Rarely do professional relationships blossom into lifelong friendships. But it happened for Torey Lovullo and Mike Hazen. The manager and GM of the Arizona Diamondbacks have known each other since 2004 when they both worked in the minor leagues. Since then they have shouldered work together in Cleveland, Boston, and now in Arizona. Even after their decades-long journey together, according to Lovullo, Hazen refuses to say three special words to him.

While the two recently experienced extreme highs of playing in the World Series, they have lived through tremendous lows as well. While Lovullo is quite open in expressing his love for Hazen, the latter is a bit shy about it.

Arizona Diamondbacks GM never says “I love you” according to Torey Lovullo

The Athletic recently interviewed the two good friends, where Torey Lovullo revealed a funny little interaction between himself and Mike Hazen. The ever-open-hearted Lovullo says ‘I love you’ often but Hazen just can’t say it back. “I say it to him all the time. He never says it back to me, I love Mike Hazen. I legitimately love Mike Hazen,” Lovullo told Evan Drellich.

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Hazen denied this allegation as he informed that he does say it, just not as regularly as his friend. “First of all, it’s not true. I just think it’s probably 90-10, like, percentages of times.” Then he added that their personalities are quite different. While Hazen is reserved, Lovullo likes to wear his emotions on his sleeves. 

“His emotions, and the way he wears them, are very front-facing. And my emotions, more or less, are very much not…  it’s not that I don’t feel it. … I try to keep those things in check, whereas he doesn’t really care. And God bless him for that.” 

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The two friends have gone through it all in their decades of personal and professional lives together. While two years ago they faced a career low when the D-Backs lost 110 games, it was a personal low for them as well. That year, Hazen lost his wife Nicole to cancer and Lovullo was there every day to support his friend. 

Hazen and Lovullo’s long-lasting friendship

Lovullo and Hazen have a deep-seated respect for each other, as is often witnessed by their interviews. While Hazen loves Lovullo’s passion, the latter finds his dedication inspiring. While talking to ESPN he remembered once how he admired that “In the face of so much adversity and so much unknown, something so personal to him, he posted, showed up, brought the same passion every single day.”

Now that they’re looking to extend that friendship into a winning team, could the Diamondbacks continue their momentum of 2023 again in 2024?

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