This piece made me really like Marte

Lovullo:

“Here’s a guy who spent the last year and a half in the big leagues. And he’s done OK.”

I understand that as Marte’s manager, Lovullo needs to be diplomatic and say nice things about his players. But I pray that if/when the day comes when Torey manages the MLB Tribe, he doesn’t talk about how guys with lines of .211/.265/.337 are doing OK. I think my brain would explode.

Marte’s comments make everything clear in my mind. He has awesome natural talent which has gotte him this far. But his attitude is lackadaisical. It’s just my opinion but it seems like he hasn’t worked hard enough to make himself an every day major leaguer.

Anyone explain why Columbus’s best player batted 7th tonight? Are they letting Wedge set the AAA lineups too?

Since he’s gotten off to a nice start, I read the article thinking I’d see a quote from Lovullo talking about how well he’s seeing the ball, etc. Instead, we get this.

“Defensively, he’s an outstanding third baseman,” Lovullo said. “He’s picked up first base very well. Offensively, I still think he’s learning how to level his shoulders and level his swing plane. He has an up-and-under mentality and he wants to drive the ball. He hits a lot of fly balls. We’re trying to get him to stay gap to gap and level out his swing plane. It’s a work in progress.”

Ultimately, I think the above is the main reason why he didn’t get the shot that many here think he should have. I believe Wedge and his staff felt that with his approach and mechanics Marte could not succeed at the major-league level. In my opinion, this is what led to the sporadic playing time and pinch-hitting for Marte that we saw. It didn’t matter to the coaching staff what he did in AAA at the age of 21, it’s what he was doing then. I’m assuming he had better mechanics a few years ago, or this is an indictment of their scouting. And I would bet that many other teams feel this way, since nobody wanted to take a free look at him this spring.

Based on Lovullo’s comment, I would guess this is the same thing that Shelton had tried to get him to do for the past couple of years. Marte is either unable or unwilling to change.

I posted this because I think it’s the big reason why many didn’t feel he got a fair chance and not necessarily as ammunition for any argument I have in this debate. I tend to side on those who feel he did get a fair chance, though I’m also on the record stating that he should’ve gotten more regular playing time last year after they raised the white flag. I’m rooting for him, and if nothing else, maybe he can play well enough to get himself included in a trade for something.

I watched him play last night. He appeared to be playing half-hearted. He seemed more interest in chatting with the Paw. Red Sox 3rd base couch. An old friend I guess, having gone through that org. on his way to Cleveland.