Torey Lovullo survives a painful miss, gets 2-year deal
Torey Lovullo will be back as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks on a two-year contract, Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reported Thursday, Oct. 1. The deal runs through 2028 and lines up with general manager Mike Hazen’s contract, according to MLB Trade Rumors. Piecoro reported that the club planned a news conference later Thursday.
Torey Lovullo and Mike Hazen now share a timeline
Hazen’s current deal runs through 2028 with a club option for 2029, MLB Trade Rumors noted. Matching the two contracts keeps Arizona’s front office and dugout on the same clock heading into 2027, which will be Lovullo’s 11th season in charge.
The new deal ends an unusual year. Arizona brought Lovullo back for 2026 without extending him, so he managed the entire season in the final year of his contract. That deal dated to November 2023, when the club extended Torey Lovullo through 2026 after the World Series run, The Associated Press reported at the time.
A lame-duck season that ended one step short
The Diamondbacks finished 86-76 and fell short of the National League’s third wild-card spot, which went to Philadelphia at 88-74. A late six-game winning streak kept Arizona in the race, Sporting News reported, but the Phillies closed the regular season with a 7-3 win over Tampa Bay on Sunday, Sept. 27, while Arizona lost 9-4 at San Diego, according to ESPN’s scoreboard. It was Arizona’s third straight season without a playoff berth.
Torey Lovullo sounded unsure of his future after the finale. “I don’t know where it’s at,” he said in video relayed by Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports. “I have some decisions to make. I have some things to think about, as do the D’Backs. Where it goes from here, I don’t know.”
Team CEO Derrick Hall had already made his view clear. “If he walks out this door, he’s going to get a job in a heartbeat,” Hall said, per Weiner. “And he should because I do think he’s one of the best managers in the game.”
Ten seasons of highs and lows
Lovullo is 750-768 since taking over in 2017, the most wins by a manager in franchise history. Arizona won 93 games and reached the postseason in his first year, lost 110 games in 2021 and then made a surprise run to the 2023 World Series before falling to the Texas Rangers in five games. The club has posted a winning record in six of his 10 seasons, Sporting News noted.
The 2026 season brought turbulence, too. Star second baseman Ketel Marte reportedly did not show up for a game at Fenway Park in August and was placed on the restricted list before moving to the injured list with a knee injury, MLB Trade Rumors reported.
Only Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Dave Roberts have longer current tenures with their teams.
Seattle’s search moves on
The extension also takes Torey Lovullo off the market. The Seattle Mariners had him as a leading candidate for their managerial opening, according to reports earlier in the week cited by MLB Trade Rumors.
The front office clearly believes Torey Lovullo is the right manager to get the club back to October, and much of Arizona’s core is set to return. MLB Trade Rumors listed a possible 2027 rotation of Eduardo Rodríguez, Corbin Burnes, Brandon Pfaadt and Merrill Kelly, with relievers Juan Morillo, Brandyn Garcia and Justin Martínez also under control. For more on the club, revisit Marte’s missed challenge in a July loss and follow our MLB news coverage.