The Diamondbacks' season is over, and players arrived at Chase Field on Monday, Sept. 28, to clean out clubhouse stalls and say goodbye to teammates and staff members.
Some were asked about manager Torey Lovullo's status, who on Sunday, after the team's loss in San Diego that ended the regular season, said he and the organization have "some decisions to make" about his future.
Lovullo expressed a desire to return as manager, and his players backed him.
"He did a really good job handling us and representing us off the field, and the team, too," catcher Gabriel Moreno said. "We had really good conversations this year to handle how everything was going to play and I think he did a really good job with me.
"Torey's our skipper. I've been here since
four years ago, and he's helped a lot to develop me and my career right now in the major leagues."
Pitcher Brandyn Garcia called Lovullo "amazing."
"He runs the bullpen well, that's how I feel about it," Garcia said. "He put me in very good situations this year. So I really enjoy Torey as a manager."
Utility player Tim Tawa credited Lovullo with doing a good job keeping the team united.
"When I was called up in 2025, he was welcoming and treated me exactly how a player wants to be treated," Tawa said. "Definitely appreciate him for that and everything he did this year."
Pitcher Corbin Burnes said Lovullo has been supportive of the players, and, though he doesn't know what will happen with his manager, he looked forward to a conversation with Lovullo.
"For what he did for this organization ever since he's been here has been nothing but positive things," Burnes said. "If he does move on and goes somewhere else, I think he holds a special place here.
"But hopefully he's back and we'll see what happens here in the next couple of weeks. It's been great. He's been nothing but good to me."
Corbin Burnes says no damage to shoulder
Burnes said tests on his right shoulder revealed no structural damage, and the Diamondbacks right-hander sounded hopeful that an offseason of rest would allow him to rediscover the velocity he lost coming off of elbow surgery.
“No new injury, no new tear, just kind of some overuse, inflammation-type stuff that just needs time to calm down,” Burnes said. “It's been essentially almost two years of kind of nonstop arm care, throwing, whatever it may be, coming out of the surgery, so my shoulder was just basically telling me, ‘Hey, we're running on empty here.’
"So go in, have a normal offseason, and hopefully when we ramp up again in November or December, whenever we kind of step on it again, hopefully everything's calmed down and should be good to go.”
Burnes was hit hard in two of his three starts off the injured list, after which he made the determination he should not continue pitching given the high-stakes environment within the Diamondbacks' wild-card chase. He was placed back on the IL prior to the start of the final series of the season.
Burnes was working with diminished velocity on his signature cutter and sinker, leaving him susceptible to loud contact; he served up five homers over his final two starts. In his three starts, he averaged 92 mph with his cutter, down from his 94.1 mph average prior to needing Tommy John surgery last year.
“I guess the best way to explain it was, the body was moving at 100 percent, the arm was moving at about 75 percent,” Burnes said. “So just wasn’t translating, wasn’t coming out the way we wanted it to, and could do it in small spurts, four or five pitches at a time and then just couldn't do it much longer than that.”
Burnes said the MRI he underwent last week showed the right teres strain he dealt with during the summer had fully healed.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks weigh in on Lovullo, and Burnes addresses shoulder plan
