PHOENIX – Torey Lovullo’s future as Arizona Diamondbacks manager is hardly written in stone. He’s a lame duck at end of his current contract. But here’s a definitive statement from him about his wishes:
“I want to come back here,” Lovullo told Forbes this past weekend in an exclusive interview. “I want to finish the rest of my career in this uniform and win world championships here.”
This is his message to his bosses, owner Ken Kendrick, club president Derrick Hall, and general manager Mike Hazen:
“I’m not a position jumper. I’m not an organizational jumper. I don’t believe in that. I want to stay put here and I appreciate what I’ve built here with the people around me and work for Ken, Derrick and Mike as hard as I possibly can because that’s what I want to do. I want to impress them.
“I want to connect with the city and call ourselves world champions. I’d be honored to be the D-backs manager for the next 10 years.”
Of course that’s up to them. But I wouldn’t be writing this piece if I didn’t believe in Lovullo. He’s a good person as well as a excellent baseball man. We’re close friends. In Torey we trust. And I’m certainly not the only one.
Lovullo Has Been A Steady Force
Considering the team’s current play and his own record over the course of 10 years, an argument in his behalf can certainly be made. His 728 victories are the most ever by a D-backs manager more than doubling Kirk Gibson’s previous mark of 353.
“Ten years is a long time,” Lovullo acknowledged.
He’s up there with Dave Roberts of the Dodgers and Pat Murphy of the Brewers as the top managers in the National League. Over in the American League, Kevin Cash of the Rays sets the standard.
Like Lovullo, I consider all three to be good friends after years of building relationships through comprehensive coverage.
Should the D-backs re-sign Torey?
“I’m not an executive,” Roberts told me this past weekend while the Dodgers were at Chase Field to lose two-of-the three close and nerve-racking games to the D-backs. “But from the other side he’s one of the very good managers. He’s always prepared. It’s a no brainer. The character. The body of work.
“Given where the organization has been up and down, he’s been a constant. He’s great for the game, for the city of Phoenix, and a very good advocate for the D-backs. He’s special.”
The Dodgers are struggling right now to capture one of the top two seeds in the NL with the Brewers and Braves to avoid hosting a best-of-three Wild Card Series. The latter would mean 13 wins to three-peat, which the Dodgers had to do last year to defeat the Blue Jays on the final pitch of Game 7 to win the World Series. It takes its toll.
The top two seeds earn a bye into the Division Series, which includes a week’s layoff and has its own problems. But I can tell you this: the Dodgers don’t want to face the D-backs in either one of the first two rounds. Lovullo and the D-backs have their number. They’re not afraid of playing the Dodgers either at home or at Dodger Stadium and narrowly won the season series.
The D-backs are right there with the Phillies and Padres playing for the last two NL Wild Card spots. Considering injuries and the constantly changing face of the team this is no small feat. The D-backs are simply trying to win a game every single day, Lovullo said.
“Our boys play very hard for me and that’s all I care about,” he said. “We drop concepts on them. They accept responsibility. There’s a very clear message to the players every day. There’s no uncertainty. They go out there with a clear mind and a clear conscience, play the best they can, and it shows up.”
Lovullo, Like Any Manager, Can Be Second-Guessed
To be sure, anyone can second-guess a manager ad infinitum about in-game moves that don’t work out. Fans and the club’s hierarchy do just that.
I wasn’t fond on Saturday night of Lovullo pinch-running for Nelson Arenado on first base with Ildemaro Vargas in the bottom of the eighth against the Dodgers in what was then a 1-0 deficit. Lovullo was trying to tie the score. That didn’t happen. But in the ninth with the winning run on third and two out, Vargas came up in Arenado’s spot. He struck out. Wouldn’t you have wanted a future Hall of Famer hitting there? The D-backs lost in the 10th. Little things.
In Game 5 of the 2023 World Series against the Rangers, Zac Gallen was throwing a no-hitter heading into the seventh inning. Corey Seager, a left-handed hitter and eventual series MVP, led off. Lovullo put on the shift, which was still legal at the time. He moved third baseman Evan Longoria off the line to short. Seager grounded a base hit right where Longoria would’ve been playing ending the no-hitter and ultimately costing the D-backs the game and World Series.
It broiled me because it wasn’t fair to Zac. These are the kind of things people remember. Ask Cash. Game 6 of the 2020 World Series: Blake Snell pitching with one out in the sixth and the Rays leading the Dodgers, 1-0. Austin Barnes smacked a base hit. Cash took out Snell, who had allowed just two hits. Nick Anderson gave up two runs. The Dodgers won the game and the World Series. Cash never heard the end of it. Still hasn’t.
“I think about it every day,” Cash told me last year.
But here’s the thing: Moves come and go, right or wrong. Cash is the Rays’ forever manager and here he is six years later guiding an over-achieving Rays team to a possible AL East title after a pair of non-playoff seasons. He’s there because he’s an organizational guy who excels at doing the best with the changing array of players baseball operations gives him.
That sounds very familiar.