mike Hazen has informed the teams that he had engaged in talks with that Arizona will no longer consider trading its All-Star second baseman. 

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal was the first to report that Arizona had decided to stop listening to offers for Marte after Hazen said a little more than a week ago that he wasn't going to let the situation linger much longer. 

"It never ended up getting that close," Hazen said of potential deals. "Just sort of reaffirming what I've been saying the entire offseason, like my expectation was this wasn't going to happen. I felt like I had to do my job just to listen to what people had to say. He's a superstar player for us, and has been for a long time, and is going to continue to be." 

Marte has been one of the best players in Major League Baseball over the last seven seasons, making three All-Star teams, including being voted the National League starter at second base the last two Midsummer Classics, while winning two Silver Slugger Awards and compiling a bWAR of 27.8 and a slash line of .289/.363/.510 over that stretch. 

Marte, 32, finished fourth in the NL MVP voting in 2019, third in '24 and 22nd last season. 

Hazen said he spoke to Marte by phone after informing other teams over the last couple of days that he was not going to engage in discussions any longer. The two will sit down and talk in the near future when Marte comes to Arizona for Spring Training, but Hazen said he did not expect there to be any lingering hard feelings. 

"He's a pro," Hazen said. "He's going to be a top-10 MVP-performing player in the league next year, and it'll be fine." 

(Read the full story here.) 

LET'S DIVE DEEPER INTO THE STORY 
We talked to Hazen for around 15 minutes. There was obviously more that didn't fit into the story, and I've gotten questions from people since, so let me try to answer them as best I can. 

What does this mean for the possibility of signing free agent Alex Bregman? 

The assumption all along was that the Diamondbacks would need to move Marte's salary in order to fit Bregman into their budget. I say "assumption" because Hazen does not talk about free agents in any way, so we don't know for absolutely certain that they couldn't keep Marte and sign Bregman. 

With Marte now staying, it seems highly unlikely that the D-backs will have the resources to sign Bregman. But I'm not willing to say that with 100% certainty, because as we've seen in the past, managing general partner Ken Kendrick is not afraid to change the payroll budget if he sees a real opportunity to get a player whom he thinks will put Arizona over the top. 

I would think that in order for the D-backs to sign Bregman at this point, it would have to be something like a shorter-term deal, a discount so he can play where he lives or some other kind of creative financial structure. It's definitely a much longer shot now. 

Did the Diamondbacks miss out on any other opportunities while discussing Marte trade options? 

Hazen was emphatic that it didn't limit other things they were pursuing, pointing out that he still had the financial flexibility to make other moves like signing Merrill Kelly and Mike Soroka.  

Why even listen on Marte? 

Hazen pointed out that if Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Corbin Burnes, Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk were not all injured and expected to miss significant time next year, then he probably would not have listened to offers for Marte.  

How many teams were seriously in on Marte? 

Hazen said there were probably four teams that he went back and forth with in trade discussions, but he declined to say which teams. In all the discussions, getting pitching in return was Arizona's main focus. 

"There were deals we could have done, nothing that I would have done," Hazen said. "I just didn't think they were reflective enough of the caliber, the quality, the talent and obviously on the contract that [Marte] is on. We just didn't get there." 

Hazen said he wouldn't be surprised if some teams thought the Diamondbacks were asking for too much, but he said there was no way he was going to accept less for a player like Marte. 

"We had some teams flat out of hand be like, 'Yeah, we can't do anything like that,'" Hazen said. "I'm sure they hung up the phone and said, 'They're crazy.' But what am I supposed to do? I'm going to sell short a superstar player? No chance. That was never happening." 

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