Carlos Mendoza confident Starling Marte will help Mets in new role: ‘We need him’

Starling Marte found himself in the middle of trade rumors this offseason. 

Following a third consecutive injury-rattled campaign and the addition of superstar right fielder Juan Soto, the Mets made the veteran available in discussions over the past couple of months. 

They’ve reportedly been willing to pay down a portion of his salary in any deal, but even that hasn’t helped them find a trade partner to this point. 

As a result, Marte is now expected to begin the year with the team, but he’ll be playing a bit of a different role than the one he’s filled the past few seasons -- which Carlos Mendoza has been discussing with him this week. 

Marte served as the everyday right fielder the past three seasons when healthy, but with Soto now occupying that spot on a pretty much everyday basis, he finds himself in more of a part-time role. 

He’ll still see some time in right when Soto needs a day, but otherwise he’ll platoon with Jesse Winker at DH and provide the club with a veteran right-handed bat and some speed off the bench. 

While it’s a big change, Mendoza is confident Marte will embrace the new role. 

“He’s at the point in his career where he wants to win,” the skipper said. “He’s willing to do whatever it takes to help us win ballgames, whether that’s coming off the bench or serving as a DH -- there’s a lot he can do to help us.

“It’s a different role but he wants to be here and we obviously want him here. Winning teams have players in that role who are elite players, and that is certainly the case here. He’s willing to do it and we need him, so I’m excited for him.”

As evidence that he’s willing to do whatever it takes, Marte even offered to take reps in both center and left during spring training in an effort to increase his versatility -- positions he’s played just three times since coming to the Big Apple. 

We won’t see the 36-year-old early in camp as he’s still bothered by the knee issue that hobbled him towards the end of last season, but Mendoza says he’s going through his progression and trending in the right direction.

“We just have to get him in a good spot physically, then we’ll see.”