Diamondbacks' GM Defends Torey Lovullo

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo comes under fire frequently for his management of the team. That doesn't come as a surprise to anyone involved.

But it also doesn't mean that the perspective shared by fans is the one that's common internally.

Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen defended Lovullo in a recent interview, and claimed responsibi lity for some of the difficulties facing the 2025 D-backs club.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Mike Hazen Defends Torey Lovullo

Hazen, speaking to Arizona Sports 98.7's Wolf & Luke, did not shy away from the criticism foisted on both Lovullo and himself. In fact, he admitted that both he and Lovullo do deserve that scrutiny.

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"Look, these jobs are challenging. That's fine. It comes with the territory, and we deserve every ounce of criticism that we've gotten given that our team sold at the deadline and are not in a position to [make the] playoffs.

"I've always said this, and [Lovullo] deserves that criticism too, because he's in charge of the team . I think that, has this been handled — everything throughout the course of the season from him or me — perfectly? No," Hazen said.

But Hazen was sure to acknowledge that the team still plays hard for their manager — something that is not always a guarantee in baseball.

"I do think the intentions and what he does to get our team to play hard every night, even the days after I stripped five really good players off of his team, should be from a bigger-picture perspective something that, in my personal opinion, should be appreciated."

"These kids... they show up for him every day even when I put them in an adverse situation and for this organization."

"And I think [Lovullo]'s done a very good job of navigating some of these challenges like any manager in a ny sport has to do when these things get presented, and I'm looking at how this team is playing on a day-to-day basis," Hazen said.

While Arizona's GM has certainly been disappointed with the overall product, he's also been impressed with the fight remaining in the team despite the heavy casualties.

Hazen even took responsibility for his side of things. Namely, trading away multiple All-Star caliber players at the Deadline.

"I think we've been, in every single game we've played, the level of competition, even after stripping five players off the team and asking them to go out and compete, is a bit unfair at times from my seat. But they have responded and done that.

"That could be unfair at times, given what I did to the roster, but I do appreciate how hard they've played. It's not surprising to me. It's a good group of players," Hazen said.

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