With the Diamondbacks in the midst of a 100 loss season, there most certainly will be a lot of changes once the offseason hits, but D-backs fans can expect Manager Torey Lovullo being back in the dugout for the 2022 season after signing a contract extension on Thursday September 24th. The news was originally reported by Zach Buchanan of the Athletic early Thursday morning and later confirmed by the team’s front office. It is a one year deal for 2022 and a club option for the 2023 season. While the news may have been a shock for the divided fanbase, Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen and CEO Derrick Hall have expressed multiple times throughout the season that they are confident in Lovullo’s ability to manage the team. They reaffirmed this confidence during a Thursday press conference when they officially announced that Lovullo will return for his sixth season in the desert. So, despite everything wrong that happened this year for the Diamondbacks, Lovullo’s job is safe for the time being.
The Dbacks started the 2021 season red hot by going 15-13 through their first 28 games and were within striking distance of first place in the National League West, but that hot start didn’t last long. They won just five games in the month of may, including a 13 game losing streak. They followed that up with just three wins in the month of June that also included a 17 game losing streak. The summer struggles also featured an MLB record 24 game road losing streak that started on May 4th and ended June 26th. At one point, the Diamondbacks were dangerously on-pace to finish with the worst record in the modern baseball era (the 1962 Mets went 40-120 in their inaugural season). Luckily, things got slightly better following the all-star break to ensure that the 1962 Mets will still hold that record. Though many fans used injuries as a way to justify the bad performance, others have been extremely displeased with the on-field performance considering this will be the second straight losing season under Lovullo (the Diamondbacks went 25-35 during the 60 game season in 2020).
The decision to keep Lovullo breaks the precedent of what previous Diamondbacks GMs had done after difficult seasons. The first Manager the D-backs had was Buck Showalter, and he got fired after going 85-77 in the 2000 season. Talk about tough love, considering Showalter had managed the D-backs to a 100-62 record in 1999. Bob Brenly was fired midway through the 2004 season, despite having led the team to its first and only World Series title three years prior. The Diamondbacks finished 51-111 that year. Bob Melvin started 12-17 in 2009 before being fired, despite having the most managerial wins for the Diamondbacks at the time. The last notable change came in 2014 when Kirk Gibson was fired after going 63-96 despite never having had a losing season prior to 2014, and being the winningest manager in the history of the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise. It’s been made abundantly clear that the current front office for the Diamondbacks believes that a different approach is needed in order to achieve long-term success.
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the Diamondbacks under Torey Lovullo. His best season for the team was in 2017, which was also his first year. The team won 93 games en route to the Wild Card game where they beat the Colorado Rockies, but eventually fell to the Dodgers in three games in the NLDS. Lovullo won Manager of the Year for his efforts. Lovullo’s second season in the desert looked extremely promising as the Dbacks held the NL West Division lead heading into September, but collapsed in the final month of the season to finish third in the NL West. While the team did finish 82-80, it was a less than satisfactory result considering the way they played from April to August. The 2019 season was expected to be a down year for the Diamondbacks after they traded Paul Goldschmidt and let A.J. Pollock and Patrick Corbin enter into free agency, but they surprised many with a winning season. The Dbacks finished 2019 with a 85-77 record despite trading Zack Greinke at the trade deadline. In 2020, the Diamondbacks went 25-35 in the 60 game season. This was Lovullo’s first losing season as the Diamondbacks manager. The Diamondbacks have lost upwards of 100 games in the 2021 season. This makes it back-to-back losing seasons for Lovullo. Torey Lovullo obviously has mixed reviews during his time in the desert, which makes the 2022 season the most important season of his tenure with the team.
On a personal note, having met Torey and his wife Kristen, I’m extremely happy to have them back next year. Hopefully, next year will be better.
