That’s right folks, the Andy Marte era is over in Cleveland. In preperation for the upcoming Rule 5 draft, the Indians are attempting to clear spots on their 40- man roster for youngsters that actually have a future in Cleveland. It was announced this morning that Marte was outrighted off the 40-man to AAA and can become a free agent.
Don’t shed too many tears. The guy has nine lives with this organization. I literally wrote this exact same piece two years ago. Knowing Marte, he will clear waivers, end up playing first base in Columbus in 2011 and weasel his way back onto the big league club at some point.
As of today, the disappointing time that Marte spent in Cleveland is over. It didn’t seem like it while it was going on, but the perpetual prospect was an Indian for five years. That is not a misprint. He lasted five years never playing more than 80 games in any Major League season. When he came over in a January 2006 trade from Boston, he was one of the top five prospects in the game.
I know, I still can’t believe it either.
Did the scouts not see the incredibly long, pull-happy swing? Or the fact that he rarely drew walks? Maybe we should have known something when he was traded not once, but twice during the winter of ’05-’06. When does that ever happen to a so-called top prospect.
The Indians had stars in their eyes though. They thought they had the heir apparant to Travis Fryman at third base for years to come. On the day Marte was traded from Atlanta to Boston for Edgar Renteria (it always comes back to him, doesn’t it?) Red Sox Senior advisor Bill Lajoie and then-Braves GM John Schuerholz said the following about Marte:
Lajoie on Marte:
He would be one of the five players you would want to start a ballclub with. This is a throwback type of third baseman. This is the power corner that you hope will hit 25 homers when he does play in the majors.
Schuerholz on Marte:
As painful as it is to trade a player with Marte’s caliber, it needed to be done. The Red Sox got a fine young player
Amazing.
Now take a gander at Tribe GM Mark Shapiro’s take on his new man at the hot corner:
In Andy Marte, we are acquiring a right-handed power hitter who is also a good defensive third baseman. Not only is third base a position of need in our organization, but it is one of the more difficult positions to acquire a player of Andy’s caliber and skill set via trade or free agency.
One would think these three respected baseball men were describing a young Albert Pujols or something.
In the end, Marte’s numbers in five years and 277 games with the Red, White, and Blue reads as follows:
781 AB’s/.224 BA/20 HR/92 RBIs/177 K’s/67 BB’s/.281 OBP/.650 OPS
We also cannot forget how in 2010 he became so brutal in the field at third that the Indians couldn’t play him there anymore in September.
Oh Andy, we had such big plans for you. Its too bad they crashed and burned. Nice guy that Andy Marte, but I certainly won’t miss seeing #25 in a Tribe uniform next year. He disgraced Jim Thome’s number.
Little know trivia – Marte wore three numbers with the Indians – 15, 30, and 25. He was bad in all of them.
