Diamondbacks’ Torey Lovullo given 1-year extension through 2022

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
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PHOENIX — With a little over a week left in the season and his team tied for the worst record in the major leagues at 48-104, Arizona manager Torey Lovullo was given a one-year contract extension through 2022.

The deal announced Thursday includes a club option for 2023, according to general manager Mike Hazen.

“Through everything the season has presented, Torey did a good job of getting guys through this … even in a season where we might set a franchise-worst record,” Hazen said.

Arizona had lost 14 of 17 entering Thursday and was tied with Baltimore.

“I’m humbled and honored,” Lovullo said after Arizona’s 6-4 victory over Atlanta.

“I’m not an idiot. I know what can happen in these circumstances. I couldn’t be more grateful for the trust they have in me. I’m lying if I said I never thought out it. Of course I did. These are turbulent waters. I’m not the same manager I was four, five years ago.”

Lovullo, 56, was Boston’s bench coach from 2013-16, serving as interim manager during the last two months of the 2015 season while John Farrell was treated for lymphoma. Lovullo replaced Chip Hale as Arizona’s manager after the 2016 season and was voted NL Manager of the Year in 2017, when the Diamondbacks went 93-69, beat Colorado in the NL wild-card game and were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series.

Arizona slipped to 82-80 the following season, went 85-77 in 2019 and 25-35 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

“He’s a great motivator,” said Madison Bumgarner, who spent most of his career with manager Bruce Bochy. “He’s easy to be around.”

Lovullo was given a two-year contract extension in January 2019 that ran through the 2021 season. His new deal includes a club option for 2023.

“I am the one who charted the course we were going to go,” Hazen said. “I’m not a martyr. I need to be honest where things have gone.”

Arizona set a team record for losses in 2004, going 51-111.

Astros star Altuve has surgery on broken thumb, a WBC injury

Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
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Houston Astros star Jose Altuve had surgery Wednesday on his broken right thumb, an injury that occurred in the World Baseball Classic and will significantly delay the second baseman’s 2023 debut.

The Astros announced that the 32-year-old Altuve had the procedure done in Houston and will stay there to begin his rehabilitation, with only one week left in spring training. The Astros will fly there on Sunday following their final Grapefruit League game in Florida, before playing a pair of exhibitions against their Triple-A team, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, in Texas.

Altuve was hit by a pitch on Saturday while playing for Venezuela in the WBC. He might not be ready to return to the lineup until at least late May. The eight-time All-Star and 2017 American League MVP batted .300 with 103 runs, 28 homers and 18 steals for the World Series champion Astros last season. Mauricio Dubón and David Hensley are the leading candidates to fill in for Altuve at second base.

Altuve isn’t the only Major League Baseball star who was hurt in WBC play, of course. Mets closer Edwin Díaz will miss the 2023 season because of a torn patellar tendon in his right knee as the freak result of an on-field celebration following a WBC win by the Puerto Rico national team.

BROWN DOWN

The Astros also scratched right-hander Hunter Brown from his scheduled start Wednesday against the Mets in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Manager Dusty Baker told reporters that Brown, who is ranked by MLB as the organization’s top prospect and competing for the last spot in the rotation, has discomfort in his lower back.

NOT QUITE READY

The New York Mets sent catcher Francisco Álvarez to Triple-A Syracuse, quashing for now the possibility of putting the prized 21-year-old on the opening day roster.

Álvarez, who made his major league debut with the Mets near the end of last season, had just three hits in 28 at-bats in Grapefruit League exhibition games. Ranked by MLB as the third-best prospect in baseball, Álvarez batted .260 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs in a combined 112 minor league games in 2022 at Double-A and Triple-A.

The Mets have newcomer Omar Narváez, a 2021 All-Star with the Milwaukee Brewers, as their primary catcher with Tomás Nido likely to play mostly against left-handed pitchers.

Speaking of the Mets, Díaz turned 29 on Wednesday – a rather subdued milestone for the right-hander considering his situation. Diaz nonetheless posted in Spanish an upbeat message on his Twitter account, thanking God for another year of life and describing his health as good and his outlook as positive in this initial stage of the roughly eight-month rehabilitation process.