A chaotic club- that was the Arizona Diamondbacks’ identity before. A team that, no matter what, never plugs out of any game. But this season, this hasn’t been the case. The trade deadline moves made it clear that they were in a half-rebuild and half-compete mode. They shipped off Eugenio Suarez first to the Mariners and then veteran Merrill Kelly to the Rangers for three prospects. On paper, it looked like they were taking a step back.

But well, even amidst all the noise, they turned the page and won a gritty series against Cleveland to get to 62-66. And adding more to these changing winds is the front office’s decision to let go of their third base coach, Shaun Larkin.

After a costly on-field error in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over the Guardians, Torey Lovullo relieved Larkin. He, without sugarcoating, said, “At this point in time, I just felt like the best thing for this ball club, for him, and for us moving forward is to make this decision. I just made that decision as I was watching this game today. In the best interest of him and this team, that’s what needed to happen.” And well, in many ways, his decision is understandable.

Larkin has been under fire all season due to his questionable calls at third. Fans went ballistic on socials after several Arizona Diamondbacks runners were tagged out at the plate. But the tipping point came on Wednesday night with Alex Thomas charging around third in the fifth inning. Larkin waved him home, even though Cleveland’s Angel Martinez had slipped on the play. That throw beat Thomas—an easy out!

But here is the real kicker—this was not a single mishap. The Arizona Diamondbacks have had 18 runners thrown out at the plate this season. They are second only to the Rays and Phillies. That’s plenty of missed opportunities, right? But should the Diamondbacks be shocked? Not really, given that Larkin was in his first season as a big league on-field coach. He came in after Tony Perezchica had left for the Astros last season. Larkin was handling the player development system earlier and had limited experience in the job he was doing.

But Lovullo’s decision also puts the front office in a spot now. With just weeks left in the regular season, Arizona needs to find a new third base coach. Either from within the organization or even from beyond. And there is a sense of hurry, with Lovullo saying, “We have to figure this out pretty quickly.” Now at 62-66, a playoff push seems a long shot, but the Diamondbacks don’t seem to want to roll off. Not yet.

Mike Hazen shuns the Ketel Marte blame game

Now it’s not the third base coach, who has received plenty of flak from the fans. Another person on the list is Ketel Marte. The all-star second baseman is honestly one of the only bright spots of Arizona’s season. But somehow, Marte, taking days off, has rubbed the people the wrong way. And apparently it was the catalyst for Mike Hazen selling off key pieces at the deadline. But Hazen does not agree to this buzz.

Hazen spoke to Arizona Sports 98.7’s Wolf & Luke, and he was clear—Ketel Marte is not to be blamed, “This mindset of where he is on our team and his inability or ability to help us win is hard for me to just take that… the recent results, which are not just a result of him, it’s a result of, we didn’t play very well for the first three months of the season.” In simple words, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ slide has nothing to do with Marte’s absence. Hazen also admitted that no clubhouse is perfect, nor is theirs.

As far as the days off are concerned, the GM explained that it’s not that Marte is off due to laziness. The reason—it’s strategy. Marte has had a history of hamstring issues, and the team would rather give him breathing room now than lose him for weeks on end on the injured list. And it’s tough to argue with this logic. Hazen mentioned, “Look, Ketel is one of, if not our best player. He’s a superstar in this league. You win with superstars in this league. Two years ago, we went to the World Series with this player on our team…. So where this lays down at [Marte’s] feet and where it’s coming from now is a little bizarre to me,” mentioned Hazen.

So the bottom line is that Marte is not the problem; if anything, he seems to be the reason the D’backs think they have a fighting chance this season.