Latest Ketel Marte rumor will have Royals fans feeling better and worse all at once

Other than a few major signings, it was a relatively quiet Winter Meetings all around. However, in the aftermath of the this week's festivities, the rumor mill continues to swirl.

One name that some insiders deemed a potential trade fit for Kansas City before the league congregated in Orlando was Arizona Diamondback's second baseman Ketel Marte, given how poor the Royals duo of Jonathan India and Michael Massey performed there last season.

While the link between Marte and the Royals hadn't really taken the form of anything more than just dreamt up mock trades, there's no denying that he'd fill a void for the the Royals as strong offensive second baseman.

That being said, there's been some more concrete rumors linking Marte to other teams and the latest one could have Royals fans feeling a wide range of emotions, derived in both hope and despair all at once.

According to Nick Piecoro of the The Arizona Republic, the D-backs have reportedly had discussions with the Tampa Bay Rays about a deal for the MVP-caliber second baseman in exchange for a package revolving around a pair of promising young arms in Ryan Pepiot and Shane Baz.

Royals have type of assets D-backs value for Marte, but perhaps not the same caliber of names

At first glance, there's definitely some promising feelings to be had from Royals fans when it comes to pulling off a Marte blockbuster.

This rumor proves the Diamondbacks value MLB ready starting pitching and if you've been keeping up with the offseason so far, you'll notice the Royals have no shortage of that at their disposal.

The problem is though, none of the names the Royals have available to trade present the upside that a Pepiot and Baz do.

Both of these names are 28-years-old or younger and have Top 100 prospect pedigree to them. Pepiot has been a respectable sub-4.00 ERA arm in each of the four major league seasons he's appeared in the majors. And Baz, while facing his fair share of injury problems during his career, as well as coming off a an underwhelming 4.87 ERA in his first full year as a starter in 2025, has low-3.00s ERA potential from 2024 to dream on.

On top of this, both Pepiot and Baz both have four years of remaining control to sweeten the deal even further.

Between Noah Cameron, Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek, control isn't the issue, it's the past prospect potential that's lacking, as none of them were really household farmhands to the same degree as the aforementioned Rays duo were in their time.

Then, there's Kansas City's most talented major league arm in Kris Bubic, who would certainly help the D-backs in 2026, but the issue is that he's an impending UFA at the end of 2026. It's not a stretch to think that the Arizona will want some control coming back if they're going to give up their franchise cornerstone with five years of guaranteed control remaining on the pretty finically friendly six-year contract he signed last winter.

Is second base the biggest need for the Royals this offseason? No, but it's certainly up there.

That being said, the offseason is about dreaming, and when a player like Marte comes on the market, the "what if" statements become a lot more exciting and you can't help but fantasize.

But perhaps after Thursday, that excitement took a bit a hit and the wind has been somewhat let out of the sails for what would've been a dream acquisition for the Royals.