*Photo from CBS Sports*
The New York Mets pre lockout early offseason spending spree continues with another really good hitter. The Mets and OF Starling Marte have agreed to a 4 year, $78 million deal, according to MLB Network's Jon Heyman. The Mets have confirmed the deal.
The signing of Marte caps off quite a spending day for the Mets, who, on Friday, agreed to deals with Marte, Eduardo Escobar, and Mark Canha. The addition of Marte gives the Mets a strong and capable center fielder, which will put Brandon Nimmo and Dominic Smith into a left field platoon, and Canha will take over right field in New York.
As the Mets sign him now, the interest in Marte had been there for a while, dating back to his days with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Mets had tried multiple times to trade for him, but they could never get a deal done, but now that he's a free agent, the Mets swooped in and made him an offer that he ultimately did not refuse.
Last season, spent with the Miami Marlins and Oakland Athletics, Marte hit for a .310 batting average with an .841 OPS, mashing 12 home runs and driving in 55 runs, stealing a league leading 47 bases while getting thrown out just 5 times, playing in 120 games combined between the two teams.
In 10 seasons in the major leagues, Marte has been an efficient and powerful hitter. He has a career .289 batting average and a .797 OPS, hitting 126 home runs and driving in 502 runs, with 296 stolen bases in 1,134 regular season games. In 9 career playoff games, Marte has one home run and 6 hits in 36 at bats, drawing 3 walks.
Through his 10 seasons, Marte has been on both coasts of the United States. He spent the first 8 seasons of his career with the Pirates, before spending 2020 with both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Marlins. He spent the first half of 2021 with the Marlins before he was traded to the Athletics in July. The Mets are the 5th team Marte will play for in his career.
With the signings of Marte and Canha, the Mets are likely to move on from free agent OF Michael Conforto, and will likely take themselves out of the sweepstakes for Japanese OF Seiya Suzuki, as the Mets turn their eye towards pitching.
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