Ketel Marte has officially become the baseball version of Waldo, and the Arizona Diamondbacks aren’t in the mood to play.
Apparently, the same goes for Marte, who went on the restricted list Tuesday after no-showing for a game against the Boston Red Sox. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told reporters that he believes Marte returned to Arizona for further testing on his knee.
Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks, Marte is no stranger to the restricted list. He landed there last July after missing a series immediately after the All-Star break and returning to the Dominican Republic following a home burglary.
Marte apologized at the time, though he’s yet to publicly comment on this week’s events — not that it might matter to the Diamondbacks at this point.
Could the Arizona Diamondbacks part ways with Ketel Marte amid his latest restricted list stint?
Although it’d be hard to blame anyone in the Diamondbacks’ building for being ready to cut ties with Marte, things aren’t so simple. Not only did ownership sign him to a six-year, $116.5 million extension last April, but he earned 10-and-5 rights earlier this season. For the unfamiliar, that means that Marte can block a trade to any team despite not having a full no-trade clause in his contract.
As of Wednesday morning, there have been no credible reports about an impending Marte trade this coming offseason. However, he scrubbed his Instagram of all Diamondbacks-related content ahead of the trade deadline amid rumors that he’d be dealt.
The finances alone could make a trade challenging, and that’s not even factoring in the effort and commitment concerns. Without speculating too much, it’s fair to wonder whether Marte’s overall situation would scare contenders away, even teams like the Yankees that might need to address second base this winter.
But if you’re the Diamondbacks, what realistically can you do? The union would almost certainly fight any type of unpaid suspension, and such a move would all but signal that ownership and management have given up on Marte. Bringing him back and pretending like nothing happened, especially during a pennant race, is also a bad look for all parties.
Marte is among the greatest players in Diamondbacks history, and we're not exaggerating for the sake of making things more dramatic. Only Randy Johnson (50.9) and Paul Goldschmidt (39.9) have a higher bWAR than Marte (34.9), and he ranks in the top five of most offensive categories. He's only 123 hits and 36 home runs away from becoming the team's all-time leader in both categories.
The safest play for Arizona, at least given that they’re on pace to make the postseason, is to bring Marte back and quietly set ground rules. From there, we’ll see how things play out in the offseason. It’s far easier said than done, but what choice do the Diamondbacks have?
And in the end, that’s what everything comes down to when you sign a player to such a massive contract. It’s no wonder why Major League Baseball is so hell-bent on introducing both a salary cap and contractual limitations.
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