The Arizona Diamondbacks clubhouse responded with concern after three-time All-Star Ketel Marte failed to show up for the team’s game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Monday, August 17.
“It’s been a crazy day,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told reporters after Arizona’s 11-1 loss. “All I know is that he’s dealing with a personal issue. We’re just trying to figure that out. He didn’t show up today, and he was put on the restricted list. That’s as much as I know right now. I’m sure in time, we’ll start to uncover some information.”
Lovullo, 61, said he spoke to Marte, 32, multiple times on Monday, but “there was very little coming back.”
Marte traveled with the Diamondbacks to Boston for the three-game series, which began on Monday night. Lovullo was not clear on whether Marte was still in town after the game.
“We deal with a lot as baseball managers and coaches and teachers,” Lovullo said. “So, you know, sometimes you get disappointed, sometimes you get let down. But we’re going to figure out how to work through this.”
When asked about Marte’s future status with the team, an exasperated Lovullo said, “I haven’t got that far.”
“I need a good night’s rest, a glass of wine and we’ll think about that,” he added.
Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, a close friend of Marte’s, was similarly in the dark after the game.
“I don’t know anything,” Perdomo, 26, told reporters. “I just came here to play, and I didn’t see him here and we haven’t talked yet. At the end of the day, we are a family and we’re going to support everybody, no matter what. So we just came here to play, and that’s the only goal we have right now, just to win.”
Meanwhile, Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen called Marte’s absence “unfortunate.”
Arizona and Boston are set to resume their three-game series on Tuesday, August 18, at Fenway Park.
Marte was previously placed on the Diamondbacks’ restricted list last season when his Scottsdale, Arizona, home was broken into during the All-Star break. Following the break-in, Marte missed three games after flying home to the Dominican Republic, admitting he was “in a bad spot.”
“I know there’s an elephant in the room and I’ll just say what I want to say about it,” Lovullo told reporters at the time. “I know that Ketel talked to you guys and I’m proud of him for doing that. That’s not easy for him to do.”
