Marte Continues on in Miami
The first big offseason domino officially fell in South Florida. The Miami Marlins have officially brought back the services of Starling Marte.
Recently the 32-year old veteran was acquired by Miami in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks for three pitchers in Caleb Smith, Humberto Mejia, and Julio Frias. On Wednesday, the Marlins picked up Marte’s $12.5 million player option for 2021. It was a move in the making for quite some time. There were rumblings of a return shortly before his hand injury during the Wild Card round.
The Marte Impact
Ever since his arrival, Marte has provided a steady presence for Miami. Marte hit .245 with six doubles and 13 RBI through just 28 games. Marte camped out in center field and took up the number two spot in the lineup throughout his time in Miami. In fact, Marte’s time with the Marlins started with quite a bang. His initial game. Marte hit a go-ahead home run against Toronto Blue Jays reliever Shun Yamaguchi in a 3-2 thriller on Sept. 1.
He helped the Marlins to their highest winning percentage (.517) since 2009. He also helped Miami to their first postseason appearance since 2003. His line drive percentage was a big hit among the Marlins faithful as it reached up to 50 percent on the season. For the third straight season, Marte finished with a batting average above .300 against fastballs (.310). Marte also continued to show that age is just a number, finishing in the 89th percentile according to Baseball Savant in sprint speed for 2020. Since his official arrival to the Marlins roster on Sept. 1, Miami went 18-14 in their record, including the two Wild Card wins against the Chicago Cubs.
Not the Only Fish In Town
Marte was one of two big-name players for the Marlins to make a decision on regarding player options. The other player is standout closer Brandon Kintzler. The contract for Kintzler included either a $4 million option for 2021 or a $225,000 buyout. Kintzler converted 12 of 14 save opportunities on the season with a 2.22 ERA over 24 and one-third innings pitched. He too helped the Marlins to their first playoff appearance since 2003 by recording the final outs against the New York Yankees.
Among other player aspects to focus on, the Marlins will also be homed in on addressing their eight arbitration-eligible players. That list for the 2020 offseason includes Brian Anderson, Jesus Aguilar, Jorge Alfaro, and Garrett Cooper along with pitchers Jose Urena, Richard Bleier, Ryne Stanek, and Yimi Garcia.
Depending on how the offseason shakes out, the Marlins could be back in playoff contention come 2021. A good start to that has been keeping the services of Starling Marte.
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