Ketel Marte’s recent social media scrub has ignited speculation about his future with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Arizona Diamondbacks haven't shown a ton of interest in moving Ketel Marte at the trade deadline, but the veteran recently did something that caught fans' attention.
Marte, 32, has been with the D-backs since 2017. After beginning his career with the Seattle Mariners, the three-time All-Star would go on to have quite a successful campaign in Arizona.
Sure, the Diamondbacks are coming off a loss, but it's yet another game where Marte homered in. He now has 19 to go along with his 61 RBIs this season.
With the trade deadline roughly a week out, teams have expressed interest in Marte, but that interest was never reciprocated. All of a sudden, Marte has decided to unfollow the team and has cleared his feed of mostly all of his Diamondbacks related content.
Does Marte know the end is near?
Only Marte and a select few know what's going on behind the scenes, but clearly something is brewing. Marte didn't seem to have much of an interest in a trade, but this could be yet another example of a team pushing a veteran out.
For what it's worth, Marte is under contract through the 2030 season. He has a 2031 player option as well that came when he worked out a six-year, $116.5 million deal to stay in Arizona.
It's not the most team friendly contract, especially with his annual salary hitting $22 million in 2029 and 2030, but buyers are going to stop at nothing this deadline as it's an extremely weak American League. If a team like the Tampa Bay Rays is truly interested, bringing in Marte could be exactly what they need to make a World Series.
Trading Marte could ruin everything
Arizona has dropped their last two games, but they're still a game up in the Wild Card race. Holding onto that third spot is all that matters, as it's a foregone conclusion that the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to run away with the National League West.
That said, Marte is one of the biggest bright spots in this Diamondbacks lineup. The return would have to be incredibly over the top for them to even entertain a trade, but it's clear there's already some dissension going on behind closed doors.
Marte is in the midst of a season where he's hitting .254 with a .764 OPS. He's the team leader in homers, RBIs, at-bats (409), and hits (104), so removing that from the lineup would be eye-opening, to say the least.
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