LOVULLO SEES PLENTY OF POSITIVES IN DIAMONDBACKS
New manager says it’s up to him to get players to perform
PHOENIX In the days after Mike Hazen was named Arizona Diamondbacks general manager, Torey Lovullo admitted to feeling a bit bummed out that his close friend had left the Boston Red Sox, where Lovullo was the bench coach. It didn’t take long for the two to reunite. Lovullo was introduced Monday as the Diamondbacks manager at a news conference at Chase Field, where he displayed the sort of optimism and communication skills he’s known for around the game.
Lovullo pointed to John Farrell, Sparky Anderson and Terry Francona as his strongest managerial influences, and he talked about the sort of team and culture he hoped to create with the Diamondbacks, who are coming off a disappointing 93-loss season that led to a massive regime change.
“We’re looking for smart, tough baseball players that are fearless,” Lovullo said. “We have those guys here. We have a number of those guys here. There’s a great nucleus of players here. The way I look at it, I might be aiming a little high, (but) I feel like things are looking very positive to start.
“I haven’t had a chance to dive into the roster the way I want to, but it’s happening day by day to understand what these players are all about, and I think moving forward the roster is going to be established by Mike to help us win as many games as possible.”
Hazen and Lovullo have a relationship that dates to the 2001 season, when both were working with the Cleveland Indians. Hazen said it wasn’t the overriding factor, but both acknowledged the ways their history could help their working relationship here.
“So many things that we do involve dayto-day contact, day-to-day communication, the ability to work through problems together, whether it’s on the roster or off the field,” Hazen said. “I think any time that you have that ability to communicate on that level immediately, it’s a plus in our mind.”
This will be Lovullo’s first full-time managerial opportunity at the big-league level, though he does have practical experience on the job, having taken over for the Red Sox in the final 48 games of the 2015 season as Farrell was treated for lymphoma.
Lovullo, 51, worked the past six seasons as Farrell’s bench coach — two in Toronto and four in Boston — and was a minor league manager for nine years before that.
Lovullo said it was Anderson, his man- ager for parts of two seasons with the Tigers in the late 1980s, who taught him the importance of getting to know his players at more than just a surface level. He said it was from Francona that he grew to understand the importance of communication. And he said his time filling in for Farrell in 2015 gave him an understanding of everything that goes into the job on and off the field.
“You just have to be able to manage your time efficiently and effectively,” Lovullo said. “I’ve watched some managers do it with ease and I’ve watched some managers get run over by it.
“I just determined to make sure that I was accessible to the players on any level. I wanted to make sure they understood they were the engine that was running what was happening each and every day, and I set aside time to let them know I cared on that depth level.”
Lovullo, who received a three-year contract, got the nod over Phil Nevin, the other finalist from the five candidates interviewed.
“It was a very close call,” Hazen said. “Ultimately, Torey was the right man for this job right now, but I think I can feel confident in saying that Phil Nevin is going to be a manager at some point in the big leagues, given what we experienced.”
BLACK NAMED ROCKIES MANAGER
Bud Black, introduced by the Colorado Rockies as their manager Monday, said he really has no radical or revolutionary ideas about how to reliably pitch in the thin air at Coors Field.
“You know what works here — good pitching and making pitches and getting outs,” Black said. “That’s what we have to do. I don’t think we have to change anybody. We’ve got to make guys better. And these guys are pretty good to start with.”
Black signed a three-year deal to take over for Walt Weiss, who stepped down last month when his contract expired after four years in charge of the Rockies. They finished 75-87 last season, their best record since 2010.
Black, 59, knows Coors Field well after serving as manager of the National League West rival San Diego Padres for 8 1⁄2 seasons before being fired in June 2015. He compiled a 649-713 record for the Padres and was voted NL manager of the year in 2010.
“It’s just a different game here than other spots,” Black said. “But it’s still baseball.”
Piecoro writes for The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network. Contributing: Wire reports