PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and an unnamed player spoke to the team in Anaheim before the All-Star break about the state of the club’s heartbeat.
The D-backs’ now-or-never situation is clear. Eugenio Suarez said it is hard to get away from noise when he consistently sees his name in trade rumors with the deadline less than two weeks out on July 31.
Arizona is staring down the potential to sell pieces at 47-50, 5.5 games back of a playoff spot and with 7-11% odds to make the postseason, according to various projections.
The Diamondbacks play 12 games ahead of the deadline, starting on Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals, and while Lovullo did not express a desired record in those games, he made one thing clear.
“If I go to (general manager Mike Hazen) and say I believe in this team enough for you to buy and we’re under .500, I think it would be a tough sell for me to have him buy into that,” Lovullo said on Friday.
“Naturally, we believe in them every single day, but now we gotta win games. That’s the bottom line. And if we win games, maybe we can put some pressure on everybody to help us get to the next level. We’re three games under .500. That isn’t gonna get it done.”
Hazen has been clear publicly that where the D-backs are in the standings holds the most water in how they operate at the deadline. Getting back over .500 for the first time since July 1 is how they will start making progress.
A key point made over the last couple days is that the Diamondbacks proved last season that a tale of two halves is possible with a 40-25 run that should have vaulted them into the postseason, but that cannot be used as a crux, either.
This team has some different challenges this year with injuries in the bullpen, and it has taken longer to get going if a run is possible. Pair that with a group of highly sought after free agents to be and the Diamondbacks are going to have opportunities to reset.
Belief in the clubhouse remains high, which is important, but words only go so far at this point.
“I think we’ve got a chance,” Suarez said. “I trust in this group. I think we got a really good group, but we just gotta keep going, support each other and play good baseball and change our mentality and try to win games starting today. … I believe in my team. The D-backs are gonna be back and get hot again.”
“I think we have a good weekend, we have a good road trip, we can make those 5.5 games up pretty quickly and put ourselves in a good spot,” pitcher Brandon Pfaadt said. “I think we have the talent to do that.”
“Obviously everyone understands the next two weeks are crucial for us to figure out where we’re going,” outfielder Randal Grichuk said. “We believe in the talent in the clubhouse. Last year we did the same thing, struggled in the first half and came out on fire in the second half. We know we have the talent to do it.”
Diamondbacks slugger Eugenio Suarez is blocking out the trade chatter and focused on winning games as the second half of the season gets underway Friday. pic.twitter.com/wGopYaMDVr
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The Diamondbacks host the Cardinals and Houston Astros, then they hit the road for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers. It is not an easy schedule, but they previously failed to take advantage of the softer stretches of competition.
Ketel Marte is also not present for the start of the second half, as he took personal time after his house was burglarized during the All-Star break. His absence is not expected to be long.
Diamondbacks skipper Torey Lovullo provided the latest on Ketel Marte while on with @BurnsAndGambo earlier today.
The Torey Lovullo Show is brought to you by Estrella Jalisco. pic.twitter.com/lW5wHEHUC2
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In a show of urgency, the Diamondbacks reshuffled their pitching rotation to map out matchups not only this weekend but the foreseeable future. Pfaadt gets Friday, followed by Ryne Nelson, Merrill Kelly, Zac Gallen and Eduardo Rodriguez.
Teams around the league change their fortunes with a key stretch every year. The Boston Red Sox entered the break on a 10-game win streak that completely altered their postseason odds to up over 60%.
Lovullo wants to live in the space of winning one game at a time. He told his players he wanted to sweep the Los Angeles Angels before the break and Arizona lost two of three.
The time to get going is over. The Diamondbacks have to send a message to their front office now or else the clubhouse will look different on their next homestand.
“The got-tos and have-tos in this game don’t always wind up the way you want to,” Lovullo said. “We gotta be north of .500. … We gotta win as many games as possible and we gotta group them up in groups of three and we have the potential to do something really special. I still believe that.”
The Diamondbacks begin their series against the Cardinals Friday night at 6:40 p.m. MST on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.
