2025 was the last season of Starling Marte‘s four-year, $78MM contract with the Mets, and while Marte was hopeful of playing for multiple more years, there hadn’t been any public buzz about his free agent market over the winter. Things could be changing now, however, as reporter Yancen Pujols writes that Marte and the Royals are discussing a contract.
Now entering his age-37 season, Marte’s tenure in New York was defined by injuries, as he played in only 396 games during his four-year stint. Groin problems were the source of most of Marte’s issues, as surgery on both his left and right groin muscles following the 2022 season didn’t entirely correct the problem, as the injury resurfaced in 2023. Marte also missed time due to a neck strain, migraines, and a bone bruise in his right knee, and the Mets responded to Marte’s lower-body injuries by making him essentially a full-time DH in 2025.
Marte still made 12 appearances in the outfield last year, and given the Royals’ need for outfield help, Kansas City could consider giving him slightly more time on the grass in 2026 if the two sides reached an agreement. After acquiring both the switch-hitting Isaac Collins and the right-handed hitting Lane Thomas this winter, the Royals’ primary outfield looks like Collins in left field, defensive specialist Kyle Isbel in center, and Thomas and lefty-swinging Jac Caglianone perhaps in a platoon situation in right field. Salvador Perez and top prospect Carter Jensen will handle the catching duties, and whomever isn’t behind the plate will likely get plenty of DH at-bats.
It would add up to another part-time role for Marte, though there’s value in having a veteran bat on the roster. Caglianone struggled badly in his first exposure to big league pitching in 2025, and Thomas is coming off essentially a lost year due to injuries in 2025. Thomas’ top season was his 28-homer campaign with the Nationals in 2023, but he has posted just a 98 wRC+ over 1900 plate appearances over the last four seasons. Collins is also far from a sure thing, as his impressive 2025 rookie season with the Brewers came despite some hard-contact issues that were perhaps obscured by a .326 BABIP.
Marte hasn’t looked like a true top-tier hitter since 2022, but he still managed a respectable .269/.331/.398 slash line and 16 homers over 699 PA during the 2024-25 seasons, translating to a 108 wRC+. Marte is still making hard contact at an above-average rate, even if his power (and his Statcast metrics on the whole) have fallen off.
Whether or not Marte can maintain even this decent production into his 15th Major League season remains to be seen, of course. It can be argued that Collins, Thomas, and potentially Marte couldn’t help but be upgrades for K.C. given how little the Royals have gotten from their outfield mix in the last few years, plus Caglianone is still a highly-touted prospect with breakout potential.
Marte’s next contract will surely be a one-year deal worth perhaps a few million dollars in guaranteed money, with probably some bonus clauses built in based on plate appearances. The Royals’ payroll currently sits at around $149.2MM (as per RosterResource‘s estimates), which represents a modest increase over their $139.8MM figure from 2025. This tracks with owner John Sherman’s comments from October about the payroll likely staying in the same general range, which naturally left the front office a little limited in what they could do in pursuing needed lineup help.
I don’t understand.
Me, neither. No better options all winter through both free agency not trades.
Marte’s better than most of their OF’s currently, and is at least capable of playing any of the three of spots (for short periods). It’s a smart signing to add him to the mix. I could see him getting 400-500 abs for them this season.
I think Marte is out of gas personally. I wish him well whatever he does.
Anything more than major league minimum is throwing money out the window.
Would be better to give developmental time to a minor league player rather than Marte. If they needed someone that bad they should’ve taken tauchmann before the Mets signed him
Too many role players with overlapping duties.
108 wRC+ over the last two years with a steady ~.320 xwOBA says competent bat, not “washed. Hard-hit still 40%, K% manageable, and the Royals’ recent OF production has been replacement-level anyway. If he’s priced as a role-player at $3–6M with incentives, that might work.
Marte would be an excellent, lower cost fit for the Twins.
They need a RH hitting OF, like they signed Harrison Bader last year.
However at his age, I presume a chance at winning is a key consideration for Marte.