With the word that Damaso Marte’s six million dollar option was declined by the Yankees, it immediately makes you wonder if the Mets should consider bringing Marte into the fold. It also begs the question as to how good that July deal looks if the Yankees don’t re-sign Marte.

Marte struggled last year after his trade to the Bronx (18 innings, 11 ER, 10 BB, 5.40 ERA) but, to be fair, you would have to factor in the mid-season change, and possibly misuse by Joe Girardi. Historically Marte has never had the type of control issues that he displayed with the Yankees last season.

The final two months aside, Marte is the perfect fit for the Mets bullpen. He is left handed, but historically gets righties out at a high rate. This is huge since the two big relievers in the bullpen, Pedro Feliciano and Joe Smith, are essentially situational pitchers. He has had some brief closing experience so, in the event of an injury or day off to your closer, you can trust him with the ninth inning. As long as Marte is healthy I see no reason why Omar Minaya shouldn’t consider him as one of his big free agent acquisitions. I would think it would take somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 years and 18 million dollars to get a deal done.

On the flip side, why are the Yankees declining the option? In a market where relievers are at a premium could they know something? I doubt they could get Marte for much less then the 6 million dollars they owed him in 2009. How does this trade look now? Essentially you gave up your number two prospect (Josa Tabata), Daniel McCutchen, Jeff Karstens, and Ross Ohlendorf for a corner outfielder. I like Nady but you obtaining him strait up for Tabata could be considered a dubious move. The Yankees were never going to make the playoffs in 2008 with their starting pitching. This trade, if Marte is not resigned, could go down as a steal for the Pirates down the road. What’s the point of doing this if you weren’t going to keep Marte long term? It will be interesting to see if Marte is another free agent that the Mets and Yankees go head to head for this off season.

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Tags: Damaso Marte, New York Mets, New York Yankees