Ketel Marte is one of the best second basemen in baseball when he plays. The problem in Arizona is the part where he is not always playing.
Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, segments of the Diamondbacks organization are frustrated with Marte’s recent pattern of taking days off this season. Nightengale specifically notes Marte sat out last week during a marquee matchup against Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers.
That is not the kind of game most stars want to skip. Ohtani on the mound is event television. Marte deciding to take it off, for whatever reason, is exactly the kind of move that gets reported and discussed inside the building.
For context, Marte has appeared in 61 of 65 possible games this year. That is not a huge absence number on paper. The issue is not raw games missed. It is the pattern that started last season when Marte took time off after his home was burglarized, an absence he later apologized for after teammates reportedly grew frustrated.
The 32-year-old is a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger. Arizona’s longest-tenured player has been with the franchise since 2017. But the production this year has not matched the absences. He is hitting .250 with a .754 OPS, 11 home runs, and 37 RBIs. That is a decent average year, not a star year.
And here is where it gets messy. Arizona tried to trade Marte over the winter. The team put him on the market, fielded calls, and eventually pulled him back. That is not a small detail. Front offices do not put star players on the market casually.
Marte is signed through 2030 with a player option for 2031. The contract gives Arizona long-term cost certainty, but it also means they cannot just let him walk. Trading him remains the only real exit.
The market for Marte should still be there. He is a switch-hitting second baseman with All-Star pedigree, locked in at a reasonable price. Contenders with infield holes will absolutely call.
The question is whether Arizona pulls the trigger this summer or rolls the dice on him bouncing back. Trading a longtime franchise face is brutal. Living with a star whose days off make headlines is also brutal.
The Diamondbacks need to make a choice. The August 3 deadline is the next checkpoint. If the production stays flat and the absences keep landing in the gossip column, Arizona may decide both sides are better off making a clean break.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
