The Seattle Mariners were inches away from their first-ever World Series appearance, but fell short to the Toronto Blue Jays. If they want to finally make it to the end, they need to make sure their roster is the best it can be.
One replacement can be at second base, through trade. Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter believes that the Mariners should let Jorge Polanco walk in free agency and upgrade the position by trading with the Arizona Diamondbacks for All-Star and Silver Slugger second baseman Ketel Marte.
The trade would look like this:
Mariners get: 2B Ketel Marte
DBacks get: RHP Logan Evans, 2B Michael Arroyo, SS Felnin Celesten
“Why is Ketel Marte a popular name on the trade market this offseason? The 32-year-old is set to gain 10-5 rights shortly after the 2026 season begins, which comes when a player has 10 years of service time and has spent at least five seasons with his current team, allowing him to veto any trade…Adding his impact bat at second base would give the Mariners an upgrade over Jorge Polanco, who had a strong 2025 season in his own right, and Seattle has more prospect talent to offer up on the trade market than any team in baseball,” Reuter wrote.
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This past season, Marte slashed.283/.376/.517/.893 with 28 doubles, 28 home runs, and 72 RBI in 126 games played. He’s also a switch-hitter, so the Mariners wouldn’t be losing that, either.
The Mariners and DBacks have already been trade partners recently, when Seattle acquired Josh Naylor at the trade deadline. Hopefully, they pull the same strings and get some negotiations going.
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