Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo may very well be living in his own baseball version of Groundhog Day.
On Monday, the San Francisco Giants landed reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell on a short-term deal.
The Giants’ ace acquisition surely won’t please Lovullo, who just days prior had pleaded with the baseball gods to prevent such a move from happening.
The Diamondbacks manager was asked by reporters Thursday about the San Diego Padres’ recent trade for former Cy Young runner-up Dylan Cease.
“I wish the best players would quit coming to the NL West,” Lovullo said.
Torey Lovullo’s initial reaction to the Padres trading for Dylan Cease:
“I wish the best players would quit coming to the NL West.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/eDqSLuZ3be
— PHNX Diamondbacks (@PHNX_Dbacks) March 14, 2024
Lovullo’s response may have tempted fate. He only has himself to blame for Snell choosing to sign with yet another NL West team.
Kidding aside, the NL West has certainly attracted some of MLB’s best talent over the last half decade. The Dodgers acquired baseball’s biggest star in Shohei Ohtani this offseason. The two-way slugger joined a clubhouse that had already added fellow MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman over its last four seasons.
The Padres, who last employed Snell, signed Xander Bogaerts last offseason and also got two years of Juan Soto. Padres third baseman Manny Machado, like Snell, moved from one NL West team another when he left the Dodgers to sign with San Diego in 2019.
Despite the stacked competition in the NL West, the Diamondbacks have still been able to compete with less talent on paper. But the road to another NL pennant next season has gotten much tougher for Lovullo’s squad.
