MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 6, 2022

Torey Lovullo

Arizona Diamondbacks

Press Conference

Q. Torey, what are you going to do to replace Pipe on your staff?

TOREY LOVULLO: This game is all about promotion. When you can get one of your own staff members promoted to an elevated position that happens to be outside your organization, you're super excited for him.

We're going to miss Pipe. It's a well-deserved opportunity for him to go be the bench coach of the Marlins. We went external. We brought in Rolando Valles, who was with the Cincinnati Reds. He has a pitching background. He was more kind of centered towards the hitting side of things with the Reds, had a lot of good concepts that he learned and picked up. He's a pitcher at heart, and he's going to be part of our run prevention team inside of our clubhouse.

We feel like he's a great addition, and he's going to step right in and hopefully have a seamless transition.

Q. So he won't have the same thing as Pipe did going with coordinating the guys going up and down, coaches.

TOREY LOVULLO: Correct. We're going to have moving parts that will be going on through the course of our camp, and we're still discussing exactly what we're going to be doing. Pipe played an important role. He was a game planner for our series, for our upcoming series, and he was also a liaison to help, especially the Latin American players, integrate into the system, the Big League system.

But you know Pipe. He's very dynamic. He related to everybody. So we have yet to fill certain roles and certain gaps inside of our clubhouse. We're presently discussing that.

We'll get it done. We're not going to miss a beat. We feel like we have really good candidates to step in and do the things that Pipe did. He had a lot of responsibilities and wore a lot of different hats.

Q. What was the replacement's name again?

TOREY LOVULLO: Rolando. Let me get the perfect spelling for the last name. I think it's V-a-l-l-e-s.

Q. What are some of the other roles that you need to replace? You're bringing back the rest of your coaching staff, right?

TOREY LOVULLO: Correct. Correct.

Pipe also was responsible for putting together the Spring Training schedule, which is a huge responsibility. So we have to fill that role for the eight weeks of camp.

Alex Cultice has transitioned out of the seat he was in being the run prevention coordinator into more of a dynamic role that's going to help his career progress. So Sharif Othman will step into his role as the run prevention coordinator. So we have a few things we're changing.

But the people that have left and moved on have left a really good template that's firmly in place. All people need to do is step into that situation, continue to run it, and sprinkle their own personality on it, and it's going to get better.

Q. What did you make from afar within the division of the Padres playoff run last year?

TOREY LOVULLO: I thought it was an unbelievable run by them. I'm not surprised. First of all, BoMel getting on board and being the leader of that team, anything he does to push that organization to the next level is not surprising to me at all.

The players that they have and the acquisitions they made were fantastic. A.J. did a great job of bringing in the right guys. We're in a pretty challenging division, and they unseated the L.A. Dodgers.

I think it's a great story for that organization. I know they fell short of their expectation, but it's a process. I think they're on the right page.

Q. Between what the Giants did the previous year, the Padres, and obviously the Dodgers, and with what you guys and the Rockies are trying to do, how do you assess the depth of the NL West?

TOREY LOVULLO: I think it's probably the most rugged division in all of baseball. I don't know, it seemed like for 24 months the best players were flooding the NL West. So we'll see what happens.

We know what the landscape is. We know what we have to do to compete. We feel like we're right at that point right now where some of our young players that we've developed and taught our concepts to are ready to take the next step and make good things happen inside our division.

Q. How do you feel about having only to play teams in the division 12 times now instead of 19?

TOREY LOVULLO: I think it could be an advantage to us. The Dodgers' and Padres' success has been very well documented, especially the Dodgers over the past ten-plus years.

I enjoy the diversity. I enjoy the idea of going into different stadiums and having it be as wide open as it is. Yeah, it could possibly help us out a little bit.

But Major League Baseball teams are good. On a given night, anybody can beat anybody.

Q. But when you're in a meat grinder division, as it were, and you've been in a few, does it take some extra out of the team that maybe even goes to the next series after having played a tough divisional series?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, it can. It does remind me of the AL East many years ago. I think it can have a positive and negative impact.

I know, when we win big series inside of our division, it carries us to the next level, the next day. It works both ways. If you're talking about potentially two or three of the best teams in the NL -- I know the Giants might have had a down year last year, but they're still a very good baseball team. If you're playing them less, you're bound to have a little bit more of an opportunity, I feel.

Q. Speaking of the AL East, you were around a lot of really good young players in the Boston system, minors and majors. How does the core you have right now coming up compare to that?

TOREY LOVULLO: It definitely overlaps 100 percent. It's the Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley, Blake Swihart group of kids that eventually transition into being world champions. It is something that Amiel Sawdaye, Deric Ladnier worked very hard to create, and those players now are taking it to the next level.

These kids were raised in our system. They know it's important to me and the entire organization, and they're really good players. They're very good performers. They've timed well. They like one another. They're out to breakfast, lunches, and dinners, and some of the stories are overlapping with what I remember when I was talking to some of the younger Boston kids.

Q. Are the talent levels at a specific age pretty similar? It might be a hard question to answer.

TOREY LOVULLO: It is, but I'm going to be biased, and I'm going to say yes, they're very similar. I want to be respectful of the kids that walked into Boston's World Championships. I feel like we have that level of talent.

Q. It's hard to project that you're going to get a Betts and a Bogaerts, but you saw those guys at --

TOREY LOVULLO: Correct. It definitely overlaps. It's not only the talent, but it's the mindset. It's the confidence. It's what they have from the neck up that impresses me as much as their physical ability.

Q. How, if at all, do you expect the rule changes to impact anything you do as a manager?

TOREY LOVULLO: The rule changes, yeah, we're still trying to sort through that right now. I know that the pitch clock is going to potentially speed the game up. We feel like with our team speed we're going to be able to exploit some of the rules we're throwing over to first base.

But we haven't quite dug into that yet. We're having conversations about that right now and how it plays out. I don't know. I think we need to read and react to how teams are going to attack us and go from there.

As far as the defensive shifting, we want to create a very athletic infield that can cover ground, and we're going to ask our guys to go out and -- I already have asked our guys to go in and prepare themselves from the waist down if you're an infielder because you're going to have to go out and get the job done on a much bigger scale.

It's going to create a lot more offense. There's going to be a lot of gaps in the defense. We're still going to plug holes the best way we can, but we're only going to do it with two guys.

Q. When you say the waist down, it reminds me. You visited Ketel in the Dominican. Was that a message? How did the trip go for you?

TOREY LOVULLO: The trip was great. The trip was very, very enlightening for me. It's the first time I went down. It's our academy. I was able to see how hard our group is working down there.

It's a different place and time for somebody that's never seen it. Once you see where these kids have come from and their homes and they make it to America to play and get to the Big Leagues, it's pretty special. It's pretty special for everybody, probably more so the parents than the children.

Specifically with Ketel, yeah, I spent an afternoon, half of a day with Ketel. It was great to see him. He looked very healthy. I watched him go out and workout. I didn't want him to take ground balls on the field that he was on, but I encouraged him with what I just got done saying. We need to make sure you're agile, strong, and making the movements left and right as good as anybody when you step into Spring Training.

It doesn't mean pick up a baseball right now. But if you need to get on the beach, get on the beach and make your movements. You need to get strong from the waist down was my defensive message.

Ketel is going to be ready to go. He's super excited, and it was great to spend quality time with him.

Q. Do you think that backed up on him, just more of a focus on strength and trying to drive the ball like that?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah. The data showed it. The data showed he wasn't covering as much ground. I think our eyes were telling us the same story. I know you guys have had questions about his defensive ability. It did change over the past couple years.

But I think he ended up getting a little bit more offensive, which was a nice tradeoff in certain situations, but I think for us to win inches and do what I expect us to do defensively, we need to have every infielder, including Ketel, be as dynamic as possible with their left and right movements to cover that ground.

Q. What did you go to the Dominican?

TOREY LOVULLO: The exact date, I think it was --

Q. Just roughly. Was it November?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, it was in November. Yeah, it was in November. I had a chance to visit with our international scouts, had a barbecue with them. Junior Noboa was an unbelievable host. I got to go watch -- I wanted to see Pavin, but I missed him by a day. I actually left that day. Got a chance to see Serge, Frias, saw him in a game. Saw him play a game.

If you haven't been there. You need to get down there. It's unbelievable. Went to Perdomo. Got to spend time with his mom. It was a pretty enriching experience for me.

Q. Have you had a chance to talk to Kyle Lewis and perhaps any of the other new additions to your roster?

TOREY LOVULLO: I have. I've talked to Kyle on the phone the day after we acquired him and just welcomed him aboard. I know that he's really excited for this opportunity.

I know that he's been battling some health issues, but when healthy, he's a very good player. He said that he's ready to go. I know last week he came into the facility and he met everybody. Unfortunately, I wasn't in town.

Yeah, we're excited to bring a player of his talent into our culture.

Q. Have you even started playing with any playing time grids or not even let yourself do it until the dust settles?

TOREY LOVULLO: No, definitely not. There's so many balls in the air and so many things that could change between now and that time.

Q. Pretty exciting, huh?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, got some good young players. Got some really good young players. We know who they are. Our front office is unbelievable at continuing to bring in the talent level that they feel is necessary to help us win baseball games.

Q. Going into year 2 with Brent Strom, is there any more way you see his influence spreading that maybe he couldn't do as fast in year 1 or that he's still working on going into this year?

TOREY LOVULLO: Strommy jumped in feet first and just got after it from the first day on board. I think there's going to be a certain comfort level of him knowing the guys and being able to start teaching a little bit sooner. I think he's got a good feel for building credibility and just creating a little bit of an environment where there's some trust.

He'll hit the ground running again in Spring Training. Actually he's already hit the ground running. He's working through the course of the off-season. Everybody makes good and bad decisions during the course of the season. I think what you do is you reflect on the good and you want to enhance those, and the bad you want to learn from them and keep moving on.

I haven't specifically talked to him about anything that frustrated him, but I know he's on a search to get better every day. He's a pretty amazing human being.

Q. Mike's talked a lot about Strom working with power arms and getting them to reach greater consistency and command as opposed to trying to get guys that throw 92, 93 to go out and dominate. What's your thoughts about how Brent might be able to help with that?

TOREY LOVULLO: I know just in the course of conversations, in-game conversations with Strommy, he felt like we were lacking power and he wanted a little bit more power inside of our bullpen specifically. So he and I would have those conversations.

Whether you can create extra velocity or their there are programs, and he's always talking about getting guys into programs to create velocity. He's a big top of the zone with your fastball rip secondary stuff guy. I think our front office has been addressing that with the signing of Castro.

We're continuing to look at guys -- and the trade for Vargas. We're continuing to look for guys that can make mistakes in the zone and still get away with it. I still believe, Mike still believes, and Strommy believes pitching and defense is going to help win championships. It's always there for you.

But we played into the contact part of it a little bit too much. There's nothing wrong with somebody that can place the ball at 90, 91, 92, there's nothing wrong with that. But if you can choose the other side of it where there's a little bit of power behind it, it's going to give you a little more of an advantage.

Q. Did you happen to catch Justin Martinez at all during the fall league?

TOREY LOVULLO: I did not. No, I did not. I didn't go to any fall league games unfortunately. Still decompressing.

Q. I'm curious, did you, I guess as far as the shift is concerned and the shift restrictions that are coming into play, it seems like being as heavily left-handed as you guys are, maybe you stand to benefit a little bit more than some other teams offensively. Do you think that's fair to say?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, I think so. I know it seems to -- the flooding of the right side of the field seems to affect the left-handed hitters more so than anything. It's really that 4 hole.

Yeah, I like the idea of creating that opening. That second baseman with a man at first base, you feel like you want to creep over to first base more than you normally would and put the second baseman in the 4 hole, you can't because you've got to turn a double play. That hole is going to stay open and will remain open. I think it's going to create an advantage for a left-handed hitter.

Us having a lot of them, I think it's going to create another advantage for our team.

Q. Do you think, given how many athletic outfielders you have, do you see some scenarios where you could maybe reposition your outfielders to -- I don't want to say game the system, but sort of get around some of the shift restrictions?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yes, we have. We certainly have. We've been having those conversations.

I don't want to put anybody in a situation where they're going to make a fool of themselves, but we feel like we can maybe circumvent the system and the process a little bit to get an out where you might be getting a base hit otherwise.

I don't know yet. We've thrown so much out there, some discussions, so I don't know what works and what doesn't work. Do you remember way back when they took the third to first move away? The whole Spring Training, the team I was with, we talked about we're still going to pick to third, but we're going to throw to the third baseman who's going to throw to second, and nobody ever did it one time. We practiced it for ten hours in Spring Training.

So I don't know where it takes us, but we're trying to throw everything at the wall right now.

Q. Like five (indiscernible)?

TOREY LOVULLO: Yeah, shore up that right fielder, tuck him into the 4 hole. Manny Machado style. Manny plays the short field sometimes. I don't know. We'll see.

Q. Have you heard of Japanese pitcher Fujinami?

TOREY LOVULLO: I'm not well read on who's been posted and who has potential to come over. I don't know enough about it to make any comments, which I apologize for.