Damaso Marte Key to Pirates' Present and Future

A week ago, I wrote an article outlining possible candidates to succeed Pirate closer Matt Capps, who is out up to eight weeks with bursitis in his throwing shoulder.

So far, it looks like the Bucs have found their man.

Left-hander Damaso Marte has recorded saves in three of the Pirates’ last four games, and he has looked very good doing so. Marte has allowed neither a run nor a hit in those three appearances.

And they weren’t easy saves, either. On Monday, after a wild back-and-forth game put the Pirates ahead 10-7 heading into the ninth, Marte retired the top of the Houston order, yielding only a walk to Mark Loretta and getting Lance Berkman to flyout to end the game.

Tuesday, Marte faced an even taller task, nursing a one-run lead in the ninth inning against the middle of the Astros' lineup. After retiring Loretta and Berkman, and walking Carlos Lee, he got Miguel Tejada to ground weakly back to him, preserving yet another victory.

Thursday night, Marte worked another great ninth inning. And this was no ordinary ninth inning: It was the ninth inning against the vaunted New York Yankees, in front of a capacity crowd.

Who did Marte retire to record the game’s final out? None other than Yankee captain and baseball ambassador Derek Jeter.

Marte has looked sharp all year, barring one particularly poor appearance against the Cubs back in April, and is proving himself a worthy replacement for Capps. Among his better numbers are a 1.12 WHIP and 44 strikeouts in 43.2 innings.

Marte has become much more than just a lefty specialist, as he is more than capable of getting right-handers out as well.

The best part for the Pirates? There’s actually a good chance Marte will be around for the rest of the year.

Marte was originally considered a lock to be traded due to his pricey option for the 2009 season, one the Pirates simply cannot afford to pay. This is still true now—there is little to no chance Marte will be a Pittsburgh Pirate in 2009.

However, due to his excellent play of late, it is extremely likely that Marte will be designated a Type-A free agent at the end of the year. When a team loses a Type-A free agent, it receives multiple compensation picks, often as much as a first-round pick and supplemental, or “sandwich,” pick.

One of the most important factors that determines a free agent’s “type” is consistency. Marte has certainly shown that, as last season he recorded a 2.38 ERA and a WHIP of 1.1. In addition, Marte’s brief success in the closer role gives him even greater value as a relief pitcher.

Thus, in any trade, the Pirates would not only be giving up a good relief pitcher, but two top-50 draft picks as well. That is an awfully good package, and a team would probably have to give up at least one top-of-the-line pitching prospect and another pretty good prospect in order make a deal.

This probably won’t happen. Contending teams (the ones that are likely to make a pitch for Marte) value prospects with some baseball experience more than draft picks, who tend to turn into less experienced players.

These teams are in “win now” mode, and an advanced prospect could at least help them as early as next year, while most draft picks won’t contribute until 2010 or later. Since they value the draft picks less than the Pirates do, they probably won’t be willing to give the Buccos what they would want in any Marte deal.

Which is fine.

The free-agent compensation rule really helps rebuilding teams like the Pirates. They get to keep pieces of their team intact for the rest of the season and see if they can get to .500, all the while knowing that they aren’t going to be left high and dry in the winter.

Ever since taking over from previous management, president Frank Coonelly and general manager Neal Huntington have been asked if they would be willing to mortgage the present to build for the future, or vice versa.

In some cases, they don’t have to choose between the two—lucky Pittsburgh.