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Amir Garrett says Ketel Marte is allowed to be a person, visit casino
Former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Amir Garrett defended Arizona Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte after video showed Marte at a casino while his team played. Garrett argued that injured players are allowed personal time after completing rehab, a stance echoed by manager Torey Lovullo, though former Dodger Alex Wood criticized the timing.
Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Ketel Marte found himself at the center of a social media storm after video emerged of him at a casino Friday night while his team played the Cincinnati Reds at Chase Field. The Diamondbacks won that game 9-0, but the off-field controversy continued into the weekend.
Former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Amir Garrett, who spent five of his eight MLB seasons in Cincinnati, came to Marte's defense in a reply to a tweet from @CalicoJoeMLB about the casino visit. Garrett wrote: "When you're injured you stay home lmfaoo. What's so hard for people to grasp about this? He's done his rehab for the day, got his work in. He's allowed to be a person."
The tweet that prompted Garrett's response described Marte being "caught by random guys on TikTok at the casino while nursing an 'injury'" as "one of the wilder things I've seen play out in Major League Baseball in some time."
Marte's Absence and the Team's Explanation
The casino sighting came amid an unusual week for Marte. He no-showed at Fenway Park earlier in the week and was placed on the restricted list before being moved to the 10-day injured list after an MRI revealed inflammation in his left knee. He has been rehabbing at Salt River Fields, the Diamondbacks' spring training complex.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo addressed the situation on multiple occasions. After Friday's game, he said injured players are not required to be present for games. On Saturday, he expanded on that, saying: "Get your work done at Salt River, which typically is an early morning routine, and he was there at Salt River doing everything he was supposed to do. When you're turned loose from the medical team over there, you're allowed to go home and have an evening with your family."
Lovullo acknowledged the optics but maintained that Marte violated no rules: "The optics weren't very good, and it's not a choice I would make... a choice a lot of people in this room wouldn't make, but Ketel's a grown man and he can make his own decisions, and he did not break any rules."
The Diamondbacks have said Marte is free to do what he wants away from the facility as long as he completes his rehabilitation responsibilities. Marte reportedly had a "productive" meeting with Lovullo and general manager Mike Hazen earlier in the week. Lovullo noted that Sunday would be a scheduled off day in Marte's rehab, with plans to begin ramping him back up toward taking swings in the cage on Monday. The expectation is that Marte will address his teammates about his absence at some point in the future.
Lovullo also suggested that having Marte sit in the dugout next to his teammates on Friday might have been a bigger distraction, even if his whereabouts were poor from an optics perspective.
Criticism from a Former Dodger
Not everyone was as understanding. Alex Wood, who pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers for five seasons and helped the team win the 2020 World Series, offered a blunt assessment on X. "No one on the Dbacks will say it bc he's their franchise player but being 1 game out of the wild card and Ketel Marte being at the casino during their game last night is a–hole behavior..."
The Athletic's Marc Carig described the situation as "The lingering Ketel Marte no-show saga" taking "another strange twist — this one apparently involving a roulette table," noting that the casino was near the team's complex at Salt River Fields while the Diamondbacks were playing across town at Chase Field.
The Diamondbacks entered Friday one game behind the San Diego Padres for the final National League Wild Card spot, though one Fox News report described them as a couple of games back. The team remains above .500.
The controversy has unfolded against the backdrop of a tight NL West race, with the Dodgers holding a significant division lead over the Padres, Giants, and Diamondbacks.
As for the Reds, they are unlikely to make the postseason, according to a Fox News betting preview, having lost their best pitcher, Hunter Greene, to injury. The team started 20-11 before an eight-game losing streak and hasn't been above .500 since June 3. The Reds and Diamondbacks played a rubber match on Saturday, with the Reds' Andrew Abbott (6-8, 4.08 ERA) facing Arizona's Mitch Bratt (1-2, 4.17 ERA).
How each outlet told it
Fox News — World
Framing: Headline frames the game as a chance for Reds to steal rubber match, mentioning Marte's absence as context. It omits the controversy details and focuses on betting angle. — Speculative and analytical, with phrases like 'complete mystery' and 'I'm not really sure what is going on with him.'
Facts Included:
Reds lost to Rays in previous game, bullpen gave up lead
Reds unlikely to make postseason
Hunter Greene recently lost to injury
Reds started 20-11, then eight-game losing streak, haven't been above .500 since June 3
Andrew Abbott starts for Reds, 6-8 with 4.08 ERA, 1.40 WHIP; 3.36 ERA road, 4.78 home; faced D-backs once, 5 IP, 4 hits, 1 solo homer
Marte seen gambling at casino while team played
Team doesn't know what happened with Marte, 'complete mystery'
Diamondbacks above .500, a couple games back of final Wild Card spot
Mitch Bratt starts for D-backs, ninth start, 1-2, 4.17 ERA, 1.47 WHIP; 2.04 ERA at home, 6.16 road; never faced Reds
Framing: Headline frames Marte's casino visit as permissible, quoting Garrett's defense. Omitted is any critical view or context of the saga. — Defensive and matter-of-fact, using Garrett's quote 'He’s allowed to be a person' to normalize the behavior.
Facts Included:
Amir Garrett, former Reds pitcher, replied to @CalicoJoeMLB's tweet about Marte's casino visit
Marte visited casino while Diamondbacks defeated Reds 9-0 in series opener
Garrett's reply: 'When you're injured you stay home lmfaoo. What's so hard for people to grasp about this? He's done his rehab for the day, got his work in. He’s allowed to be a person.'
Manager Torey Lovullo said injured players are not required to be present for games
Garrett pitched for Reds for five of eight MLB seasons, 5.10 ERA over 235 games
July 2019 incident: Garrett charged Pirates dugout, suspended seven games (reduced to five)
Framing: Headline emphasizes a former Dodgers All-Star's NSFW reaction to Marte's casino trip, framing it as scandalous. It omits that Marte is injured and rehabbing, and that the Diamondbacks have defended his actions. — Sensationalistic and critical, exemplified by 'a–hole behavior' and 'another strange twist.'
Facts Included:
Dodgers entered season as odds-on favorite for third straight World Series title
Dodgers have significant division lead over Padres, Giants, Diamondbacks
Marte unexpectedly missed a game in Boston, placed on restricted list, then 10-day IL after MRI revealed left knee inflammation
Video emerged of Marte gambling at a casino Friday night near Salt River Fields while Diamondbacks played at Chase Field
Alex Wood's X post: 'No one on the Dbacks will say it bc he’s their franchise player but being 1 game out of the wild card and Ketel Marte being at the casino during their game last night is a–hole behavior...'
Arizona entered Friday one game behind Padres for final Wild Card spot
Wood pitched for Dodgers for five seasons, 2017 All-Star, 16-3 with 2.72 ERA, helped Dodgers win 2020 World Series
Diamondbacks said Marte is free to do what he wants away from facility as long as he completes rehabilitation responsibilities
Marc Carig quote from The Athletic about 'lingering Ketel Marte no-show saga'
Framing: Headline focuses on Lovullo's response to the casino sighting, not the sighting itself. It omits the controversy's origins. — Neutral and explanatory, using quotes like 'optics weren't very good' but also 'he did not break any rules.'
Facts Included:
Marte was spotted at a casino Friday night while Diamondbacks beat Reds 9-0
Marte no-showed at Fenway Park and landed on Restricted List
Marte had 'productive' meeting with Lovullo and GM Mike Hazen
Marte reinstated from RL and placed on 10-day IL with knee inflammation, rehabbing at Salt River Fields
Lovullo comments: 'Get your work done at Salt River... you're allowed to go home and have an evening with your family.'
Lovullo Saturday: 'The optics weren't very good... Ketel's a grown man... he did not break any rules.'
Sunday is off day for rehab, Monday begins swings in cage
Expectation Marte will address teammates in future
Lovullo noted bigger distraction if Marte sat in dugout
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimKetel Marte was spotted at a casino on Friday night while the Arizona Diamondbacks played the Cincinnati Reds at Chase Field.
ClaimMarte no-showed at Fenway Park and was placed on the restricted list, then moved to the 10-day injured list after an MRI revealed inflammation in his left knee.
ClaimAlex Wood wrote on X: 'No one on the Dbacks will say it bc he’s their franchise player but being 1 game out of the wild card and Ketel Marte being at the casino during their game last night is a–hole behavior...'
ClaimAmir Garrett replied to @CalicoJoeMLB's tweet about Marte's casino visit, saying: 'When you're injured you stay home lmfaoo. What's so hard for people to grasp about this? He's done his rehab for the day, got his work in. He’s allowed to be a person.'
ClaimTorey Lovullo said: 'Get your work done at Salt River, which typically is an early morning routine, and he was there at Salt River doing everything he was supposed to do. When you're turned loose from the medical team over there, you're allowed to go home and have an evening with your family.'
ClaimTorey Lovullo said on Saturday: 'The optics weren't very good, and it's not a choice I would make... a choice a lot of people in this room wouldn't make, but Ketel's a grown man and he can make his own decisions, and he did not break any rules.'
ClaimThe Diamondbacks have said Marte is free to do what he wants away from the team's facility as long as he completes his rehabilitation responsibilities.
ClaimMarc Carig wrote in The Athletic: 'The lingering Ketel Marte no-show saga has taken another strange twist — this one apparently involving a roulette table... Video emerged on social media of the injured Marte gambling at a local casino on Friday night near the team’s complex at Salt River Fields. At the same time, across town at Chase Field, his teammates on the Arizona Diamondbacks continued fighting for a postseason berth without him.'
ClaimLovullo said Sunday would be a scheduled off day for Marte's rehab before beginning to ramp him back up toward taking swings in the cage on Monday.
ClaimLovullo noted it might have been a bigger distraction for Marte to sit in the dugout next to his teammates Friday night, even if his whereabouts were poor from an optics perspective.
ClaimIn Friday's game, the Diamondbacks' bullpen gave up a 2-0 lead to the Orioles in the bottom of the 8th, before Baltimore walked it off in the 10th.