Mariners' Ketel Marte trade decision was aging well even before things got weird

There's another dimension out there in which Ketel Marte is a member of the Seattle Mariners, either because he never left the organization or because they brought him back in a trade. The latter could have happened this past winter, but the Mariners reportedly refused to budge on sending Cole Young to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Even as far back as June, that decision was already aging well for Jerry Dipoto and the Mariners' front office. Now here we are in August, where Young is arguably the best second baseman in the American League and Marte is nowhere to be found.

OK, fine. Someone knows where the three-time All-Star is located. It's just that the details really are that vague. He no-showed for the D-backs' game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Monday and, as of Tuesday, was said to be headed back to Arizona for an MRI on his knee.

There are more questions than answers with what's going on with Ketel Marte

The 32-year-old is currently on the restricted list, which is meant to be for players who are unavailable for reasons not related to injuries. It was therefore odd to hear that this could be an injury situation, with the oddity compounded by the obligatory question: Are there no MRI machines in Boston?

"It's not my department, I don't know the reason for that," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. "So, I think it might have been his request to go back and see our doctors in Phoenix."

Managers aren't normally in the dark like this, and the vibe coming from Arizona's clubhouse feels more like frustration than concern. Lovullo said Monday that "sometimes you get disappointed, sometimes you get let down," with GM Mike Hazen adding that it was "unfortunate that he wasn't there tonight."

Whatever the true story ends up being, Marte had to know that he was not going to get the benefit of the doubt whenever he made the decision to not show up on Monday. This is not his first time on the restricted list, and teammates have griped about his commitment on more than one occasion.

Meanwhile in Seattle, Cole Young has taken his place among the Mariners' stars

The Mariners were hardly the only horse in the race when the Diamondbacks were shopping Marte over the winter, but they might have offered the best landing spot on paper. They had a Jorge Polanco-shaped hole to fill, and more than enough talent to satisfy any demands Hazen could make.

That Hazen would want Young made sense, but you couldn't necessarily say the same of Dipoto's decision to push back. Whatever Young was after 2025, it wasn't a known commodity. He had arrived in Seattle as a top prospect in late May, but then produced a 77 OPS+ and 0.4 rWAR in 77 games. He was firmly in "prove it" territory, whereas Marte oozed star power.

Well, here's how they compare so many months later:

The Mariners haven't lost much offensively by choosing Young over Marte, and the former's defense tips the scales in his favor in terms of overall value. That's without even bringing Young's 23 years and pre-arbitration salary into the equation.

Granted, the Mariners would much rather have Arizona's 66-61 record than the 59-67 record they actually have. Yet second base, at least, is an area where the D-backs have every right to envy the Mariners right now.

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