How architect of Cincinnati Reds touted team culture reconciles Noelvi Marte PED suspension
GOODYEAR, Arizona — When it comes to reconciling rookie Noelvi Marte’s suspension for performance-enhancing drugs and the Cincinnati Reds’ self-touted team culture, one of the main architects of that team culture makes no excuses.
But manager David Bell also doesn’t necessarily subscribe to the same definition of the term as somebody else might, at least in this context.
“Every one of us (in the clubhouse) knows how important it is to be a team, so when he comes back it’s going to be our responsibility as a team to welcome Noelvi back and make sure that we prioritize being a team,” Reds manager David Bell said.
“In Noelvi’s case, he’s such a good player, such a good teammate. I believe in him. That’s going to make the process easier.”
But as Enquirer columnist Jason Williams wrote the other day, “It’s at least a short-term blow to the credibility of all this culture talk . . . Being a good teammate is about being accountable to the team and organization.”
So what about accountability and Marte putting himself at risk for something like this to happen, within the context of that team culture?
'I would never tell anyone how to think'
“I’m not speaking about the situation,” Bell said. “I believe in Noelvi Marte 100 percent. One hundred percent.
“Now, we’re all individuals, and we all have our own thoughts and decisions and interpretations and all of that,” Bell added. “That’s part of being respectful. I would never tell anyone how to think about anything.
“But it is our job as a team to be a team. That’s what we have to do to be successful and help one another.”
Marte, 22, was suspended for the first 80 games of the season after testing positive for Boldenone, an anabolic androgenic steroid, in violation of MLB’s drug policy. He’s also ineligible for the 2024 postseason.
Bell was named in infamous Mitchell Report
A generation ago, Bell was linked as a player to baseball’s steroid scandal through a shipment of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) he acknowledged receiving in 2005 while a member of the Philadelphia Phillies from a Mobile, Alabama, distributor that was later raided by federal investigators.
HCG, which was not a banned substance in baseball at the time, is a fertility drug reputed to be associated with steroid use. Bell, who was known to be dealing with significant back issues at the time, told SI.com in 2007 that it was prescribed “for a medical condition” that he did not disclose.
He was one of 89 players named in the infamous Mitchell Report later that year.
It’s at least unclear how that experience might come into play in managing the Marte situation if at all.
“It’s a completely different situation,” said Bell, whose final season as a player was 2006. “That was a personal situation that I have zero interest in speaking about. It was a family personal situation, and I had no control over how it became public, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
“You can try to connect dots there,” he added. “For me it’s obviously a completely different situation. Every situation is completely different.”
As long as players continue to pop positive, it’s likely this kind of history will continue to be revisited, and even more likely questions will continue to be raised about just how common juicing remains in the game almost 20 years after MLB and the union agreed to lengthy suspensions and increased testing for those who violate the policy.
For now, for Marte, for this team, “For me, it’s pretty simple,” Bell said. “Noelvi’s going to get through this. He’s young. I believe in Noelvi 100 percent as a person, as a baseball player. He’s going to get through it, and it’s going to be behind him.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: David Bell sticks to team culture concept in wake of Marte suspension
