Torey Lovullo addresses report on Ketel Marte’s absences ruffling feathers in D-backs organization
Torey Lovullo explained his relationship with Ketel Marte on Friday in response to a recent report about Marte's time-off requests were ruffling feathers in the organization.
Watch: Torey Lovullo addresses report on Ketel Marte’s absences ruffling feathers in organization | 10 mins
Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo used a parenting metaphor to explain his relationship with Ketel Marte in response to a recent report the second baseman’s time-off requests were ruffling feathers in the organization.
Lovullo joined Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Friday and was asked if Marte is treated differently from other players as a star.
“It’s almost like parenting. People who say they treat their kids all the same, they’re lying,” Lovullo said. “You try to get the best version of each child and that requires different strategy.
“I will say Ketel Marte has a massive heart and is extremely emotional. He loves to play and wants to be in the middle of everything with his teammates every single day.”
Skipper Torey Lovullo answered questions from @BurnsAndGambo regarding reports of Ketel Marte’s treatment rubbing people within the Diamondbacks organization the wrong way.
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Lovullo’s response comes after AZCentral.com’s Nick Piecoro reported on Thursday that the three-time All-Star had rubbed teammates the wrong way with time-off requests. Some within the organization wondered if it impacted the team’s struggles following the All-Star break and if it led the front office’s decision to trade away Merrill Kelly, Shelby Miller, Eugenio Suarez and Randal Grichuk at the deadline.
Piecoro added that the issue stemmed from Marte’s three-game absence in the team’s series after the All-Star break against the St. Louis Cardinals. Marte played in the All-Star game in Atlanta but was placed on the restricted list after his Phoenix-area house was robbed of what he said was more than $400,000 in items.
Arizona Sports‘ Dan Bickley reported on Friday that Marte asked for that Friday off after the All-Star break and he had gone to the Dominican Republic. Bickley added that Marte had asked for that Friday off before he knew what happened to his house.
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Lovullo said he was unaware of the timing of the break-in and that he was only aware that Marte was not ready for the team’s first game after the All-Star break.
“We were dealing with a highly emotional situation. Details were trickling in piece by piece and minute by minute and I was unsure of how to answer a lot of the questions that were being thrown at me,” Lovullo said.
“It was one of those situations where there was a lot of unknown and I was trying to be as honest as possible with the information that was happening.”
Lovullo said the report is something he probably won’t address with the team at this point so it doesn’t get in the way of the team’s current winning streak.
The response comes as the Diamondbacks are 9-4 since the trade deadline and are 4.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot in the National League. Marte has been at the core of the team’s recent success, slashing .429/.515/.750 with two ninth-inning, go-ahead home runs in back-to-back games against the Texas Rangers this week.
Diamondbacks’ next game
The Diamondbacks will play the Colorado Rockies on Friday in the second game of a four-game series at Coors Field as the team looks to extend its winning streak to four games.
Marte is batting second in the lineup and starting at second base.
First pitch is at 5:40 p.m. MST and can be listened to on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.
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Comments
23 Comments
I'm wondering if Ketel has recently accepted this feedback, and has been trying to self correct? His recent play has an aggressiveness and a spark to it that would indicate that he's trying to lead by example. He's a very talented player and seems like a good guy. Sometimes pro athletes are so coddled that they live in a different reality, and I'm wondering if this is what happened to him. As a Dbacks fan, I'm hoping this is a "tempest in a teapot" and has already been addressed by Ketel and his teammates, and that he and they are moving on. I guess time will tell.
What the hell are you talking about? Fake news… this has been an ongoing issue since last season and anyone that watched the team knows that marte’s proclivity for taking days off to rest at very inappropriate times had to ruffle the feathers of his teammates. I like Marte, but this has been a problem.
The Dbacks players are adults, not children. And Torey is not their parent. He’s their Manager.