Pirates cope with Marte’s mistake
Suspension hurts for team that has little wiggle room
The Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse was quiet Tuesday afternoon, with no music, no laughter and little chatter, just players inwardly pondering their thoughts and feelings toward a teammate.
Starling Marte, their All- Star outfielder and centerpiece of their organization, was suspended for 80 games for performanceenhancing drug use, and his teammates were trying to wrap their minds around it.
It’s only the third week of a promising season, coming off the heels of a three-game sweep of the World Series champion Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, and this felt like a sledgehammer to their ribs.
“When you make a mistake, you have to pay for it; it’s that simple,” said Andrew McCutchen, who was moved out of his starting center-field job at the start of spring training for Marte and now shuffles back into it. “Guys make mistakes, and the last thing I need to be doing is distancing myself away from him. There are some things he’s going to have to battle, some things he’s going to have to overcome. “We’ll have to move on.” The Pirates, a small-market team that can ill afford major blows such as this, particularly to a man so valuable to their future, have no choice.
They know this stinks. Even when they get him back after 80 games — until at least July 18 — who knows if he’ll be the same player after sitting out for so long. He’s restricted to working out only at their Dominican Republic academy and Pirate City spring training facility in Florida without playing in games.
Even if the Pirates are able to hang on without him for the next three months, and reach the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons, Marte won’t be eligible for the postseason.
“This is where organizational depth comes in,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. “And we’ll be tested. If we’re able to do what we think can do and get through these 80 games and be able to finish on a good run and make the playoffs, we’ll be OK.
“We are going to miss him for 80 games, no question about that, but this is a tremendous opportunity for various guys to step up, keep pushing forward and battle through this, as we expect and believe this club will do.”
Still, no one is going to fool anyone here. You’re talking about an All- Star center fielder and two-time Gold Glove winner who hit .311 last season, stole 47 bases, and was the first Pirates player to produce 40 steals and 30 doubles in a season since Barry Bonds did so in 1990.
They already were left with a gaping hole in their lineup with third baseman Jung Ho Kang still in South Korea battling visa problems while facing DUI charges, and now their two most productive hitters from last season are gone.
The Pirates called up Jose Osuna as a stopgap until prized prospect Austin Meadows is ready, but Meadows is hitting .162 at Class AAA Indianapolis. They will keep Gregory Polanco in left field, and use Adam Frazier for the majority of the time in right field.
If they choose, they could reach into the free agent market and grab Angel Pagan, but they likely will pass. Trades are off the table, Huntington said. So they will wait.
“It’s an unfortunate circumstance,” Pirates ace Gerrit Cole said. “But we have a lot of games left. We have a lot of season left. It’s next man up.”
While Pirates management quietly seethed with the news, no player publicly showed his contempt toward Marte. He’s a popular teammate, who has been with the organization for 10 years and is tied up to a long-term contract potentially through 2021.
Marte, who tested positive in spring training, was awaiting results of an appeal, and his early performance reflected that of a man in limbo. He batted just .241 with a .288 on-base percentage, striking out a team-leading 17 times in 54 at-bats.
He could have left the team hotel early in the morning, sneaking out without saying a word, but after apologizing to manager Clint Hurdle and Huntington, he made a request. He asked to speak to the team. Hurdle cleared reporters from the clubhouse early in the afternoon, and for nearly 15 minutes, Marte talked to his teammates, tearfully apologized, and vowed to be back.
“When something like this happens, it’s a shock,” Pirates infielder Josh Harrison said. “It’s emotional. But it’s harder on him than us. It takes a lot of courage to step up. The easiest thing to do would be to hide behind closed doors and not want to be seen.”
It’s unknown what Marte specifically told his teammates, but he informed the Pirates front office that it was simply a careless mistake and issued a statement reflecting those sentiments to the news media.
“Neglect and lack of knowledge have led me to this mistake, with the high price to pay of being away from the field that I enjoy and love so much,” Marte said in his statement. “With much embarrassment and helplessness, I ask for forgiveness for unintentionally disrespecting so many people who have trusted in my work and have supported me so much. I promise to learn the lesson that this ordeal has left me.”
It’s hard to believe that Marte wasn’t aware what he was taking, considering that nandrolone is classified as an anabolic steroid.
“We want to be respectful of Starling ’s statement that he unknowingly … that he’s not sure how this substance got into his body, so we want to be respectful of that,” Huntington said.
The Pirates are left with no choice.
All they know is that one man’s actions might have left a season in ruins before it really started.