2026 MLB (Non-Tigers) Thread

[guy incognito]

So the Dbacks played Boston earlier tonight and their 2B Ketel Marte just… never showed up to the game.
 

https://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/onsi/torey-lovullo-addresses-ketel-marte-baffling-unexcused-absence-boston

[papalawrence]

38 minutes ago, guy incognito said:

So the Dbacks played Boston earlier tonight and their 2B Ketel Marte just… never showed up to the game.
 

https://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/onsi/torey-lovullo-addresses-ketel-marte-baffling-unexcused-absence-boston

How very Rodman-esque. Hope the dude is ok

[Motor City Sonics]

The amount of information available on baseball reference is incredible.   I wonder how long it took to initially build that website.   

[Motor City Sonics]

7 hours ago, guy incognito said:

So the Dbacks played Boston earlier tonight and their 2B Ketel Marte just… never showed up to the game.
 

https://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/onsi/torey-lovullo-addresses-ketel-marte-baffling-unexcused-absence-boston

Do any of you understand how a man can hurt inside?       (Ballplayers aren't machines, they need mental health breaks too).   

 

 

 

[Hongbit]

I have never seen a team post an initial lineup so late.  I believe it finally came in about 15 minutes before first pitch.  Now I know why.

Tough spot for Arizona sitting a game out of the wildcard.  Not sure how the clubhouse recovers when such an important piece pulls in this move.  

[Tenacious D]

29 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

I have never seen a team post an initial lineup so late.  I believe it finally came in about 15 minutes before first pitch.  Now I know why.

Tough spot for Arizona sitting a game out of the wildcard.  Not sure how the clubhouse recovers when such an important piece pulls in this move.  

Will make him very difficult to trade this offseason, too.

[Sports_Freak]

7 teams within 2 games of the last AL wildcard spot. Crazy...a good week can catapult a team ahead of the pack.

[ewsieg]

1 hour ago, Hongbit said:

I have never seen a team post an initial lineup so late.  I believe it finally came in about 15 minutes before first pitch.  Now I know why.

Tough spot for Arizona sitting a game out of the wildcard.  Not sure how the clubhouse recovers when such an important piece pulls in this move.  

I saw some teammate responses and Lovullo's and they didn't seem pissed, more concerned.  I saw a snippet of Lovullo's comments in written form and assumed he was pissed, but watching a 45 second clip of his interview after the game and it was definitely concern.  Sounds like the clubhouse is willing to listen to an excuse, but I guess what that excuse is will ultimately determine how it affects the team.

[gehringer_2]

12 minutes ago, ewsieg said:

I saw some teammate responses and Lovullo's and they didn't seem pissed, more concerned.  I saw a snippet of Lovullo's comments in written form and assumed he was pissed, but watching a 45 second clip of his interview after the game and it was definitely concern.  Sounds like the clubhouse is willing to listen to an excuse, but I guess what that excuse is will ultimately determine how it affects the team.

I think we can all understand a person losing control of their immediate situation to where they can't be somewhere they are supposed to be, but in a wired world under most circumstances there isn't reason that can't at least be communicated. OTOH, in a complex relationship like management - player, I could also understand a conversation where the player is trying to get to where he feels he has 'permission' to say he can't be there and the other side not really understanding the subtext or getting the nuance. 

[ewsieg]

Oh yeah, definitely.  The fact that Lovullo couldn't even answer if Marte was even in Boston still indicated that he (and the team) had no contact with Marte.  When I saw this story last night I was generally concerned about reports coming in from the hotel after the fact.  Feeling good that I didn't see anything about that this morning.

[oblong]

Not sure how the CBA affects things but when it comes to employee situations you have to be careful what you say.  I was with a supplier once and the customer wanted to know where one of our employees was (not their employee). She was in the hospital.  I couldn't say that.  All I could was they were unavailable.  Customer didn't get it, surprisingly.

 

[Tiger337]

This reminds me of the Eduardo Rodriguez situation a few years ago.   

[chasfh]

This is yet another data point that convinces me that personal makeup really is an important aspect of evaluating a player. I wouldn't say I'd rather have a 1 WAR good guy over an 8 WAR flake. That would be dumb. But it's rarely so clear-cut a choice, anyway. And at least I can feel good about rooting for the 1 WAR good guy.

[Motor City Sonics]

Look, it might just be a guy who is dealing with something stressful in his life and he needs to step away for a short time to collect himself.   He's human.   He might not be in serious danger and he might not be a bad teammate.  Just a guy who needs a minute.   I think most people can understand that.  

With Rodriguez, My belief is that he regretted signing here so he just no-showed and did everything he could to alienate the team, including backing out of a deadline trade to a World Series contender at the very last minute.   I thought he was having a crisis before, but now I think he just didn't want to play here and when they called his bluff and held onto him, he kind of screwed them in return.    I think Marte might just have anxiety issues. 

 

Edited Tuesday at 05:09 PM by Motor City Sonics

[gehringer_2]

17 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I thought he was having a crisis before, but now I think he just didn't want to play here and when they called his bluff and held onto him, he kind of screwed them in return.

it's almost always a losing proposition to get into that kind of pissing match with a player (as the Wings are also finding out). All you do is end up burning roster value. Just cut bait as quickly as possible for whatever you can salvage and make the player someone - anyone - else's problem.

[guy incognito]

Making Baseball Great Again, I guess. I bet the new ownership is thrilled to have this to deal with.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/sport/san-diego-padres-oswaldo-pirela

 

 

[Motor City Sonics]

5 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

it's almost always a losing proposition to get into that kind of pissing match with a player (as the Wings are also finding out). All you do is end up burning roster value. Just cut bait as quickly as possible for whatever you can salvage and make the player someone - anyone - else's problem.

You mean the Red Wings who are about to make the Tigers GM, their GM ? 

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

You mean the Red Wings who are about to make the Tigers GM, their GM ? 

yup - if the management change doesn't take Larkin off his trade demand, then had they moved him by taking the best combination on the table (probably mostly picks) before the draft they'd almost certainly end up better off than they are going to be now. Whatever moral victory Yzerman thinks he he gained by 'standing-up' to Larkin's demand ends up worth spit in the end.