Colorado Rockies foes: Winter Meetings thoughts from the Diamondbacks

As we wrap up our look at the National League West foes for the Colorado Rockies, we turn our attention to what was said by Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo during the recent Winter Meetings in San Diego.

Arizona finished in second place in the NL West, posting an 85-77 mark. They also finished with a 9-10 record against the Colorado Rockies.

Here are some of the questions asked of Lovullo during his Winter Meetings media session.

Assuming you find a center fielder like you want to do, your infield is set. How do you see Jake Lamb fitting in the mix?

"Lovullo: We will have flexibility with Jake, and much like we were doing last year toward the back end of the year where he would play third base and we would maximize match-ups based on the guys that we had, he was just too important of a bat to not have in our lineup.I think that will be the same consideration he will get this year. I don’t want to predict anything. I don’t know the shape of it. It’s all hypothetical right now given A, B, or C scenario. Jake Lamb is a good baseball player. He’s had huge years. That doesn’t happen by accident. Coming off of that injury, I think he’s finally responded to his own personal challenges to come out the other end. I think we saw this in ’19. And we need Jake, we count on Jake. With his production we can be in a special spot."

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With more than two months into Spring Training, how do you assess the needs of this club?

"Lovullo: I think they’re fairly obvious. We’re trying to solidify some open spots in the outfield. I think those are some of the needs that Mike and I are talking about. I just trust the front office. I trust the front office and know that they’re going to be diligent going out and putting the best 26 guys on that roster at the right time of the year for me to go out and manage baseball games.I think that’s a little bit of what we’re focused on right now. It’s obvious. We don’t have a ton of outfielders on our 40-man roster, so it’s obvious to say that’s the big need for us."

Speaking of late innings and ball games, if you had to start the year today would Archie Bradley be your closer?

"Lovullo: I think I said it at the end of the year. I can’t remember exactly how I categorized it, but I like to have a closer in place by the end of Spring Training for the simple reason everybody falls in behind and roles are set up and established.Over the past three years we had the traditional closer that wanted to pitch the last inning, and he was going to be effective for those last three outs. I don’t know if that’s the case this year. We might ask somebody to get four outs from time to time, and I like that part of Archie. He’s able to go one plus.It’s a nice starting point for me knowing that he closed out 19 games last year and he got a little taste of that and enjoyed it. It’s a good starting point for me right now, but we’re going to bring some guys in and guys are going to be coming back. We want to create competition, and that’s what it’s all about for me in Spring Training. We want to watch guys perform, but whoever gets it is going to have to earn it."

Editor’s Note: Here are the links to the rest of the NL West team manager quotes

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

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