The Orioles are staring at a familiar offseason crossroads, and one path is a whole lot louder than the other. They can keep patching holes with role players and trust their young core to keep climbing, or they can make a real swing and tell everyone in the building that the window isn’t opening someday - it’s open now.
That’s where Ketel Marte comes in.
Marte has been floated in trade chatter again this offseason, and Baltimore makes sense as a team that could push aggressively. The 33-year-old second baseman is coming off a quieter year by his standards, but the production was still substantial: 56 extra-base hits and 76 RBIs in 141 games.
The underlying numbers weren’t nearly as bleak as the surface stats, either. He ranked in the 90th percentile in expected batting average and the 82nd percentile in expected slugging percentage.
The bigger picture is what makes him so appealing. Over the last four seasons, Marte has piled up 18.5 bWAR, earned MVP votes in two seasons, and finished top three in MVP voting in 2024. He also brings value on both sides of the ball as a switch-hitter and an above-average defender, posting four Outs Above Average and five Fielding Run Value last season.
For Baltimore, the fit is more complicated than the talent. There isn’t a clean opening for Marte in the infield, which means the Orioles would need to create one. And if they were serious about landing him, the kind of package that would likely get Arizona’s attention starts with Jackson Holliday.
The No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft has progressed in a way the Orioles and their fans probably hoped he would by now, but he’s still young enough - and valuable enough - to headline a deal of this size. Arizona reportedly wanted infield help when Marte came up in trade discussions last season, and when the Diamondbacks were linked to the Red Sox, the asking price was said to include Marcelo Mayer as a possible replacement. Holliday would fit that same mold.
There’s another layer here, too. Marte’s off-field reputation could matter in any deal.
He has left the team during the season four years in a row without an explanation, and reports have said teammates have grown frustrated with his clubhouse behavior. The presence of Pete Alonso could help keep things steady, while Holliday’s recent dip in value could also make the framework easier to build.
Contractually, Marte is still on a deal that runs through a player option for a seventh year. He is in the third year of the six-year extension he signed with Arizona, and counting the $11.5 million player option for the 2031 season, there is $89.25 million left on the final five years of the contract.
The biggest hurdle is his full no-trade clause. Marte reached 10-and-5 rights in April of last season, giving him full no-trade protection by virtue of 10 years of service time and five seasons with the same club. Any move to Baltimore would need his approval.
If the Orioles could pull it off, though, it would say plenty. Marte would bring another proven bat into a lineup alongside Gunnar Henderson, match the same competitive timeline as Alonso, and give Baltimore another established star. If Holliday is the price, that would only make the message louder.
In Other News...
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Orioles Prospect Still Has One Problem He Hasn't Solved
Baltimores pitching pipeline looks a lot healthier than it did a few seasons ago, and Juaron Watts-Brown is part of that depth after coming over from the Blue Jays. The right-hander showed the kind of strikeout stuff that can make a prospect stand out in a crowded system, but his first full year in the Orioles organization also reminded evaluators that stuff alone does not finish the job.
Watts-Browns 2026 season was uneven at both Double-A and Triple-A, with command issues and inconsistent results slowing his momentum. Even so, Baltimore still sees enough upside to keep working with him, and the next step is giving him another chance to sort through the control problems in a minor league rotation before the organization decides how ready he really is. [Read more 🡒]