Starling Marte to Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to

MLB Trade Rumors: Starling Marte is going to the Arizona Diamondbacks from the Pittsburgh Pirates, per multiple reports. The Pirates are reportedly getting shortstop Liover Peguero, righthanded pitcher Brennan Malone, and $250,000 in international bonus pool money for the outfielder.

Both players going to Pittsburgh are categorized as being prospects of the high-risk, high-reward variety. Peguero just turned 19 a month ago and has only played in short-season ball, but gets quality marks for his offensive potential. Malone was the #33 pick in the 2019 draft, and turns 19 in September.

I had identified Marte, who is under team control through 2021, as someone I thought it made sense for the Rangers to pursue this offseason as a center field option, and had mentioned him as recently as this morning as someone the Rangers could potentially land. He’s a quality righthanded bat who would have fit well in the middle of the lineup, although as I’ve mentioned whenever Marte has come up this offseason, there’s questions about his defense in center. Marte had a -9 DRS and a -7.6 UZR in center field last year.

In any case, we can now scratch Marte off the list of possible Rangers center field options.