Marte, Aguilar show value as decisions loom

PHILADELPHIA -- Starling Marte figures to be one of the hottest names in baseball over the next two weeks leading up to the July 30 Trade Deadline -- and the reason for that was on full display Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.

Marte snapped out of his recent funk in a big way, matching his offensive production from the last month in the Marlins' 7-0 victory in the second game of a seven-inning doubleheader against the Phillies.

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After striking out twice in Miami's 5-2 loss in Game 1, Marte entered the nightcap just 2-for-19 with 11 strikeouts in his last five games. Going back further, he had driven in only three runs in his last 23 games. He had notched only three extra-base hits in his last 29 contests, dating to June 8.

Marte equaled both of those totals in his first three at-bats of Game 2. He crushed a two-run homer off Phillies starter Zach Eflin in the first, then roped a leadoff double in the third and added an RBI double in the fourth.

The 32-year-old Marte is set to be a free agent after this season, making him an ideal trade candidate -- though the Marlins have expressed interest in working out an extension with the outfielder. Miami is also yet to decide how it will approach the Trade Deadline, with manager Don Mattingly saying prior to splitting the series-opening doubleheader that this seven-game divisional road trip to begin the second half could go a long way in determining how the organization navigates the next two weeks.

"Guys like Starling, they don't doubt themselves. They know they're coming out of it, it's just a matter of when," Mattingly said. "And you don't know how much all this talk with him going on is affecting him at all. That's one thing you don't know; guys aren't going to come out and talk about those types of things. But you do know that they're human, so they have these thoughts, and everything that goes on these days with social media and getting questions from your family and everyone around you -- it has to affect guys. You don't know what kind of effect it's having, but as far as the slump, you never worry about a guy like Starling.”

Jesús Aguilar, another prime trade candidate if the Marlins opt to go that route, had an impressive showing of his own. He reached in all four plate appearances (three hits and a hit by pitch), while also providing the biggest blow in Friday's win when he welcomed reliever Enyel De Los Santos to the game with a towering three-run homer that pushed the lead to 7-0 in the fourth.

Aguilar is under team control through next season, but more important perhaps, he mans the same position as Lewin Díaz, Miami's No. 6 prospect. Díaz had a Marte-like night of his own for Triple-A Jacksonville on Friday, going 3-for-5 with a pair of homers and five RBIs. The 24-year-old has hit five homers in his last seven games.

"Guys understand the Trade Deadline and they know what can happen with guys on expiring contracts," said Mattingly, whose team remains in last place in the NL East, 8 ½ games back of the first-place Mets. "We're far enough back and enough teams are in front of us that you're not saying, 'Hey, we're right in the thick of it.' We're not a couple games back, we're not three or four back, we're nine back. Not that [overcoming that] isn't possible -- I've been in this situation before, I know that's possible with where we're at. But guys do know what's going on."

For Marte, the three extra-base hits matched a career high. The last time he did it was on July 24, 2019, as a member of the Pirates. Prior to that, he hadn't notched three extra-base hits in a game since 2014.

It’s the type of performance the Marlins were looking for when they made the blockbuster move at last year's Trade Deadline to acquire Marte from the D-backs -- a trade that helped the club return to the postseason for the first time since 2003.

"Regardless of what happens at the Deadline, we can't really focus on that," said Miguel Rojas, who racked up five hits across the doubleheader. "As a player, you just control what you can control, which is going into the game and helping the team win. For me, Starling is a big piece of this team. Just seeing him having this success at the plate and helping us is huge, because we know part of the things we accomplished last year was because of the acquisition of Starling late in the year."

Though it remains to be seen how the Marlins ultimately traverse the 2021 Trade Deadline, more performances like the one from Marte on Friday night could quickly change the conversation for the club, whether it be in terms of an extension or simply convincing the front office to make another Marte-like splash this time around.

"He's a really good player," Mattingly said. "I don't know what's going to happen with all that. It's that time of year. We'll just kind of see where it goes."