Breaking: Torey Lovullo will return to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2026 season

Breaking: Torey Lovullo will return to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2026 season

In case you are just joining us right now, couple developments in the NL West this morning. Wolf, San Francisco Giants go 81 and 81 and they just fired Bob Melvin. Okay. Dex finished 80 and 82 and there’s multiple people out there now with the reports that Tory Lavell is going to be back in 2026. So, let’s just start there. And again, I will tell you right now, fired up one way or the other, we’re going to take calls at one today on the D. Okay. All right. There’s only meeting in two hours. Um, you know the way I feel about this for the most part, you either know how to coach or you don’t know how to coach. You either know how to manage or you don’t know how to manage. It is up to the player to actually go out and play. You know the way I feel about this. I don’t I don’t feel like guys stumble into being a manager at the Major League Baseball level. I don’t feel like coaches stumble into being a head coach in the NFL. I don’t feel that way. I think they’re qualified to do it one way or the other. Are there better managers than others? Yes. Are there better head coaches than others? Yes, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Yet, at the same time, I don’t think Tori is a guy who doesn’t know how to manage. I think he does know how to manage in more ways than one. Not just the game, of course, but manage people, personal relationships that he’s built with players. I I think he does know how to manage people. Having said that, I think that’s probably where the biggest breakdown was this year and it was in regard to Catel Marte. To me, that’s just me. I could be dead wrong on all of that. But when I heard about the Catel Marte issue, to me, I I thought immediately, how do the guys feel about that in the clubhouse? Immediately, that’s where my mind went because something like that, Luke, that’s a cancer. Well, and how about the fact that it came out? I mean, that came from somebody. It had to come from somebody either in the clubhouse or used to be in the clubhouse, don’t you think? Yes. Because it’s not like Catel Marte asking for days off when it kind of didn’t make a lot of sense. Just started a month or two ago. That was going on last season when they were in the final week of the season trying to make the postseason. So, uh, for that to come out, where did it come from? So, I don’t know. I I there’s there’s so many different arguments for this. I never thought Tori would be fired mid-season. I just think that he’s done too much for this organization and, you know, unless he did something just really botched things, he was never getting fired mid-season. I didn’t think he was getting fired after the season either. But when the Catel Marte stuff came out, like you’re saying, that was the first time where I was kind of like, all right, maybe, you know, if this runs deeper, if if they internally think it’s his fault or for allowing this or enabling it or whatever with Catel Marte, then you may have something. Um, there’s arguments on both sides here. I I mean there are he’s been to be clear you have to say that there are well if you put aside the Catel thing for a second because I don’t think any of us know all the details fully yet. Correct. Even even if he was you know allowing Catel to kind of have different rules. Maybe he cleared that up. Maybe they cleaned it up because after that all came out the team went on that crazy run. Um, you have to, to be fair, look at the fact that the Diamondbacks had an unreasonable number of major injuries this year. You have to look at the fact that Tory did not have a bullpen to work with. Some of that because of the injuries, he didn’t have a bullpen to work with. You can’t sit there and be like, well, why is he playing this guy with a 6.2 RA when he should be playing this guy with a 59 RA? Like, it does it really matter? He doesn’t have a bullpen to work with. Um, but that said, this is nine years, believe it or not, he’s been the manager, and they’ve only been to the postseason twice, and there were huge expectations this season. I mean, he also got them to rally in the after the trade deadline. So, uh, I I think the where you add all this up, I think he goes into next season probably on the hot seat. See, for me, um, boy, this is this is news I did not expect. I really did not. Um, I bring up Catel Marte in that issue, Basinonians, because I do wonder, this is just me. I I I have no inside information. I just want to make that really really clear. I just know how a lot of a lot of things work inside a locker room. Now, again, um I haven’t been inside a professional sports locker room where I was showing up every day playing for a team in a long time. Ron Wolfley reporting. Yet at the same time, sources, there are some timeless things that will not change, I would imagine, at some point. And to me, what are you going to get out of Catel Marte next year? Because to me, I thought maybe Tori was going to be let go because they were going to bring somebody else in. And here it comes. A brand new paradigm, a brand new culture. This is the It’s a brand new start, Catel. We’re starting from zero and this is it. And by the way, there’s going to be no special treatment of you whatsoever. This is you’re going to have to apply to the same rules that everyone else obliges to. Right. That that right. That’s what I thought. Right. Stop it. That’s what I thought was going to happen. They were going to change the paradigm. And that’s why I thought Tori might actually be let go because it’s either Catel or it’s Tori. Well, you just opened up a whole another question then. Not exactly. Now, to be fair, the team hasn’t like issued a statement saying Tori is back, but the people that are reporting this are pretty good reporters at what they do. So, I’m assuming the decision has been made internally that Tori really is coming back. So now the question that came up a month and a half ago and kind of got buried by the fact the team went on a crazy run after that. Can you bring Tori and Catel back and how much did that actually have to do with them going on a crazy run? Did they address something and all of a sudden got it out and said, “You know what? Look at me. Yeah, you can’t have different rule.” Maybe they yelled it out. Maybe they did because the team started winning right after that. Uh, and there’s nothing wrong with that, Bas with a team, okay? You want to be friendly and kind and loving out on the street. You always want that. But when you’re in the locker room, you got to air it out sometimes. We have grievances. Or you go seven games below 500 when you have a much better team. Like you you need to air it out sometimes. You just have to say it the way that it is, the way you believe that it is. And I think they may have done that which cleared the air in that clubhouse. Um, here is Let me play this cut from Tory Lavell. You know, that’s got to be the one thing, Rick, write that down. We That has got to be the one question that we as a show must have answered. Okay, let’s send Jamal somewhere to ask the question. Was right. We’ll send Jamal. Make Jamal do it. What happened? Was there a yell off inside that clubhouse in regard to Catel Marte? Well, we first need to know who who aired it. Was there dirty laundry that need to be cleaned? We also need to know how this story really became a story a month and a half ago. Like who brought that to the media’s attention that it was an issue? You know what I mean? Yeah, because that Luke who did that cuz it was leaked for a reason. Thanks for watching Wolf and Luke. Tap to see more and click the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports.

Wolf & Luke react to reports that Torey Lovullo will return to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks for the 2026 season.

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