Diamondbacks' Evan Longoria slams Torey Lovullo's Manager of Year omission: 'What a joke'
The Baseball Writers Association of America announced its three finalists for the National League Manager of the Year on Monday night and an Arizona Diamondbacks player has a major problem with one manager's omission.
Third baseman Evan Longoria took to Instagram to slam the list of the three finalists, which did not include the Diamondbacks' Torey Lovullo.
He posted: "Whoever votes for Manager of the Year missed big on this one…and how? This is the NL MOTY and it really shouldn’t even be close. What a joke. @mlb @dbacks #baseballwritersassociationofamerica"
You can't blame Longoria for having his manager's back, and Lovullo did have a magical season managing the Diamondbacks all the way to the World Series, but there's one problem with his argument for Lovullo and the NL Manager of the Year Award.
It's a regular season award. Voting for the award was done before the postseason, before the Diamondbacks' magical run to the NL Pennant.
And Arizona went 84-78 in the regular season, barely slipping into the playoffs as the No. 6 seed, the final wild card in the National League.
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The Milwaukee Brewers' Craig Counsell, the Miami Marlins' Skip Schumaker and the Atlanta Braves' Brian Snitker were announced by the BWAA as the three finalists for the award.
The Braves went 104-58 in the regular season and won the NL East. The Brewers were 92-70 and won the NL Central. The Marlins were 84-78 and were the No. 5 seed in the National League playoffs.
If the award was voted on after the playoffs, Lovullo certainly has a case.
The job he did in the postseason was amazing, getting a team that barely made the playoffs into the World Series.
But his regular season coaching performance was not Manager of the Year material.
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Diamondbacks GM finishes third in executive of the year voting
Mike Hazen, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, finished third in voting for MLB's 2023 Executive of the Year.
Baltimore Orioles Executive Vice President and General Manager Mike Elias, whose team finished with the American League’s top mark for the first time since 1997, was named the recipient of the award, MLB announced during the annual General Managers Meetings.
The runner-up for the 2023 honor was Atlanta Braves President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Alex Anthopoulos.
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Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: DBacks' Evan Longoria slams Torey Lovullo's Manager of Year omission
