D-backs After Dark: Lovullo Ain’t Leaving

0:00A morning walk, some bird watching. It's another easy Sunday. United Health Group makes these ordinary days possible, with partners like the University of Tennessee Health Sciences, helping communities manage their health closer to home. 54% of participants have lowered their blood pressure, meaning fewer heart attacks and more Sundays at the park. This might feel like an ordinary day. It's a United Health Group, it's the health care system working better for everyone. Learn more at UnitedHealthGroup.com slash commitment. To ghost-hound houses because they have unfinished business or because you have unfinished resources. Oh, there they are. It's further evidence that everything happens for a recess. You are now listening to PHNX-D-Bax after dark.

1:00Dad's back. Toy LeVolo, back for the airs on the Dionna Back's rock. I know you you weren't against him. I know you weren't an anti-Tory guy. No, I love that. Yeah. As most of us do that have not villainized him and made him the sore, the sole focus of the Diamondbacks, you know, mistakes. Now again, I got a lot of grief for the way I re-reacted the other day because people found me screaming about Sunday dinners being back on to be a bit much. And while I will admit it is a bit much, I was more excited about the dinners necessarily than Tory. However, I am very much in favor of of LeBolo coming back. I think for nothing more, I think that it is a really bad time considering what is looming in 2027 to be looking for a new manager. I feel like it's a really bad time

2:02to be changing philosophies, coaching staffs, perhaps players, making big changes all during one of the most tumultuous off-seasons that baseball might ever experience. You know? No, you're not wrong. I just feel like it's not a mistake bringing him back for this two years. It's not a mistake aligning his contract with the end of my casins contract. And it's not a mistake to give this particular regime that took this team at one point to the World Series when they had no business sniffing, probably even playoffs that year, you know, as far as they did. Like I think that they earned it. I also understand where people are sick of the same old results that we've had over the last three seasons. I almost feel like if they were just flat out terrible one of those years, like in 2025, like they just had a bad record and they weren't anywhere close to the postseason. I think people would feel differently about

3:04it. The pain of seeing your team come within a handful, five games or less of making the postseason and not making it is like your team mounting a comeback when they're down seven to one and scoring five runs to only lose seven to six. Somehow seven to one would have been better than seven to six, which seems heartbreaking. And that's the last three seasons have ended in his heartbreak. Yeah, I mean, this, you know, this last weekend, we were sitting around Sunday and we knew before our game was over that our season was over. The year before that, we knew that following Monday, when there was that one, there was that one game playoff that when it didn't matter who won that game because we were screwed anyway. So I'm happy he's back. It also gives another two years for Mr. and Mrs. Lovelo to extend the invite to family dinner to me as well. Because I would love to go to one of these dinners and sit at the Lovelo table and just listen to dad talk. Apparently, you

4:04got a shill for Tori for a long time. You got to apologize on Tori's behalf. You have to make excuses for Tori because that's what we've been accused of doing for years. I have from now until opening day next year to get my Amatoria Lovelo guy T-shirt made. And I will be wearing that proudly to chase field when I attend Diamondback Games next year. I do feel like a Tori Lavelo guy. You are. And I do feel like it's almost become like a wish side. Are you on or deal for Diamondback fans? You know, that's why several people that I like and respect are upset with me and upset with other local media personalities and people that cover this team for. Yeah. I mean, the general consensus amongst everybody is that they're glad Tori's back. And I will be the first person to speak on the media's behalf and say, yes, part of it is because Tori is a likable guy. I hate to say it, but it's true. If he was a prick and wasn't fucking fun to cover, I don't think that many of us

5:11would be would have that little extra reason to be glad he's back. I just do think objectively that certain that fans again are are mad at him for the lack of having a proper roster or lack of the team's performance, right? Versus it all being on Tori. I think once they've determined that the failures are on Tori, then they, you know, can it's easy for them to always point their finger at him. He's been here for 10 years, bro. I mean, he's endeared himself to this fan base. You know that there's guys in that locker room that would die on a sword for him. And vice versa for him as well. So I mean, and the other reason why he's really not technically going to go down as the greatest manager in D-back's history currently is only because Bob Brunnery won a World Series in 2001. Tori Levella was heads over his over tales of better managers Bob Brunnery. But the other reason why he doesn't have a championship. So and if it wasn't Tori,

6:18who were you going to bring in? Because I tell you this much, Tori Levella wasn't going to have our time by the job if the D-backs didn't bring him back. No, he didn't say that almost likely. He did say that a lot of that stuff was just rumors. He never got contacted by a team and there was never any, never any actual discussions being had. It just. But I mean, suitors would have been knocking at his door. Yeah. Yes. I mean, the way that they had Dan Wilson informed the public that he was fired of, you know, that was weird, even though it was. It's awesome. Weird is the Houston situation with Joe as far as finding out midway. Oh, yeah, we're not bringing you back next year. You can stay for the rest of the season or you can quit now. Yeah. I asked you so like, like, what kind of, it's like, did you want to quit? Because why would he quit on his guys? And they're called brought to you. And that's something Tori would never do for the D-backs. Tori would never quit on his guys. No, no, no, no. But Derek Hall brought up how they made the decision to bring him back before the end of the last week of the season and felt like they did

7:19him a disservice by not telling him about that. Well, because it, well, because you look at that press conference where he said he just wants to feel wanted. If he would have known that they were going to bring him back, he doesn't have to do that publicly. And like, you know, like, he looked like an emotional wreck saying that. Yeah. Like, he was, there was so much emotion in his face in his words. It's almost, it almost kind of pisses me off a little bit. Like, they knew the week prior you were going to bring him back. Why don't you just tell Tori and just don't tell nobody else? That way Tori doesn't got a fucking talk about. Like, and say what he said. I wonder if part of it was to keep that motivation there for him to try to run out and be a little desperate as far as trying to make the postseason. I think another part of it was just decisions get made internally all the time on with teams. And then they don't inform the people until it's time to inform the people, right? And I think that yes, it could have taken some pressure off Tori and made him a little less emotional. But I do think that they still got the best out of him

8:25there late. And I don't think, you know, again, I don't think that Tori was not trying to win baseball games. I don't think Tori, you know, I know, I know he blew it bringing Jose Cabrera in. I think we've talked about that. And we've said that that was a bad move on his part. We also said it was a bad move the way he managed game one to have guys like Ryan Nelson and Zach Gala and not be available for game due considering he knew before game one started that they were not going to have Corbin Burns for that start. So there's a lot of things to judge and blame Tori and again, maybe he was just trying to pull out all the stops at the end there to kind of win every single game. He managed one like it was game seven of the World Series and then managed game two like it was game two of the regular season. Yeah, it's honestly mad just looking back on last weekend like the I pretty much knew when the Phillies lost that Saturday and we and we lost instead of winning that we were pretty much cooked. And it just I was I hope that something miraculous would happen on Sunday,

9:27but lo and behold, all of a sudden the Tampa Bay Devourers decided to let the fucking Philadelphia Phillies just put it on him and here we are talking about hopefully next season because we I mean to be frank, we don't know what next season looks like if there is a next season. Right, there's so many variables after this wonderful playoff run that I'm thoroughly enjoying so far ends in November. Like who knows what happens after that? Well, I will say this. Tori made a comment when he was on 98.7 with a gamble about the players and Katelle Marte and changing how he manages them next season. And he said this said it was directed at Katelle, but if you listen to what Tori said, he was actually just saying this to the entire roster. And he was saying the decisions you are going to make, the decisions you make are going to be on you now. I am going to eliminate protecting you the way I have. I can't do that anymore. At a certain point, I have to allow them

10:32players to advocate for themselves. And I think that what one of the things Tori is eliminating there by doing that is this fucking perception that he's to fault for everything because he takes the blame for everything. And now what that's turned into over 10 years is this fan base, a good portion of it. Not a, I wouldn't say a majority, but I would say a vocal minority that loves to be on social media. You know, fucking makes him the the the sole focus of every mistake and every loss and every everything. And then they just like Tori give credit to the players when the players win and the team wins and they do well. But then Tori takes all the blame. I think that that, which is Tori's philosophy in the way he handles being a coach has put him in the position of people blaming him for everything. So to a degree, he is at fault for the fact that this fan base, certain percentage of it blames him for everything because of the fact that he does take

11:36all of the blame for the losses and gives all of the flowers when the team win, right? So he is the shield. He has been the shield for his players. But what that result in Rock is with him saying what he said, I don't think he was wrong because I hate to say it. Him being the shield he's been the past couple of years has done more harm than good for him. You know, like he tries to protect these guys so much. And he's the only one that gets beat to shit aside from Katel because everybody in the media, if Katel sneezes, it's because he hates a diamondbacks. But that just started that just started. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm probably not going to stop because I think there's a set of people that want the debacks to trade him. And I think they're stupid because he has not trained the way right now. Yeah. So they just want him off this team, even if it's going to be a detriment to the team. And they want to view it the same way as they view conduct by like a player that gets arrested for committing a crime. Let me ask you this.

12:382027, midway through the season, all star break comes and goes. Katel pulls a Katel. At that point, what do the diamondbacks do with him? I mean, you're fucking just sit as ass down and send him home for the rest of the year. I don't. I kind of hear Tori's comments. And I think about the way they handled the Katel Marta situation. That was kind of basically what it happened. Yeah. It's like Tori finally came to an impassity. Cannot protect Katel anymore. No, you can't. And I think that again, this is probably the right move. I think it's socks to find out that this is an incident, a reoccurring incident that's happened more times. And we as the as the public, you know, we know about the two, we know about the two big ones. Yeah. The two recent ones. Yeah. Yeah. Go about this past this past break. And then last year, when he went to Katel, I'm going back to the DR and whatever. But there was a there's a reference. Of course, to this happening before, there was a reference to happening in in 2024. So, I don't

13:44know, man, I think that overall it's hard to it's hard to wonder how they would handle it going forward. I could say that at this point, you're on your last, you know, I think you're on your last warning, your final warning, right? I think he's well passed. I think he's on this happens again. And that's why I think that's what I mean. That's why I mean, that's why I mean, by final warning, I mean, essentially, like if you if we were talking about you and me, they got to make a real difficult decision. Yeah. He pulls and shit again, because you can't keep him on the team, but it's like, God damn, man, you're going to trade him for fucking pennies on the dollar at that point. Hey, it's Kelly Rowland. You may not know this, but I have Exama. So, I get how it can still your time. But why let Exama take over when you can talk to your doctor about Epglyce? Epglyce, lubricism app, LBKZ, a 250 milligram per 2 milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older, who weigh at least 88 pounds

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15:45With digital coupon limit three. Hurry in, visit Vons or Albertsons.com for more deals and ways to save. Those times in 5 years on one hand. I think the idea there is that one thing I've never done is call out out of nowhere and leave my team and the people I work with hanging. So again, if that were to happen, I'm sure it would be tolerated a few times. But considering we do what we do, it would only be tolerated so much before I would start getting in trouble for that. And there would become a time where Espo would be forced to one way or another,

16:46you know, make me say like, hey, if this happens one more time, it doesn't matter how much you bring to this company. It doesn't matter how much I like you. It doesn't matter how important you are the fan base or to the diamond back show or to the people in the office, we're going to have to let you go. And I think that even with Katel Marte, there comes a time where that's the case. And obviously with a player of his magnitude, you don't let him go. That's the point where at the trade deadline, you actively shop them around. You let it be known that you're shopping him around. I don't think fans would be mad at you at that point. If you were shopping around because they would be based on it happening again. And that would be how it would end, right? Yeah. I'd be in the front of the line with the trade and sign if you pull some shit again. And I love, I love Katel, man. I think when that guy is when Katel Marte is Katel Marte, that's a bad, bad man. And there's nobody else that I want at second base for this team move forward. The problem is, we don't always get Katel Marte being Katel Marte. And we've talked about this at Nazim since all

17:50this bull should happen. So we don't need to go back into it. We just got to hope that we're not to talk about this shit ever again. And we can focus on the debats having a successful 2027. We know we know the team's not going to handle it the same. You know that this is going to be you know, the straw. I think Katel's got to know that you don't have the protection you once had. And it's only and honestly, it's your own fault. Like Tori would have died for you. But you literally, you're making him change his whole policy in the way he handles managing his team. Like you're literally making him do that. I'll say man, Marte though, you know, again, this kind of and not to defend myself any further, but I'll say never that. Now, but I'll say that it's all Marte has been a person that I have said time and time again is one of my favorite players as far as watching people play the game of baseball. And even I've gotten to that point now where I can't defend him any longer and I can 100% not 99% not 98% say that

19:00Katel Marte doing what he did is more of the reason why the Diamondbacks didn't reach the post season than Tori LeBullo's managing this year. That's what I'll say. I will say that Katel Marte being the distraction he was unnecessarily and doing what he did in Boston, I think cost this team more than any losses that Tori registered as a manager throughout the season. But I will also say that again, if the Diamondbacks have another season in 2027 where they once again, no matter what 2027 is, no matter how many games are played. But if we get to a point in 2027 where this team somehow misses whatever the post season looks like in 27 by a handful of games once again, I will also be the first person at the front of the line to say that Tori LeBullo shouldn't see 2028. Yeah, yeah, I hate. I can't take that. I can't take another coming this close and following that. Man, it's like if that happens again, like you don't want to go into the, you don't

20:02want to go into 2028. After we've had these four failures in a row and then at that point, just cut your losses. Thank you for your service, Tori. We got to go in a different direction. At that point, I would understand letting him go and not bringing him back because clearly there's something that's not happening that should be happening. If they make the playoffs next year and they have a decent run, you have 2028. And then at that point, whatever happens after that is what happens after that. But first, we need baseball in 2027. That's what we need. We need baseball. Fucking need. You're fucking right about that. Give me my god damn baseball in 2027. It's all I'm not. Do not do this. Do not do this owners. Do not do this MLBPA. PSA, billionaires and millionaires come together, figure some shit out and keep making money. Because I'm going to keep giving you my money. I love giving you my money. I love giving you my money. I know how to fix this. Yeah. Talk fight. Talk. Because it's all about Dick swinging,

21:07right? So like, let's just get the head of the MLBPA and the head of the owners out there and they can have a good old Dick swinging fight. And then like we can all decide who's better and who's manlier and who is Mastuerte. And then we can get on to the numbers and get this settled before a single spring training game or a single regular season game is missed. But that's the imagine if you had to have a fucking cock fight with the head of the MLBPA against the head of MLB and then the winner decides who wins. Put it on paper view and make two billion dollars off of it. There's your money right there. Put that shit on the MLB never let Matt Matt finish in fucking Harold Reynolds and all the. No, I wouldn't I wouldn't mind underground fight club style of settling this. You know what I mean? A bunch of players with money in their hands. Fucking Jeff Passon would eat that shit up. Oh, it'd be great. It'd be great. But all right, well, we are going to get out of here. We thank you guys for your time. You follow him on social at rock knowledge. That's our oh knowledge. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K the shows

22:10that pH and X underscore D backs. But as always all roads lead to at pH and X underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Thank you guys so much for your time. We'll see you back here next week. And until then, hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend. I remember kids baseball was fun, but it's so much more fun after dark.