The Diamondbacks keep their bench boss. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reports that manager Torey Lovullo will be back next year. He gets a two-year contract. As Piecoro points out, this brings him closer to general manager Mike Hazen. Hazen’s most recent deal runs through 2028 with a club option for 2029.
Lovullo has been the skipper in Arizona for a decade now. 2027 will be his 11th season at the helm. His tenure has seen many ups and downs. The team won 93 games and made the playoffs in its first campaign. They hovered around .500 for a few years and had a nightmare season in 2021, losing 110 games that year. The club has stood by Lovullo through this. After another losing season in 2022, they took a huge step forward in 2023. They only won 84 games but got hot at the right time and advanced to the World Series, falling to the Rangers in five games.
Since then, everything has not been easy. The club increased its win total to 89 in 2024 but missed the playoffs. They fell to 80-82 in 2025 and there were reports of discord within the club related to accusations that Ketel Marte got away with a lack of work ethic.
The Snakes brought Lovullo back for 2026 but let him continue on to the final year of his contract. It’s pretty rare for managers or executives to be in lame duck status, but that’s how Lovullo and the team have proceeded through 2026. The season’s results have been mixed. Arizona was in contention for most of the year, but once again fell just short of a playoff berth with 86 wins. There was even more drama with Marte, as he reportedly failed to show up for a game at Fenway in August. He was initially placed on the restricted list, but was later moved to the injured list due to a knee injury.
As the season ended and Lovullo’s contract was about to expire, his future was unclear. He addressed the media after the final game of the season, with video relayed by Arizona Sports’ Alex Weiner apparently unclear about his own status. “I don’t know where it is,” he said. “I have decisions to make. I have things to think about, just like the D’Backs. Where it’s going to go from here, I don’t know.”
Despite the mixed results on the field and reports of discontent behind the scenes, there have also been signs that Lovullo is well respected in Arizona and around the league. SI’s Alex D’Agostino recently spoke with various players on the roster who have expressed their fondness for playing under Lovullo. Team CEO Derrick Room clearly sees things the same way. “If he walks through that door, he’ll get a job in a heartbeat,” Hall said this week, according to Weiner. “And he should because I think he’s one of the best managers in the game.”
Perhaps Hall was right. The uncertainty around Lovullo was enough for at least one other club to take a sniff. It was reported earlier this week that the Mariners had Lovullo as their leading candidate for their vacant managerial position. Now it looks like Seattle will have to cross his name off the list.
The Diamondbacks narrowly fell short in 2026, but have a lot of good things in place for 2027. The core of their roster is essentially back. James McCann And Ildemaro Vargas are the most important free agents on the position player side. The pitching staff has a few more noteworthy guys heading to the open market, but the Snakes can go all the way to 2027 with a rotation on paper consisting of Edward Rodriguez, Corbin Burnes, Brandon Pfaadt And Merrill Kelly. There is mutual interest in a reunion with Michael Soroka. The endgame trio of Juan Morillo, Brandyn Garcia And Justin Martinez will all be back next year as well.
The club still thinks Lovullo is the right man to bring them back in October, so they locked him up before the Mariners or any other club could have the chance to pry him from Arizona. The front office will attempt to strengthen the roster before Opening Day to give it the best chance of success.
Photos courtesy of Joe Rondone, Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
Gn sports
