Second base continues to be a major hole in the Angels roster and solving the issue should be at the top of the Angels priority list this off season. After watching the position drag down the team both offensively and defensively in 2026, Angels brass are again searching for a solution at the keystone.
Naturally, when a superstar name like Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte surfaces in trade rumors, Halos fans start imagining him in an Angels uniform. Marte has established himself as one of the premier second basemen in baseball. However, executing a blockbuster trade for the switch-hitter would be another catastrophic mistake for Anaheim. While the positional need is real, a closer look at Marte's profile reveals why he is a terrible trade candidate to fix the Angels' second base problem.
The Ghost of Second Base Past: The Angels’ Dreadful Production
To understand the temptation of trading for Marte, you have to understand how horrible the Angels' second base production last was season. The Halos cycled through an uninspiring carousel of options, including Oswald Peraza, Vaughn Grissom, and veteran Adam Frazier before giving underdeveloped prospect Christian Moore some time there at the end of the year.
The results were completely unwatchable. Oswald Peraza handled a bulk of the duties, hitting a miserable .226/.282/.334 with a staggering 30% strikeout rate over 123 games. Grissom failed to lock down the job, slugging just .386 and playing bad defense. Meanwhile Frazier offered zero upside with a meager .664 OPS. As a collective unit, Angels second basemen provided almost no power, poor on-base skills, and on many nights poor fielding.
Fixing this position is an emergency, but sacrificing the future for Marte is not the cure. In fact, it would repeat a common mistake of the Angels recent history in banking on a declining player to magically rebound into their prime selves.
Father Time Is Undefeated: Marte's Impending Age Decline
The Angels have a traumatizing history of trading for or signing star players on the wrong side of 30, only to watch their production fall off a cliff. Ketel Marte just celebrated his 33rd birthday.
While he remains effective, his offensive metrics took a noticeable step backward in 2026, where he slashed just .249/.316/.432. As with many talented but aging players, Marte flashed his All Star form for six great weeks early in the summer but his slumps are getting longer and more frequent. Still that one hot burst made his season long numbers look decent.
Pairing those offensive numbers with plus defense would have been a godsend for this year's Angels squad, but the team would be briging Marte in for the next four seasons. His bat speed and reflexes will only slow down from here. The Angels are in the middle of a massive youth movement built around Zach Neto and Reid Detmers. Bringing in a 33 year old infielder whose decline phase has already begun runs counter to the long term, youth oriented rebuild the Angels began last year.
A Financial Albatross: The Looming Contract Extension
The Angels finally rid themselves of their last albatross contract last off season when Anthony Rendon accepted a structured payout of his final $38 million. For most of Arte Moreno's tenure there was a bloated contract that hurt the team. From Vernon Wells the baton went to Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, and finally Rendon. Finally free from overpaying a severely declining veteran, the worst thing the Angels could do is go back to having an albatross contract.
Marte is getting both older and incredibly expensive. He is currently tied to a massive six year, $116.5 million contract extension that binds him to Arizona through 2030, which includes a player option for 2031. There is no chance the Angels or any other club would sign Marte to that large of a deal in free agency, so there is no need to take it on in trade.
According to financial breakdowns on Spotrac, Marte is scheduled to make a reasonable $13.75 million in base salary for 2027. However, that number balloons dramatically to $20 million in 2028 before jumping to $22 million per season in both 2029 and 2030. The deal also heavily impacts the competitive balance tax with a steady $15.6 million luxury tax cap hit over the lifespan of the extension. Taking on an escalating contract that pays an aging second baseman $22 million a year in his late 30s is exactly how the Halos got stuck in a decade long postseason drought.
Red Flags in the Dugout: Unexcused Absences and Missed Games
Perhaps the most alarming reason to steer clear of Marte is his increasingly erratic track record away from the field. The 2026 season was marred by a bizarre controversy when Marte completely went AWOL, failing to show up at Fenway Park for an August series opener against the Boston Red Sox. He didn't inform his manager or teammates, resulting in an emergency placement on the Restricted List.
That was not an isolated incident, either. Front office frustrations have mounted in Arizona over Marte’s repetitive unexcused absences and inconsistent day to day work habits over the last few seasons. Another notable incident occurred when he was spotted playing cards at a nearby casino when the Diamondbacks were playing a home game. And he asked for a personal day off the last week of the 2024 season when the Diamondbacks were in the Wild Card hunt.
Combined with chronic left knee inflammation that required him to fly back to Phoenix for an MRI late last season, Marte represents a major health and reliability gamble.
The last thing the Angels need right now is a bad contract for a declining player. Probably not too far behind that is a negative clubhouse influence on a group of young players who are just now forming a young core. Overall the Angels will be far better off signing a free agent veteran like Luis Arraez or a stopgap if they feel Christian Moore is the future of the position.
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