Diamondbacks president: Torey Lovullo will get hired in a heartbeat if he does not return

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo is entering free agency, and while Arizona has had “countless” conversations about his future, he is starting to be linked to other teams.

National baseball insiders Bob Nightengale, Jeff Passan and Jon Morosi have brought up Lovullo’s name as a fit for the Seattle Mariners’ managerial opening, and there could be other jobs that pop up around the league with the postseason starting on Tuesday.

Nightengale said Lovullo may already be the leading candidate for the Mariners, whose president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto told reporters he will go outside of his organization to find a manager.

These developments are not surprising internally, as D-backs president and CEO Derrick Hall expects Lovullo to manage next season, whether that is in Arizona or elsewhere.

“If you talk to any player down there, they’re going to tell you he’s a great manager and they think he should be back,” Hall told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Mike Broomhead Show on Tuesday. “That’s part of all of this. If he walks out this door, he’s going to get a job in a heartbeat, and he should because I do think he’s one of the best managers in the game. He loves it here in Arizona and he loves our fans and he wants to win here.”

Lovullo has been the Diamondbacks’ manager for 10 years, during which time the club earned six winning records and two postseason appearances. Arizona competed for playoff spots until the final weekend of the regular season for three straight years and fell short each time after the 2023 World Series.

After Sunday’s season finale at Petco Park, Lovullo said he loves Arizona and it is his preference to be back. But he repeated the phrase “I want to be wanted” several times, including when asked whether he needs an multi-year contract to return.

“We’ve had countless internal conversations about about Torey, whether we extend him because it was the last year of a three-year deal,” Hall said. “I think this may have been one of, if not his best years that he’s managed with all the problems that he had, with all the adversity he overcame, with all the injuries, all the young players. I don’t think we as an organization did our best job building a roster this year.”

The D-backs won 86 games this season despite pitching injuries and another distraction involving star second baseman Ketel Marte not showing up to an important game. They have the most wins in baseball from 2024-26 out of teams without a playoff berth in that timeframe, enduring heartbreak that Lovullo described as, “completely sucks.”

Diamondbacks players comment on Torey Lovullo’s job as manager

Several players have been asked about Lovullo since the season came to a close, both in the Petco Park clubhouse on Sunday and during locker clean-out day at Chase Field Monday.

It is not the forum to expect a player on the record to bad mouth his manager, especially someone who may or may not be back next year. But some of their answers provided insight into what Lovullo does for them beyond the standard game management:

Catcher Gabriel Moreno: “I feel like Torey, for me, did a really good job. He handled us, took care of us and represented us outside of the field and the team too. We had a really good conversation this year to handle how many games I’m going to play. I think he did a really good job with me and putting me in there every day and got really good results.”

Pitcher Corbin Burnes: “He’s definitely in there pulling for us every day to go out and play our butts off, and these guys in here play their butts off for him. I don’t know what’s going to happen. … If he does move on to go somewhere else, then I think he holds a special place here.”

Third baseman Nolan Arenado: “I think he had some tough things he had to deal with this year. And I thought he did a great job with it. At the end of the day, it’s always on the players.”

Utility player Tim Tawa: “I think that he did a really good job this year just leading us and keeping us together and keeping the locker room in a good spot. Ever since I got called up, he treated me exactly how a player wants to be treated.”

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