Cleveland Indians: 8 failed cornerstone players since the Shapiro Era

Andy Marte

It felt like people were hyping up how good Andy Marte was for a decade. There was so much chatter on how he was going to take over at third base as soon as he got called up. He first arrived in Cleveland in January of 2006, in a trade that saw beloved fan-favorite Coco Crisp, relief pitcher David Riske and catcher Josh Bard get dealt to Boston for grinding catcher Kelly Shoppach, relief pitcher Guillermo Mota and of course, Marte.

Marte spent his first year in Triple-A, where he won the 2006 Triple-A All-Star Home Run Derby. He was a .261 hitter in that first year in the minors, hitting 15 home runs and 46 RBIs. He would play sporadically in the majors for the Indians but often found himself not able to take the spot away from entrenched third basemen Casey Blake.

He would play 80 games twice, in 2008 and 2010, but he never hit above .230 in both seasons and had a combined eight home runs across both of those seasons. Marte as an asset was a complete bust and he never warranted the type of hype he once was given.

By 2014 he had been out of the majors for three years before getting a second chance with Arizona, but the Diamondbacks didn’t see much in the way of production and eventually let him walk too.

Unfortunately, things got even worse for Marte. After spending two successful seasons hitting the ball in the Korean pro league, and rejuvenating his career, Marte died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic, before the start of a potential third year in Korea.

Marte was 33.