Will Ketel Marte torpedo D-backs’ season, Torey Lovullo’s job?

It’s hard to say where the latest Ketel Marte saga is heading. But I think I know how it ends:

The Diamondbacks make the playoffs; Torey Lovullo wins National League Manager of the Year award for guiding the Diamondbacks through a wasteland of injury and dysfunction; and survives another lame-duck season on the brink, earning a contract extension to return for an 11th season and beyond.

Or Marte gets him fired. And that would be a crime.

The most painful scene from the latest Marte no-show episode was Lovullo choking up in a postgame interview on Monday night in Boston, breaking down even though he knew Marte was not in any type of emotional or physical distress.

Lovullo admitted he knew something was afoot with Marte earlier in the day. Which means the player might’ve asked for a day off and been rejected by the manager. Or maybe Lovullo insisted Marte play in the less taxing role of designated hitter. Either way, the player might’ve encountered rare resistance from a manager who has consistently coddled and catered to Marte’s every whim.

Given all the times he has covered for Marte, Lovullo may have fully expected the player would respect the manager’s hardline decision. He trusted in the player’s heart, which is why they held off on releasing starting lineups until 10 minutes before the game. They trusted he would show up, even if it was obscenely late.

Except the player reacted very poorly, again ghosting teammates and an organization that relies on and pays handsomely for his talents. Which directly resulted in one of the team’s most haggard losses of the season.

The Diamondbacks took a big gamble when they decided not to trade Marte in the offseason. Marte had rattled the organization when he asked out of the lineup to begin the final week of 2024, following a cataclysmic collapse on a Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee. Lovullo acquiesced and the Diamondbacks quickly circled the drain. They were forced to watch a doubleheader from the clubhouse on a Monday, with bags packed for a road trip that never arrived. The indignity was profound.

Marte’s actions in 2025 were beyond the pale. He asked for a Sunday off before the All-Star break because he wanted to be fully rested for the high-profile exhibition game. After the game, he took off for the Dominican Republic, for an unexcused absence that left the Diamondbacks in shock.

The heat on Marte went full boil. Geraldo Perdomo broke into a Lovullo press conference to defend Marte, asking the media to back off and let them play baseball. That’s because, as a group, they had all heard Marte’s apology, which was a big step forward for everyone in the organization.

That’s likely why Perdomo was so edgy after the game. That’s likely why Lovullo was so emotional. They were both betrayed.

When the Diamondbacks took Marte off the trading block this offseason, it surely came with the endorsement and approval of a manager who had taken many bullets for the player. And if the most recent Marte incident is the date we all circle on the calendar as the beginning of the end, the day when the season officially went south, the future is painfully obvious.

Marte has five years and $87.5 million left on his contract, including an $11.5 million player option in 2031, when he will be 37 years old. If the Diamondbacks fail to make the postseason for a third consecutive season, logic dictates they keep Marte and they fire the manager. They will replace Lovullo with somebody that will put away the kid gloves, somebody that doesn’t hug as much and leave handwritten notes in a player’s shoe.

If Lovullo loses his job because of Marte, it might represent the worst thing a player has ever done to a manager. One who showed him nothing but love and grace.

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