Lovullo maintains goal to win with Diamondbacks as contract expires: ‘I want to be wanted’

SAN DIEGO — The most pressing matter for the Arizona Diamondbacks entering the offseason is the status of manager Torey Lovullo, whose contract is up after the club won 86 games and fell just short of the postseason for a third straight year.

With emotions still raw shortly after Arizona’s elimination on Sunday, Lovullo fielded questions about his future in the visiting manager’s office at Petco Park, saying he has some things to think about, as do the Diamondbacks.

Lovullo has been Arizona’s manager since 2017, and he maintained that his goal is to win a World Series with the organization. But a phrase he used multiple times is that he wants “to be wanted.”

“Arizona’s my home, I love Arizona,” Lovullo said. “The people and the fans are spectacular. The group I work for is amazing. I love being around them every day, and I don’t want that to change … but I want to be wanted.”

Lovullo was asked to clarify that thought.

“I’ve never felt unwanted. I just feel like there’s a portion of this that at times spins out of control that we aren’t a good organization and we don’t do things right,” Lovullo said. “I just want people to know how important doing it right is every day, and we do it that way. I want this baseball community to be proud of what we do. I’ve never felt unwanted, but there’s some decisions that need to be made, and it’s gotten this far, so I don’t know what’s going on. Once I figure that out, if it works in my favor, I do want to be wanted.”

 

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Lovullo used that same phrase when asked whether he needs a long-term contract to come back, but he declined to expand beyond that.

The Diamondbacks climbed over a mountain of adversity to compete for a playoff spot this year, from significant injuries to key players entering the season, pitching injuries that piled up along the way, the most public Ketel Marte drama to date and a five-game deficit in the NL Wild Card race with just over a week to go.

Arizona won six games in a row, but a loss on Saturday paired with a Philadelphia Phillies win on Sunday ended their chase.

Lovullo consoled his infielders on the mound during a pitching change after the Phillies game went final. The D-backs lost their season finale, 9-4.

“I think he had some tough things he had to deal with this year, and I thought he did a great job with it,” Nolan Arenado said. “At the end of the day, it’s always on the players. I think us as players, we just didn’t do a good enough job when we had a chance to take care of business.”

“I’ve really enjoyed playing for him. I think he does a good job, and I’d be happy to see him back,” Corbin Carroll added.

The Diamondbacks have gone 255-231 over the past three seasons after making the World Series, winning 80-89 games each year and surviving until the final weekend. They have the most wins in Major League Baseball without a playoff appearance in that timeframe.

Arizona has six winning seasons in Lovullo’s 10 as manager but two playoff berths.

This year, the D-backs handily overachieved most preseason expectations and projection systems. Had they qualified for the playoffs, Lovullo would have made a case for NL Manager of the Year. Team president and CEO Derrick Hall defended Lovullo on Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta last week, saying he felt this has been the manager’s best season.

But that melancholic, frustrated feeling the players and coaches endured at Petco Park realizing another postseason will go on without them is difficult to handle and all too familiar. That goes for the fans, as well, who have expressed mixed opinions of the Lovullo-general manager Mike Hazen leadership group online for years.

Lovullo told Burns & Gambo recently that the right people know what he is about.

“I believe I’m a man of character, and I want people to know that I’m authentic and genuine. The ones that should know what we have here do know,” Lovullo said. “This is a really special culture that’s taken a long time to build, and it’s going to work. It’s definitely going to work, and it’s come close, and that’s not good enough.”

The Diamondbacks are heading back to Phoenix to begin their offseason, with locker clean-out day and more press conferences to take place on Monday.

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