Ketel Marte’s relationship with Diamondbacks supervisor Torey Lovullo seems to be considerably strained after the three-time All-Star second baseman endured a rocky season punctuated by an unexcused absence from the group in August.
The Diamondbacks announced a two-year contract extension for Lovullo on Thursday, and he was requested how he plans to deal with Marte in 2027.
“I think what I would tell him is what I would tell every other player: the decisions you make are going to be on you now,” Lovullo said on the “Burns & Gambo Show” on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “I’m going to remove defending you the approach I have. And I will enable you to go out there and reply the questions on your own behalf instead of me defending you. I think I would change my tune in that approach.
“I’ve taken the mindset that whenever anything goes wrong, it’s my fault. And I’m going to protect these players like they’re my own boys. And at a certain point, I can’t do that anymore. So I have to allow them to advocate for themselves in the proper space. That’s what I’ve learned over the past couple of years.”
Marte batted .249 with 22 home runs, 76 RBIs and a .748 OPS in 141 video games this season for the Diamondbacks, who completed two video games behind the Phillies for the closing wild-card spot in the National League.
He also didn’t show up at Fenway Park for a recreation during a three-game collection from Aug. 17-19 without informing Lovullo or the entrance workplace that he would be lacking.
The group positioned Marte on the 10-day injured checklist before he came back to the group on Aug. 31.
It marked the fourth time in the previous 4 years that Marte went AWOL without the group’s information.
“It is not my job to micromanage the players. It is Torey’s job to manage the players,” D’backs proprietor Ken Kendrick informed Bruno and Gambo. “He’s going on file now in a approach that you described. And I hope that Ketel, if he is a Diamondback, will be the participant that he has the expertise to be. And I hope he will overcome his constant acts of immaturity.
“That is what his manager should be doing, not me. I don’t mean it to come out as if I don’t have any responsibility in all of this. I do. But the primary responsibility for the ball players is the field manager once they’re selected by the general manager. And we’ve had a lot of good results from Ketel, and we’ve had some unfortunate acts of immaturity, and that needs to end.”
The 32-year-old Marte apologized to Lovullo and his teammates when he returned to the group, explaining his absence as “a moment of frustration.”
“I’m the type of person that when something is going on in my life, I don’t like to talk about it,” Marte said through an interpreter on Aug. 31. “That morning I woke up, my body was in pain and I couldn’t react. No one made the decision for me, I’m the one that made the decision not to show up.”
If the group appears to be like to transfer on from Marte this offseason, he has 10-5 veto rights on any potential commerce with his contract operating through 2031.
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