Just a year removed from acquiring Starling Marte from the Arizona Diamondbacks to put the finishing touches on a team that would return the Marlins to the postseason for the first time since their championship in 2003, Starling Marte is once again on the move during trade deadline week.

The outfielder, who has slashed .287/.371/.441 in 91 games as a Miami Marlin, Marte will be heading to the defending-AL West champion Oakland Athletics. The A’s are 56-46 heading into play today but sit six games behind the Houston Astros. They’re also 4.5 games behind the Rays for the first Wild Card, the team that beat them in the 2019 AL Wild Card game. The Athletics are in playoff position with the second spot, a game ahead of the Mariners. Craig Mish of the Miami was the first to report a deal was close, but Ken Rosenthal confirmed a deal was in place.

Marte was an All-Star in 2015 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The centerfielder has a 116 lifetime OPS+ that compliments 33 WAR, a .795 OPS, 121 homeruns and 272 SB over 10 MLB campaigns. Marte is also a 2x Gold Glove defender, providing stellar defense at a primary position. Marte’s in the final year of his deal, owed about $4.5M, most of which the Marlins will assume.

Going back to Miami is Jesus Luzardo. The Peru native has a 4.79 ERA in 109 MLB innings, but a scintillating 9.5 K per 9 rate. While Luzardo hasn’t been great at the game’s highest level of play, he was MLB’s number 12 overall prospect as recently as 2020 and has a ton of upside for a Marlins team trying to stockpile MLB caliber young pitching.

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