Bradford Doolittle hands out grades as the Oakland Athletics acquire OF Starling Marte, along with enough cash to cover the rest of his contract, from the Miami Marlins for LHP Jesus Lazardo.
Oakland Athletics: B
When the A's are in contention, they are always a team to watch at the trade deadline. Under Billy Beane, this kind of deal has become almost par for the course, one in which Oakland throws actuarial-type valuations out the window and places heavy emphasis on the opportunity at hand. They did it last year, sending young infielder Franklin Baretto to the Angels for Tommy LaStella and his expiring contract. They did it in 2019, acquiring free-agents-to-be Tanner Roark, Jake Diekman and Homer Bailey. In 2018, it was Jeurys Familia. In 2014, it was Jon Lester.
This one feels a little different. This time, Beane and David Forst are acquiring a premier everyday player in Marte who, according to Jeff Passan, costs them nothing in terms of payroll. No, to get the deal done this time, Oakland traded one of the game's most talented young pitchers in Luzardo. Because of Luzardo's long-time status as an elite pitching prospect, and Marte's status as a pending free agent, any formulation of surplus value to rate this deal is going to tilt heavily in Miami's direction, despite the $4 million or so the Marlins are sending to Oakland to cover Marte's salary.
And yet, there are plenty of reasons to love the deal for Oakland. First, you have to admire a team willing to go all-in on immediate contention even when its very presence in the playoffs is far from a sure thing. In less than a month, the A's have gone from a season apex of 17 games over .500 and a two-game lead over Houston in the AL West, to 10 games over and a six-game deficit to the Astros. Worse, Oakland has rejoined a pack of teams angling for the AL's second wild-card slot, with division rival Seattle moving within a game of the A's earlier this week.
The Oakland starting rotation has been one of baseball's most consistent units all season. The veteran-laden bullpen has been up and down, but remains a relative strength, especially after the acquisition earlier this week of lefty Andrew Chafin. The team defense hasn't been as elite as expected, but is certainly not a problem. The offense, on the other hand, has been middling with clear weak spots: Right field, third base and shortstop.
In Marte, Oakland gets an outfielder putting up career-best percentages who will help them on both sides of the ball. His defensive metrics in center field are in the average-range and Oakland already has a solid defender at that position in Ramon Laureano. However, both players have strong arms, and while Laureano is probably the better overall defender, Marte has a better average sprint speed, so it's not clear who Bob Melvin will choose to slide over to right field. Really, he can't go wrong.
The primary driver for all of this is how Marte upgrades the Athletics' lineup. Oakland's collective right-field OPS this season is .651, a figure driven by poor seasons from Stephen Piscotty, Seth Brown and others. Marte's OPS this season is .859, and going back to the start of the 2019 seasons, it's .832. It's a huge upgrade.
The short-term loss of Luzardo, 23, is negligible, as the hard-throwing southpaw has struggled this season with persistent command problems. His ERA in 38 innings for Oakland was 6.87 and in 29 innings for Triple-A Las Vegas, it was 6.52. He wasn't going to help Oakland for the stretch drive. Marte might be the player who gets them into the playoffs.
Still, Luzardo's promise and the fact that he has barely a year's worth of big-league service time make it hard to grade the A's higher than a B. The difference in future value is just too great, especially since you have to assume there is little chance Oakland will pursue Marte once he reaches free agency.
If Oakland wins the pennant or, especially, a World Series, none of their fans will care about what they gave up to land Starling Marte. But this is the kind of deal that, if Luzardo reaches his ceiling, could be a thorn in the side of Beane and Forst for years to come.
Miami Marlins: A-
First, let's explain the minus here, rather than a straight 'A' for Kim Ng, Derek Jeter and the Marlins. There was a sentiment to keep Marte around in Miami beyond this season. According to reports from a couple of weeks ago, Marte rejected a offer of three years, $30 million. Depending on how his free agency goes, that could come to be viewed as a failure the Marlins.
Still, what's clear from both the Marte negotiations and this deal for a near-ready young pitcher is that the Marlins view themselves as a team ready to win in the near future. And they have good reason to feel that way. Miami made the expanded playoff field last season and were highly competitive once they played into October. This year's record is disappointing but the Marlins have held a positive run differential for most of the campaign, suggesting they are better than they look in the won-lost column.
The farm system is deep and talented and the Marlins have as much young starting pitching talent as any club in the majors. So it's only right that the Marlins look to behave as a team trying to win, if not now then very soon. Signing Marte would have fit that dynamic. However, once the talks collapsed and Marte was certain to reach free agency, the Marlins' decision to trade him was relatively easy.
Getting a strong return in both talent and certainty for a player on an expiring deal is often as much a function of the trade environment as it is the quality of the player. In this case, the Marlins had the advantage of knowing that a number of playoff contenders need help in the outfield - the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Reds, Mariners, White Sox and Braves just to name a few. For those teams, Marte had to be viewed as one of the best-available players.
Still, despite that leverage, for Miami to land a premier talent like Luzardo, who will be under team control through the 2027 season, is a tremendous feat for the Ng-led front office. And the fact that Jeter and the rest of Miami's ownership group were willing to spring for the cash to cover Marte's salary and make the deal happen sends a much-needed positive message to the beleaguered Marlins fan base.
Luzardo's stuff is absolutely not in question. With a nasty, high-velocity sinker to go with a highly-rated changeup, he's got the foundation of an elite arsenal. His four-seamer hasn't performed as well, and determined what Luzardo should throw and how often will now be a project for the Marlins. The payoff could be immense. Miami now features an exciting, over-stuffed future rotation with buzzy names like Sandy Alcantara, Sixto Sanchez, Pablo Lopez, Trevor Rogers, Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett, Max Meyer and, now, Luzardo.
Getting an extension with Marte would have been a great development for the Marlins. Failing that and knowing he was likely to walk after the season, ending up with Luzardo is an excellent recovery. That said: Luzardo remains more promising than productive. It's now up to Miami's development staff to turn that around. It's a project worth undertaking.