SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Having a one-two combination like Zac Gallen and Corbin Burnes at the top of your rotation is a manager’s dream.
Trying to decide which one of those two to start on Opening Day, however, turned out to be a nightmare for Torey Lovullo.
The Diamondbacks manager said he had many sleepless nights. He agonized. He took longer than anyone wanted him to, including, he said, Major League Baseball, which announced the other Opening Day starters earlier this week.
As the clock ticked, Lovullo sent out a text to 32 people in the organization seeking their input and, he said, the responses came back split an even 16 and 16.
Finally, Lovullo made up his mind Wednesday and told Gallen that he was going to start Opening Day against the Cubs on March 27, his third straight for the Diamondbacks, while Burnes figures to start the second game of the season, but Lovullo didn’t want to make that official yet.
“It’s definitely an honor,” Gallen said. “It’s just a lot of trust coming from Torey and the coaching staff. Definitely an honor and not something I take lightly.”
There were all kinds of factors that Lovullo took into consideration, but he kept coming back to his history with Gallen, who will be a free agent at season’s end. Since coming over at the Trade Deadline in 2019, Gallen has been the Diamondbacks' ace.
Over that time, Gallen and Lovullo have experienced the bottom -- 110 losses in 2021 -- and nearly the top -- an NL pennant and trip to the World Series in 2023.
“Yeah, I think I sliced the pie as thinly as I could and I'm going to say [history] was the main difference between the two,” Lovullo said. “They're both elite pitchers. They're both unbelievable teammates, and in both cases, I think they would have been accepting of winning the spot or not winning the spot. But at the end of the day, Zac’s been here for a long time. I have a very strong bond with Zac. He's seen some darkness here. He's come out the other end and I've just known him a long time, and I've relied on him in a different way.”
Burnes signed a six-year, $210 million free agent deal in the offseason and is likely to see his share of Opening Day starts over the life of that contract, but this time Lovullo went with Gallen.
“Zac is very humble and very quiet,” Lovullo said. “I get to see a different side of him than I know you guys do, but he said something to me that I'll never forget. He said, ‘Thank you. That really means a lot to me, and I'm going to go out there and give you all I can.’ So those are the memories that I'll carry with me.”
Lovullo informed both players of his decision Wednesday and he said that Burnes took the news well.
“I think he understood,” Lovullo said. “And he said, ‘Look, you're the manager, and I'm gonna support whatever you do, no matter where I pitch. I'm gonna win baseball games for you, because I dream of winning the World Series.’ So I really respected that answer, and I appreciated that answer. It came from a deep, honest place.”
Senior Reporter Steve Gilbert has covered the D-backs for MLB.com since 2001.
