Royals Sign Starling Marte

Starling Marte, who hit 37 homers, stole 65 bases and posted a .734 OPS in four years with the Mets, has agreed to a deal with the Royals, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported Saturday. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed, but it is pending a physical.

Marte, 37, signed a four-year, $78 million contract with the Mets before the 2022 season and represented the Mets in the All-Star Game in his first year in New York. He played in 118 games that season, slashed .292/.347/.468, hit 16 home runs, and stole 18 bases.

Age, injuries, and inconsistency reduced Marte’s role in the three years that followed, but he was a clubhouse leader who Juan Soto called “literally the leader of this team” last August.

“I feel like he’s actually the captain of this team,” Soto told Mike Puma of the New York Post. “He’s bringing everybody together. He’s bringing the energy that we need. He’s a guy who has been stepping up every single time, it doesn’t matter what. He’s actually the real deal of the team. He’s the model of the team. Everybody, when they want to talk and get to know something or have a conversation, they can go to him. He’s actually the real deal.”

Marte was an All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner in Pittsburgh, where he spent the first eight years of his 14-year career. He is the active MLB stolen base leader with 361.

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