The Diamondbacks have transferred Ketel Marte from the restricted list to the 10-day injured list, officially closing one chapter of the strangest week of Arizona's season and opening another. General manager Mike Hazen confirmed the move, per MLB Trade Rumors.
Here's how we got here. Marte exited a game against the Braves on August 14 after just one inning with left knee soreness, sat out the next night, then came back to play second base days later and traveled with the club to Boston. Monday night at Fenway, he simply never showed. Arizona placed him on the restricted list minutes before submitting its lineup.
What followed was days of vague, sometimes contradictory answers from the organization. Manager Torey Lovullo said he'd talked to Marte but gotten little clarity, calling it a personal issue the team was trying to sort out. GM Hazen only offered that Marte remained in the Boston area and that it was unfortunate he wasn't there. Marte's agent, Charisse Espinosa-Dash, later said he was managing a personal matter and would undergo a knee MRI.
D-backs CEO Derrick Hall didn't help make it any less confusing. He told reporters he'd seen Marte at the team hotel Sunday night and that the infielder looked completely fine, which made Monday's disappearance even harder to square. Hall's word for the whole saga: bizarre. His follow-up: it's still a complete mystery.
The medical piece is at least concrete now. Marte flew back to Phoenix for MRI testing and the club is citing inflammation in his upper hamstring and the medial joint of his left knee as the injury behind the IL stint. That gives Arizona a cleaner paper trail than restricted list, does not clear up why he skipped a game to get there. Infielder Jose Fernandez was recalled to cover the roster spot.
It's also not the first time. Marte went AWOL under similar circumstances last season too, when his home was burglarized during the All-Star break — a legitimate, disclosed reason that time. This time, with the explanation still murky, it's fair for Arizona to want answers before it can move on, especially from a player it committed to long-term with a six-year, $116.5 million extension.
On the field, this is a real hit for a Diamondbacks team fighting for playoff positioning. Marte's a three-time All-Star hitting.249 with 21 home runs in 118 games, and Arizona's infield plans down the stretch now hinge on how quickly — and how quietly — this gets resolved. The 10-day IL clock buys the club time, but the bigger question, per CEO Hall, is whether Marte owes the organization an explanation and an apology before he's back in the lineup.