TBNL: Ketel Marte and his teammates aren't getting along

Now in his ninth year with the Diamondbacks, Ketel Marte has become a true fan favorite in Phoenix. They showed him as much in late June with a massive ovation in his first game at home after an unruly White Sox fan had heckled him a few days earlier about his late mother’s passing. He might not be the most popular player in the clubhouse, however, according to a report from The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro. Though a move remains highly unlikely, some within the locker room seem to think that trading Marte this winter might be best for the organization.

Much of the growing frustration seems to center around Marte’s apparent inability to put the team first. Citing several examples since the season began, Piecoro notes that “teammates and others in the organization have quietly grumbled about his propensity to ask for days off”.

Most notably, it frustrated teammates when Marte disappeared following the All-Star Break. His Scottsdale home was burglarized, with roughly $400,000 in valuables stolen. Marte asked the team for a few days off to deal with the situation, only to spend most of it in the Dominican Republic instead.

D-backs manager Torey Lovullo — who has an excellent reputation across the league for how he treats his players — appeared on MLB Network Radio on Friday, defending Marte and seemingly trying to take some of the weight off of his star player’s shoulders. Lovullo insisted that some of Marte’s absences were his decision, not wanting to risk something when “Marte isn’t feeling 100%”.

While usually a justifiable approach from a manager trying to keep his team fresh over a 162-game season, it rings rather hypocritical when the team’s other star player, Corbin Carroll, played almost daily for three weeks with a broken bone in his hand.

Lovullo, who’s been with the D-backs since 2017, also suggested that he hasn’t seen the same clubhouse issues that Piecoro, who has covered the team since 2007, reported.

The 31-year-old Marte originally signed with the Mariners in 2010 as an amateur free agent. Two years after reaching the majors, he was traded along with Taijuan Walker for Jean Segura, Mitch Haniger, and Zac Curtis. He’s spent his whole career in the desert since. Entering play on Friday, Marte is a .282/.353/.474 (122 OPS+) hitter over nearly 5,000 plate appearances, winning a Silver Slugger and making three All-Star appearances.

Marte’s 32.7 bWAR ranks third in D-backs history, behind only Randy Johnson (50.9) and Paul Goldschmidt (39.9).

Arizona signed Marte to a six-year, $116.5 million extension in April. The deal includes some limited no-trade protection (he can designate five teams on the “no” list), but it will be a moot point next spring once he reaches 10-and-5 status (10 years of service time, 5 years with the current club) and can veto any trade.

Elsewhere, around the sport …

• Lasting more than a decade in “Internet years” is quite an accomplishment. FanGraphs reached its 20th anniversary on Friday, with the site’s founder, David Appelman, penning a heartfelt thank you to the many, many people who have contributed to building the site along the way. FG isn’t always my first destination for stats (they tend to lean heavily into the analytics at times), but they’ve long been a staple for most writers.

• Edwin Encarnación hit .260/.350/.496 (123 OPS+) over a 16-year career in the majors, hitting 424 home runs. The 42-year-old, who last played in 2020, has been hired as a front office advisor by LIDOM’s (the Dominican Winter League) Toros del Este.

• Jarrod Saltalamacchia enjoyed the honor of having the longest last name in MLB history before Simeon Woods-Richardson and Christian Encarnacion-Strand came along. Salty batted .232/.306/.408 (91 OPS+) over a 12-year career with seven teams, including winning the 2013 World Series with the Red Sox. The now 40-year-old just completed his first season managing in the Cape Cod League (his Falmouth Commodores finished 16-23-1, the worst record in the league). Per Pete Abraham at The Boston Globe, he has also been hired by the University of Miami (the one in Florida, not Ohio) to oversee its baseball development program.

Today in baseball history & birthdays

More than 23,500 players have appeared in an MLB game in the sport’s history. Putting them all into the league’s smallest stadium (ignoring the two clubs playing the season in minor league parks that would be Cleveland’s Progressive Field, which seats up to 34,830) wouldn’t even put the stadium to 70% capacity.

Only 73 of those players were born on August 16. Among those, just nine reached 10.0 WAR during their careers:

• Yu Darvish, RHP, 33.3

• Gene Woodling, LF, 33.3

• Baby Doll Jacobson, CF, 28.9

• Willie Jones, 3B, 24.8

• Tiny Bonham, RHP, 23.3

• George Scales, IF, 23.0

• Rick Reed, RHP, 20.9

• Bob Fothergill, LF, 14.0

• Al Holland, LHP, 11.9

Some highlights and events that took place on this day:

1907: A report in The Washington Post reveals that St. Louis Browns shortstop Bobby Wallace is the highest-paid player in baseball, earning $6,500 that season (that’s roughly the equivalent of 11 innings of pay at today’s $800K league minimum).

1909: Ham Hyatt hits his third pinch-hit triple of the season, a record that wouldn’t be matched until 1970.

1909: Hall of Fame right-hander Walter “Big Train” Johnson hit the first of his 24 career home runs off of Harry Krause, who would lead the AL in ERA that season.

1910: Ty Cobb steals home for the second time in his career.

1913: For the second time in two weeks, a Brooklyn Dodgers player hits two inside-the-park home runs. This time it’s Bob Fischer in the second game of a doubleheader.

1920: Indians shortstop Ray Chapman, 29, is hit in the head by a pitch from Yankees RHP Carl Mays. He is carried off the field with a fractured skull and dies the next day. Cleveland would go on to win the World Series after the tragedy.

1927: Babe Ruth becomes the first player to homer over the roof of Chicago’s Comiskey Park.

1948: Ruth dies of throat cancer at age 53 in New York.

1950: Giants third baseman Hank Thompson hits two inside-the-park home runs at the Polo Grounds.

1968: Phillies outfielder Dick Allen ties a National League record by drawing five walks in one game. Allen was inducted into the Hall of Fame last month.

1971: Twins legend Harmon Killebrew collects his lone triple of the season, marking his eighth season with exactly one triple. Killebrew had more than 2,000 hits and 574 home runs during his 22-year Hall of Fame career.

1978: Pitching for the Red Sox, Luis Tiant wins the 200th game of his career, beating Nolan Ryan and the Angels, 4-2.

1987: Montreal’s Tim Raines goes 5-for-5 and hits for the cycle against the Pirates.

1988: Longtime Dodgers OF/IF Pedro Guerrero is traded to the Cardinals for LHP John Tudor.

1989: Yankees OF Luis Polonia is arrested with an underage girl in his hotel room. He’ll be sentenced to 60 days in jail following the season.

1989: White Sox minor league LHP Tom Drees pitches his third no-hitter of the season with Triple-A Vancouver. Drees’ only MLB experience would come in 1991 when he appeared in four games, allowing 10 runs over 7.1 IP.

1996: Padres OF Steve Finley becomes the first player to homer in three countries, when the Padres and Mets play in Monterrey, Mexico.

2001: Barry Bonds hits his 52nd and 53rd home runs of the season, breaking the Giants’ franchise record set by his godfather Willie Mays in 1965.

2002: The MLBPA’s executive board votes unanimously to set an August 30 strike date. Fortunately for both sides, an agreement was reached before the deadline.

2006: Bruce Froemming umpires his 5,000th game, becoming just the second to reach the mark (Bill Klem).

2009: Derek Jeter collects hit no. 2,674 in his career, passing Luis Aparicio for the most all-time as a shortstop.

2010: Bryce Harper and the Nationals agree to a $9.9 million signing bonus in the hours leading up to the draft signing deadline.

2010: Bobby Thomson, who hit the famous “Shot heard ‘round the world” in 1951, passes away at his Georgia home. He was 86.

2012: MLB approves the sale of the Padres to a group led by San Diego businessman Ron Fowler for $800 million.

2013: Charlie Manuel is fired by the Phillies and replaced as manager by Ryne Sandberg. Philadelphia would go 119-159 in Mattingly’s three years there.

2015: Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner pitches a three-hit shutout against the Nationals, striking out 14. He also hits a double and a homer.

2016: Chase Utley returns to Philadelphia for the first time after being traded by the Phillies. He hits two homers, including a grand slam.

2023: Marlins minor league infielder Ian Lewis steals five bases without collecting a hit. He reached base twice on errors and drew a walk. The feat has only been achieved once in the major leagues, by Rickey Henderson in 1989.