Phillies winners & losers as D-Backs acquire Starling Marte

While the Phillies didn’t land Starling Marte, they aren’t the biggest losers

If I had a dollar for every time I wrote about how much Starling Marte would help the Phillies, I might be buying season tickets.

Unfortunately, the Phillies were not able to land the former All-Star and Gold Glove winner from the Pittsburgh Pirates, who traded him to Arizona Monday afternoon for two young prospects.

Marte has several years of team control remaining on a very team-friendly contract, and the addition of his bat and glove to the Phillies roster would have propelled the team even further in the National League East not just this season, but for many more to come.

While the Phillies lost out on the opportunity to add Marte, they’re big winners in many ways.

Perhaps the team considered to be the overwhelming favorite trade partner for Marte were the New York Mets. Rumors of the Mets and Pirates linking up for a trade lasted for months, dating back to the end of last season and stretching until as early as this morning.

Philadelphia also comes out a winner by not having to lose any of their top prospects to their cross-state rival. While neither prospects, Liover Peguero and Brennan Malone, were on the MLB Pipeline top 100 list, they are both very young with a lot of potential. Malone was the Diamondback’s most recent first round pick, while Peguero is still a teenager.

The Phillies likely would have had to deal even more talent than that given the state of their farm system.

Considering the fact that the Diamondbacks got Marte over the Mets and that the Phillies didn’t lose any of their top prospects a win, but it hurts knowing an All-Star could have been available to help the middle of Philadelphia’s lineup.