Lovullo remains with D-backs for 2026 season

PHOENIX -- Torey Lovullo will return to manage the Diamondbacks in 2026, which will be his 10th year at the helm, GM Mike Hazen reiterated Tuesday, ending any speculation about Lovullo's status heading into the offseason.

Lovullo has one year remaining on an extension he signed during the team's run to the 2023 World Series, and while Arizona did not live up to expectations in 2025, it would be hard to blame Lovullo for that given the significant injuries the Diamondbacks experienced.

Arizona opened the 2025 season with the highest payroll in franchise history following the offseason signing of right-hander Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210 million free-agent deal.

By May, the Diamondbacks had lost Burnes for the season due to Tommy John surgery, a fate that also befell the team's co-closers, A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez.

Arizona dropped eight of nine games heading into the Deadline, leaving GM Mike Hazen with little choice but to sell. Veterans Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, Randal Grichuk, Merrill Kelly and Shelby Miller were all dealt away.

After the Diamondbacks lost the first game after the Deadline, they were 51-59. Any thoughts of the postseason seemed, at best, far-fetched.

The Diamondbacks, though, started winning, and the Mets slumped badly. A 17-12 mark in August brought Arizona to the periphery of the race for the third NL Wild Card spot, and the Diamondbacks got to within a game of it before losing five straight to end the season.

"I can't give him a bad roster and then tell him to go up there and win 90 games," Hazen said. "I thought he did a good job. I do. I think he's a really good manager. It's also on me to provide him with the resources to go out there and win baseball games, and I did not do that this year. Once that first line got hurt, there was not enough of a safety net underneath that, and I need to do a better job with that."

Throughout the surge in the final two months, both Hazen and players credited Lovullo with keeping the team playing hard.

"That's great for Torey," right-hander Zac Gallen said Monday when he was told Lovullo would return. "I loved playing for Torey for the last seven years. A lot of people outside of this space, and the world of baseball, don't understand what it is to be a manager, and it's not always the Xs and Os. There's a lot of managing personalities. There's a lot of managing the things that people don't necessarily see or take in behind the scenes, and I think Torey does a really good job of that."

Hazen was hired as GM after the 2016 season and he hired Lovullo a few weeks after that.

In Lovullo's first season in charge, the Diamondbacks won 93 games and beat the Rockies in the NL Wild Card Game before getting swept by the Dodgers in the NL Division Series.

The Diamondbacks didn't make the playoffs the following two seasons, though they did finish above .500 both times.

In 2021, the bottom fell out as the Diamondbacks went 52-100, but Hazen expressed his faith in Lovullo. And he was rewarded in 2023 when Arizona shocked the baseball world by making it all the way to the World Series before losing to the Rangers.

The decision to retain Lovullo was made after Hazen discussed things with managing general partner Ken Kendrick and team president/CEO Derrick Hall. Lovullo was informed of the decision on Monday.

"I'm grateful for Mr. Kendrick, Derrick and Mike and his team for believing in me and saying, 'Hey, let's keep going. Let's make this happen.'" Lovullo said. "I'm feeling just very grateful for them still believing in me, and I know we can do this here. I feel very strongly that we're going to do something special here."

Lovullo said he will now start the process of determining what will happen with regards to his coaching staff for 2026.

"I'm going to send out an internal staff evaluation form and we're going to start to get some information and move this thing down the field," Lovullo said.