Mariners fans’ Ketel Marte dreams can’t stop getting rude awakenings

If you’ve been letting yourself daydream about Ketel Marte sliding into the Seattle Mariners infield like it’s 2016 again, congrats: the offseason just handed you another “almost, but not quite” reminder of how this stuff usually goes.

The good news is real. Boston appears to be backing off the Marte idea after pivoting to Willson Contreras, which matters because the Red Sox were one of the cleaner “match the talent, match the money” threats in this market. One fewer big-spender with a motive is supposed to make Mariners fans breathe a little easier. 

And then the rude awakening hits: the Mets might be stepping into that exact vacuum.

Mariners’ Marte hopes get complicated again as another contender circles

Francys Romero of Beisbol FR reported that with Jeff McNeil out the door, New York is believed to be discussing Marte in trade talks. That’s the kind of sentence that makes Seattle’s trade-machine fantasies start sweating through the shirt. 

The problem has never been “does Marte fit?” The problem is what Arizona wants back — and what Seattle refuses to put on the table.

Recently, MLB.com's Daniel Kramer basically spelled this impasse out in a Reddit AMA: the Mariners have expressed their interest in acquiring the player, but the Diamondback's asking price has been higher than what the Mariners are willing to pay. Specifically, the Diamondbacks are primarily looking for a current MLB-ready starting pitcher. 

In addition, Dipoto/Hollander have made it clear they will not trade from the Mariners' major league starting pitching depth. Furthermore, Arizona does not appear to be as interested in the Mariners' top level pitching prospects as a possible replacement for that MLB ready starting pitcher.

So even with Boston fading out, the leverage doesn’t automatically swing to Seattle. It just creates room for a team like the Mets to waltz in with the exact thing Arizona’s asking for — and not blink.

New York can credibly point to arms like Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat in conversations, and those names carry a little more “this helps us next season” weight than the typical prospect-bag pitch. 

That’s the part Mariners fans keep running into: Marte is the dream, but the path to him requires Seattle to break its own rule. Until that changes, every “Marte to Seattle” rumor is going to keep ending the same way — with a new contender waking you up.