Oakland A’s swing shocking trade for Marlins’ Marte, send former top prospect in return

The Oakland A’s made a shocking trade on Wednesday, sending their once-No. 1 prospect, pitcher Jesús Luzardo, to the Miami Marlins for Starling Marte.

The 32-year-old Marte fills a significant need in the A’s outfield. He is slashing .306/.407/.453 with a .859 OPS in Miami this year with seven home runs. The Marlins are expected to pay the rest of Marte’s $12.5 million salary, which amounts to approximately $4.5 million for this year, and he is a free agent in 2022.

“We felt like Starling was, frankly, the best position player out there on the market,” general manager David Forst said. “We talked about him for weeks internally considering the need in the outfield and a need for a bat. It was just a matter of getting to a deal.”

Marte, a former All-Star, fills that need as the A’s will try to climb out of a six-game deficit behind the Houston Astros in the American League West with the Seattle Mariners breathing down their necks for a wild card spot.

The A’s offense has been stagnant over this last month, Forst acknowledged the staggering number of solo home runs and one-run losses begged for an offensive spark.

“We’ve lost a number of one-run games and the pitching staff has had an incredibly thin margin for error over the last few days,” Forst said. “The starters have done a great job, relievers have come in to hold it. We do feel a jolt for the offense would be helpful and we feel like Starling will fill that.”

While a 5.8 WAR and 103 wRC+ indicate the A’s outfield production has been above average, the collective .223 batting average and .313 weighted on-base percentage from the three positions are well below league average — center fielder Ramón Laureano and left fielder Mark Canha keep their WAR and wRC+ high. Inconsistency from the right field position, in particular, drags the A’s outfield production down. Oakland was in desperate need to improve the -0.2 WAR, .200 batting average and .276 weighted on-base percentage coming from a carousel of right fielders that includes a Stephen Piscotty and Seth Brown platoon.

Marte primarily plays center field with some left field sprinkled in during his first eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and last two seasons split between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Marlins. But manager Bob Melvin didn’t disqualify the notion of moving Laureano to right field — where he is often pushed to keep his legs fresh — to have Marte play in center field. Though nothing has been decided.

In his 10th major league season, Marte has a track record as one of the better contact hitters and base-runners in baseball and is demonstrating more power this year than seasons past with a career-high .859 OPS. His .376 weighted on-base average ranks in the top 10 percent and should help.

The right-handed hitter’s .325 average against right-handed pitching could help improve their 32-31 record against righties, compared to their 24-15 record against left-handed pitching. Marte has 22 stolen bases this season and typically hits atop the lineup, which Melvin some flexibility in certain match-ups.

“As it sits now, we’re too right-handed in some portions and too left-handed in others. It allows us to split that up some,” Melvin said. “How that happens, I’m not sure. But with Mark in the one-hole and most of our lefties following that, he certainly will — toward the front and middle of the order — split that up.”

Luzardo couldn’t find his footing as a pitcher at the big-league level. The 23-year-old accrued a 6.87 ERA in 13 games this year. He fractured his pinky finger fracture while playing video games, sidelining him for the month of May. Before that as a starter, he had a 5.79 ERA. Out of the bullpen after his injury, Luzardo had a 9.90 ERA in seven appearances.

He will return to his home of South Florida to pitch for the Marlins, the team he grew up rooting for. Though he spent just parts of three seasons with the big league club, Luzardo was well liked in the A’s clubhouse and seen as a pitcher with the highest potential to rise to an ace of staff. While he flashed stunning stuff — a high-velocity fastball and elite curveball — Luzardo was sent down to learn how to pitch, not throw.

Luzardo’s progress didn’t match the win-now timeline the A’s face. With the Marlins fronting, essentially, the rest of Marte’s contract for the year, the return demanded a top prospect.

“We sent him down because he wasn’t performing at the big leagues at this time and when you are in a playoff race, everything we do is about the now,” Forst said. “I still think Jesús has a lot of baseball ahead of him, he’s only 23 years old, but ultimately we were focused on 2021, on this team. Sometimes you have to give up good players, I think we know that and we focus on what we’re getting.”

Luzardo came to the A’s as a 19-year-old in a trade along with  Sheldon Neuse and Blake Treinen that sent Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson to the Washington Nationals in 2017.

“We love Jesús and everyone does here, too, but it’s a good vibe in our clubhouse right now because of what David said about the now,” Melvin said. “That’s what players are all about. When you get an opportunity and put yourself in a position where our team is right now, it is all about now. And Jesús wasn’t here at this point. He’s not here right now. So this makes us a much better team.”

The trade for Marte follows a trade with the Chicago Cubs to acquire set-up left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin as the second major transaction the A’s made before Friday’s trade deadline. More moves could be on the horizon.

“It’s never enough,” Forst said. “We’re going to continue to have conversations. Going into this deadline, we were focused on a set-up reliever and a starting position player. We were very happy with the two additions we made and will continue to have conversations to do more.”