Camila Sosa
After having one of the worst seasons in recent times of the franchise, the Arizona Diamondbacks surprised their fans by extending one of their best players’ contract: the Dominican multi-positional, Ketel Marte, extends his contract with the franchise until 2027. The deal consists of a total of five years and $76M dollars as the new structuring of his pact with the Diamondbacks.
The 28-year-old star has been the best batting of the Arizona team for three years: he recorded a .318/.374/.543 line along with 48 home runs, 79 doubles, 11 triples, 159 RBIs, 168 runs scored and 13 stolen bases in 279 games since the 2019 campaign where he earned his first All-Star Game selection of his career.
Ketel Marte’s New Contract Details
Still pending physicals, Marte had his contract with the Diamondbacks until 2024 prior to the new deal: it includes options on part of the club in 2023 and 2024 (with salaries of $11M and $13M dollars respectively). In the new structure, these options become guaranteed years for the second baseman within the team and with an increase in economic figures for each of them. Three extra years of control are also added under guaranteed salaries until 2027, with an option in 2028 that is tied to bonuses for performance and number of matches played.
In total, Marte will earn an additional $56M in addition to what the club has already agreed with him, so the value of his contract is of $15.2M dollars approximately through the seven years agreed. Thus, it is more than clear that the player preferred to secure an amount of money rather than to risk leaving his contract with the possibility of injury since the level of the Dominican could have earned him a higher salary had he tried the free agency in 2025.
During the 2021 harvest, Marte lost almost half of the season due to hamstring problems that forced him to play only 90 games in the entire campaign, while, in 2020, he also lost a couple of weeks due to physical problems. However, his performance has not lowered despite his absences: in 340 at-bats last year he had a .318/.377/.532 line with 14 balls, 50 RBIs, 52 runs scored, 29 doubles and 109 hits in total.
With a 52-110 record, Arizona had a lousy campaign even for a team that no one considered in the postseason conversations, but keeping their best position player is a step in the right direction for the Diamondbacks: even if Marte ends up leaving the franchise through a trade, at least the club will be paid accordingly in the face of his loss.
