The Tampa Bay Rays’ season ended with a 4-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 5 of the World Series. Their winter could include a run at Ketel Marte, according to one of the game’s most connected reporters.
Bob Nightengale, speaking on Foul Territory, said he could see the Rays jumping back in on Ketel Marte, whom they were linked to last winter before the Arizona Diamondbacks pulled him off the market. His reasoning starts with price: a year later, the Diamondbacks would not command the package that scared clubs off in January.
“I could see the Rays jumping back in this thing. Obviously they don’t have to give up as much as a year ago. He’s got a reasonable contract. It’s about $15 million a year, about $85 million left. And you got to have a strong clubhouse presence if you’re going to get Marte,” Bob Nightengale said.
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“I think Arizona will be much more motivated to trade him now. Of course Marte’s got a no-trade clause too, so he can reject anything he wants. But, you know, if he feels like he’s not wanting Arizona, why would he want to come back?”
The other half of his case is the clubhouse. He named Yandy Díaz, the 35-year-old designated hitter and first baseman who has spent eight seasons in Tampa Bay since a December 2018 trade with Cleveland, as the established voice a team would need to carry Ketel Marte.
“You know, the Rays have that in Yandy Díaz. Marte really didn’t have that clubhouse leadership to kind of rein in him. So, someone whoever wants him has got to feel strong about that clubhouse influence to say, you know what, he’s not going to pull the same stunts he did in Arizona.”
No report this winter has put the two clubs in negotiations. This is an insider’s scenario, not an official conversation.
Diamondbacks Face Challenges Trading Ketel Marte Amid No-Trade Clause and Clubhouse Concerns
MLB analyst Jim Bowden came at the same question from the other direction. A Ketel Marte trade, in his telling, needs two approvals. “If he decides that he doesn’t want to get traded, then he won’t be,” Jim Bowden said before continuing,
“You gotta find a team that not only that he’s willing to go to, but you gotta find a front office, a GM, a manager, and a group of players that are willing to accept all the things that come with Ketel Marte, which includes times where players, some teammates, have been disappointed that he didn’t take the field.”
Marte gained full no-trade protection on April 3, after 10 years of service and five straight seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, so the team needs his consent for any deal. He is owed $87.5 million over the final five years of the extension he signed in April 2025.
His 2026 line, .249/.316/.432 with 22 home runs and 76 RBIs, was his weakest since 2022. The caution around him has a basis. Marte was penciled into the lineup at Fenway Park on Aug. 17 and never showed, without telling manager Torey Lovullo or his teammates.
Arizona placed him on the restricted list, then the injured list with knee inflammation, and he returned Aug. 31 to apologize, describing the absence as “a moment of frustration.” Torey Lovullo said it was the fourth straight season Marte had missed games without informing the team.
Hazen has said he wants to shake up a roster that has come close to October three years running. “I think we need to look at some ways to shake the team up a little bit,” he said last week.
The collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of November, with a lockout expected to follow, which compresses the window for a deal this size. MLB insider Mark Polishuk concluded it is likelier than not that Ketel Marte is Arizona’s Opening Day second baseman, because only Marte can force a move.
Edited by Kaushani Chatterjee
