DAMASO MARTE

2/14/75; NDFA '92 (Seattle); Dominican Republic
L/L; 6-0, 170

Level	W-L-Sv	G	GS	IP	H	BB	K	ERA
1995 A- (Sea)	2-2-0	11	11	36.2	25	10	39	2.21
1996 A (Sea)	8-6-0	26	26	142.1	134	75	115	4.49
1997 A+ (Sea)	8-8-0	25	25	139.2	144	62	127	4.12
1998 AA (Sea)	7-6-0	22	20	121.1	136	47	99	5.27
1999 AL (Sea)	0-1-0	5	0	8.2	16	6	3	9.35
1999 AAA (Sea)	3-3-0	31	11	73.2	79	40	59	5.13
2000 AA (Sea)	0-0-0	4	0	5.2	6	2	4	1.59
2000 R (Sea)	0-0-0	2	2	5.0	1	0	6	0.00
2001 NL	0-1-0	23	0	36.1	34	12	39	4.71
2001 AAA	0-0-0	4	0	5.1	3	0	4	3.38
2001 AAA (NYY)	3-1-1	23	0	36.0	29	7	36	3.50
2002 AL (CWS)	1-1-10	68	0	60.1	44	18	72	2.83
2003 AL (CWS)	4-2-11	71	0	79.2	50	34	87	1.58
2004 AL (CWS)	6-5-6	74	0	73.2	56	34	68	3.42

Level	W-L-Sv	G	GS	IP	H	BB	K	ERA	OAVG	OOBP	OSLG
2005 AL (CWS)	3-4-4	66	0	45.1	45	33	54	3.77	.256	.382	.409
2005 AAA (CWS)	0-0-0	1	0	1.2	4	1	2	5.40	.400	.455	.400

The Pirates acquired Marte in exchange for Rob Mackowiak. Marte joins the Pirates for the second time. They originally obtained him from the Yankees for Enrique Wilson just before Dave Littlefield became GM. Marte was already regarded as having a very good arm but questionable command. He showed very good stuff with the Pirates, fanning over a batter an inning and not allowing many baserunners, although his ERA was mediocre. Faced with a roster crunch after the season, however, Littlefield gave an early indication of his player evaluation skills by deciding that he preferred Joe Beimel—who, unlike Marte, had options left—and sent Marte to the White Sox for Matt Guerrier, whom Littlefield later let go in another roster crunch. Marte promptly became one of the top LH relievers in the game, while Beimel spent the next two years proving that he was not a major league pitcher. (Guerrier went on to become a solid middle reliever for the Twins. Meanwhile, Littlefield's high regard for Beimel contributed to the Pirates' loss of Chris Shelton, putting the cap on a perfect four-bagger of blunders. This raises the question whether every player in the majors can be traced within six degrees to a Littlefield blunder. Somebody should design a boardgame . . . .)

Marte throws a low-90s fastball and a slider. He's generally been deadly against LH batters and still effective against RH batters. After three outstanding seasons with the White Sox, he had a merely good season in 2005, as his control in particular took a hit. He pitched much better on the road than at home. He also had a run-in with manager Ozzie Guillen when he showed up late one day near the end of the season. Hopefully, he'll rebound and the Pirates will not have managed to have him both before and after he was good. It's also possible that he'll be traded, or that his acquisition will let the Pirates trade John Grabow. If he remains with the team, he may be the top LH late-inning guy. He's signed for 2006 at $2.25M, with team options for 2007 and 2008 that both call for $3M with $250K buyouts, so the Pirates can control his rights for three more years.

Return to Pitchers