Torey Lovullo to be named Diamondbacks manager

The Arizona Diamondbacks are set to name Torey Lovullo their new manager according to a tweet from John Gambadoro.

Lovullo, Boston’s bench coach since John Farrell took over as manager before the 2013 season, has been seen as one of the game’s top managerial candidates since his stint as the interim manager in the wake of John Farrell’s cancer diagnosis. Lovullo led the Red Sox to a strong finish in an otherwise lost year—a period that in many ways laid the groundwork for the 2016 team that would win the AL East.

That alone probably would’ve been enough to land him a job in 2016 had Lovullo gone looking for one. Instead, with the Red Sox unsure on John Farrell’s health, he agreed to remain in Boston for one more year in case Farrell needed to take another leave of absence or resign entirely.

A career can only stay paused for so long, however. With Farrell having stayed healthy through the end of the 2016 season, and the Red Sox making no changes in the wake of a 93-win campaign, Lovullo was free to go looking for his own managerial position elsewhere. The Diamondbacks, of course, had an opening after their disaster year. He has his work cut out for him, but hopefully the Diamondbacks will recognize that a manager can only do so much.