20 years after winning the World Series, the Arizona Diamondbacks have hit rock bottom. As they finish their worst season in history, the franchise is thinking about starting over.....again. The issue is this team doesn't have any idea what they want to do. Pointing fingers in the last few years has become the norm. Despite the carnage surrounding the D-Backs, one person who seemingly is unscathed by it is manager Torey Lovullo.
Since becoming the skipper of the team, Lovullo would lead a club, while on paper seemed outmatched, and had them perform above expectations. His first season in 2017 showed a Diamondback squad, who was supposed to finish near the bottom of the NL West, make the playoffs and quickly dispatched their division rival, the Colorado Rockies, in the Wild Card game. Despite being swept by the Dodgers in the NLDS, Arizona had momentum going into next season. In 2018, the Diamondbacks had a winning record and again, played above expectation. However, there were times that the team were overmatched due to lack of talent. In time, Arizona would trade franchise cornerstones in Paul Goldschmidt and Zack Greinke to invest in the future. Lovullo has since tried to yield a competitive team, despite the change of vision management sees.
The D-Backs made some head scratching moves in 2020. They signed an already regressing Madison Bumgarner to a long-term deal and traded for Starling Marte, thus proclaiming that the team was a contender in slim terms only. In the middle of the season, the plan changed as the squad traded more cornerstones in Robbie Ray and Archie Bradley for future considerations.
The plan is to go back to a rebuilding team.
This season has been hard for the organization. Barely able to manage only 52 wins for the campaign. Their GM, Mike Hazen, had to deal with personal issues at home, and the "owners" can't continue to trip over themselves. Throughout this, Torey Lovullo has tried to right this ship to no avail. CEO Derrick Hall gave him a vote of confidence and extended Lovullo for a year. Hopefully, this franchise can turn the corner.
Don't know what I mean. I was fortunate (or unfortunate) to attend a Diamondback game this season on Father's Day against LA. The crowd was mostly dressed in Dodger garb. I mean, they were cheering for the home team. No, I don't mean the D-Backs. They were cheering for the Phoenix Suns, who were playing across the street in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. When the PA announced the final score in a Suns victory, that got the biggest pop of the day. The Diamondbacks, of course, lost the game.
Good luck, Torey Lovullo.
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