Diamondbacks, like all of us, endured a painful 2020 of underachievement
Mark Brown
Not this time, not this day.
Lovullo’s Diamondbacks just completed a baseball season no
one in the organization saw coming. Finishing the abbreviated 60-game schedule
with a mark of 25-35 and last place in the NL West division, only the Red Sox,
with 36 defeats and the Rangers, with 38, had more losses. Their 35 defeats tied
Detroit and Baltimore for third most among major league teams. The team batting
average was .241 and that was good enough for 22nd among the 30
clubs. Plus, a power shortage resulted with 58 home runs, an average of less
than one per game, and was 29th in the majors. Only the St. Louis Cardinals,
with 51, hit fewer homers.
“This was a tough year and I took it hard,” Lovullo told
reporters during a season-ending Zoom video chat on Sept. 29. “I won’t sugar
coat this. There was no practicality to this season.”
While preseason expectations held high and exalted, reality
quickly settled in the desert. The Diamondbacks dropped five of the initial seven
games out the gate and, at one point, lost 18 of 20 games. That’s one-third of
the season, which effectively locked down the team with fury and immediacy.
By his admission, Lovullo said he was not certain as to
reasons why his team took such a disruptive fall from grace. During the
same Zoom call, general manager Mike Hazen said he was satisfied with the starting
rotation, at least for the future, but wanted to explore further explanations
as to the club’s demise.
At the start of the season, the rotation appeared secure. Lefty
Madison Bumgarner signed a 5-year deal worth a reported $85 million, lefty
Robbie Ray was poised to have a stellar campaign in his contract year, and righties
Zac Gallen and Luke Weaver formed an important segment of the starters Then, there
was Archie Bradley, named the closer, and middle relief help, in the way of
Hector Rondon and Junior Guerra, who were acquired
in the offseason. By the trade deadline of Aug. 31, Ray was dealt to the Blue
Jays and Bradley was off to Cincinnati. Starling Marte, traded from Pittsburgh
on Jan. 27 to play center field, was also traded. By that time, the season was
lost and Lovullo then turned his attention to prospects which would have played
in the minors.
Instead, many were rushed to the major league level. Therein they represented one ray of hope from the season.
“We are set on winning baseball games and now we realize we
cannot take that for granted,” he said. “I would say that one positive area was
watching the development of younger players. Many managed to get meaningful
development, and I liked what I saw.”
Of particular attention was the versatility of Daulton Varsho
who caught and played the outfield, first baseman Pavin Smith, infielder Wyatt
Mathisen, and pitchers Riley Smith, Caleb Smith, Humberto Mejia, Kevin Ginkel
and Travis Bergen.
Yet, there is one area Hazen would give priority in the
offseason.
“I’ll look to increase our right-handed hitting production,”
he said. “As important, I’ve identified other areas. We need to
shorten periods of a season that drag us down. Losing 18 out of 20 is one example
and we need to find out why that happened. Also, we need to do a better job of scoring
runs. Yes, we may add some personnel, but we need production deep in games.
That was a problem.”
Perhaps the most pressing question is addressing team collapses.
In 2018 and 2019, the Diamondbacks faded in September and did not quality for
postseason play. In 2020, they were simply out from the first week of the season
and suffered through two months of underachievement.
“There’s a pattern here over the past few years, and I need
to find out why this happened,” Lovullo said. “Believe me, we’ve had this conversation
many, many times over the past year or so, and now, this needs to a real
priority.”