Arizona Diamondbacks: Wild Card presents dilemma for Torey Lovullo
Manager Torey Lovullo approaches Wild Card roster construction with novelty and originality.
For manager Torey Lovullo of the Arizona Diamondbacks, preparing for his team’s entry into the National League Wild Card game is uneasy and uncomfortable. As a first-year skipper in the majors, Lovullo has been entrusted to help push the right buttons and set a course of action prior to the Oct. 4 Wild Card game and against an opponent to be named.
That is very unfamiliar territory. Lovullo’s experience in postseason play was as a staff member with a team which advanced to the playoffs by winning their division.
At the major-league level, Lovullo experienced two postseasons with the Boston Red Sox. The first came as a bench coach to manager John Farrell and the AL East Division winner in 2013 (complete with a World Series title), and 2016 in which the Sox were swept by Cleveland. This Wild Card entry represents Lovullo’s initial foray into the what could be a strange and bizarre world.
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At this point, the only known entity for Lovullo is that veteran right-hander Zack Greinke will start for Arizona. Because of this one-game format, Lovullo must now wrestle with an actual number of pitchers to dress and how many position players he’ll keep on the roster. Common thinking is Lovullo will go with 10 pitchers and 15 position players. Should the Diamondbacks advance out of the Wild Card, then roster composition would return to a more regular, pre-September form.
Arizona would then move on to the five-game, National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the pitching rotation would then have to be defined.
For now, Lovullo is trying to gain as much information from an organization which prides itself in advanced analytics. Still, the entire Wild Card environment, Lovullo told Call to the Pen, is alien and frightful.
“This whole Wild Card thing is new to me,” he said before Tuesday’s game home game with the San Francisco Giants. “I’m not sure what to expect, but I can tell you, we’ll be prepared.”
Sitting across in the visitors’ dugout from Lovullo this week is Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy, who has won three World Series titles with four trips to the postseason and two Wild Card appearances in his tenure at the helm.
Lovullo reminds listeners he cannot gather enough information, and told Call to the Pen prior to Tuesday’s game, he plans to reach out to Bochy.
“With his success, this is a tremendous resource,” Lovullo said of Bochy. “This would be very enriching for me, and I will, at some point, speak with him.”
Talking about his experience, Bochy, this week during the series at Chase Field, told Call to the Pen that the Wild Card syndrome can be summed up in one word, “intense.”
In addition to settling on a roster, Lovullo must also establish a batting order. One dilemma may be where to hit catcher Chris Iannetta, who was hitting .253 (16 homers, 42 RBIs) coming into Tuesday’s game. That is his second-highest average in any season for the veteran backstop, and just under the .264 he hit with the Rockies during the 2008 season. His power production is two short of his best season of 18 home runs also for the Rockies also in that 2008 season.
Yet, this might be a moot point, because if Jeff Mathis is healthy, he will catch Greinke in the Wild Card game. Out since Aug. 22 with a fractured right hand, Lovullo told Call to the Pen that Mathis is taking batting practice, and could get into a game this weekend in Kansas City.
From that point, Lovullo told Call to the Pen that Mathis’ physical condition in the coming days will determine his availability for the Wild Card game.
On the diamond Tuesday night
Outfielder J.D. Martinez continued his scorching September.
After a two-run double in the first, Martinez followed with a grand slam in the second to power the Diamondbacks to an 11-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants before 27,487 at Chase Field.
Martinez’s fifth career slam was supported by a ten-hit attack. Starter Robbie Ray went five innings, and left after an 80 pitch night. Ray allowed no earned runs, he did allow a two-run homer to Tim Federowicz after a two-out error placed a runner on first.
The win went to Ray, who picked up his 15th victory of the season and dropped his ERA to 2.88. At this point, Ray’s regular turn in the rotation would be Sunday in Kansas City, but may be held out to back up Zack Greinke in the Wild Card game. Regardless of whether he starts Sunday or not, Ray told Call to the Pen after his win Tuesday night he will be on-call.
“I’ll prepare as I usually do, and if they call my name, I’ll be ready,” he said. “(The Wild Card game) is win-or-go-home, so you have to be prepared for anything.”
Elsewhere…
Prior to Tuesday’s game, manager Torey Lovullo announced Zack Grienke’s next start moved to Friday night in Kansas City. Though originally slated to start Wednesday’s game, Greinke’s place on the mound will be taken by Braden Shipley.
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That would set up Greinke to start the Wild Card game on Wednesday Oct. 4. The time for this game is set at 5:08 p. m., Phoenix time (8:08 p.m. Eastern time), and televised nationally by TBS.
Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Diamondbacks introduced their minor-league players-of-the-year. The pitcher-of-the-year was Jon Duplantier, who went 12-3 with a 1.39 ERA in 25 games between Single-A Kane County and Advanced-A Visalia. The position player-of-the-year award went to first baseman Kevin Cron, who hit .283 with 35 doubles, 25 homers and 91 RBI in 136 games with Double-A Jackson. Cron was named the Southern League’s MVP.