The Arizona Diamondbacks placed star second baseman Ketel Marte on the restricted list in June 2025 after his Phoenix-area home was burglarized during last year’s All-Star break.
“We all know what he’s dealing with,” Dbacks manager Torey Lovullo said at the time. “It’s been unfortunate. I think he retreats a little bit when he gets upset, and I respect that space, and I’m going to give him that space.”
With the Diamondbacks in Boston this week to play the Red Sox, Marte didn’t just retreat a little bit. He retreated a lot.
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Marte never came to Fenway Park for the series opener on Monday, Aug. 17. The Diamondbacks placed Marte on the restricted list again — only minutes before the game’s scheduled first pitch — which means he will not get paid until he’s activated, under MLB rules.
One day later, Marte was back in Arizona while the rest of the team remained in Boston. Two Diamondbacks beatwriters, citing unnamed sources, reported that Marte was scheduled to get an MRI on his knee. But the facts didn’t add up.
If Marte’s health were the primary concern, the Diamondbacks could have placed him on the injured list, which would have allowed him to get paid. Third baseman Nolan Arenado suffered an abdnominal injury on the team’s road trip and was able to get an MRI on the road. Why wasn’t Marte?
Lovullo suggested it might have been Marte’s choice. But the manager also told reporters he was “a little bit” surprised at the All-Star’s lack of communication.
The curious circumstances led former Diamondbacks pitcher Archie Bradley to speculate that there’s more going on than the team is letting on.
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“For me this is much deeper than missing a game,” Bradley told KMVP-FM in Arizona. “We’ve talked about the Marte drama throughout the last couple years. But I know this guy. I know his heart. He doesn’t not show up for a game unless something serious is going on, in my opinion.”
“There’s what the American players know, and then there’s the Latin side of whats going on of, guys who speak the language, guys who come from the same country as Ketel and understand this different dynamic,” Bradley continued. “I’ll say this: This has been a repeated thing with Marte, right? And so, my side is like, hey … maybe something is going on here. Maybe something is deeper and we’ve seen this new rise in mental health and different things.
“Maybe it’s time we view this from a different angle.”
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