Diamondbacks trade Starling Marte to Marlins for 3 prospects

The Marte Party has been broken up.

The Arizona Diamondbacks traded Starling Marte to the Miami Marlins at the trade deadline, the team confirmed Monday.

Arizona is getting back three players in exchange: Caleb Smith, Humberto Mejia, and  a player to be named later that Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reported is Julio Frias.

Marte, acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates in January, was viewed as the center fielder who could solidify the D-backs’ outfield and allow Ketel Marte to move back into the infield.

He played well for Arizona, batting .311 with two home runs, 14 RBIs and eight doubles in 33 games.

As the D-backs fell further and further below .500, losing for the 10th time in 11 games on Sunday, they became sellers and Starling Marte became an option to move.

He has a year of team control left with a $12.5 million team option.

In exchange, the D-backs added three players, at least two of whom are pitchers.

Smith, 29, has pitched in parts of the last four seasons, starting 16 games in 2018 and 28 last season. This year, the only game he played was on July 25.

Over his four-year career, he has a 4.64 ERA and 277 strikeouts in 252.1 innings. He has started 47 of his 54 appearances.

Mejia, 23, made his major league debut this season. He has started three games and allowed six earned runs in 10 innings.

In the minor leagues last year, he had a combined 2.09 ERA in 90.1 innings between Class A and high Class A.

Frias, 22, has been in the Marlins minor league system since 2015. Last year, his first higher than rookie ball, he had a 2.83 ERA in 14 starts in low Class A.

This is Arizona’s second trade of the day.

Earlier on Monday afternoon, they traded Robbie Ray to the Toronto Blue Jays for left-handed pitcher Travis Bergen.

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