With chief strategy officer Tony La Russa losing his hold on the Diamondbacks’ baseball department and Dave Stewart now out as general manager, the club is set for its fourth regime change in six-plus years. That lack of stability has some executives around the majors wary of working for the organization, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.
“Do they give the next person a six-year contract and come hell or high water they’re not going to fire them?” one rival exec asked Piecoro. “Or have they demonstrated this is how they do business and if things don’t work out in 24 -36 months they’ll make more changes? Moving your family for that level of insecurity, juxtaposed to the security that some of us have — that’s a tough sell to the family.”
One potential GM candidate whose name has come up in other teams’ searches informed Piecoro his interest in taking over the Diamondbacks would be “zero” because of “some of the dysfunction up there.” Other executives Piecoro spoke to are also leery of the job, with some expressing concern over the personalities of owner Ken Kendrick and CEO Derrick Hall. The latter signed an eight-year contract extension in August, so any new hire(s) will have to coexist with him and Kendrick for the long haul. Despite that, Hall doesn’t expect the team to have difficulty finding executives willing to take the helm in Arizona.
In regards to GM jobs, Hall said Monday, “There’s only 30 of these. And they’re special jobs and there are a lot of qualified people out there who are looking for that opportunity. We’re hoping the next person is in that role for a long time and that will be expressed.”
Another rival executive backed Kendrick and Hall, saying, “Listen, you have to be skeptical with that amount of turnover. But absolutely, 100 percent, you can win there with those guys.”
In a move that could perhaps help scare off potential hires, Diamondbacks ownership reportedly blocked a trade that would have sent struggling right-hander Shelby Miller to Miami over the summer. Nevertheless, Hall is content with the organization’s decision-making structure.
“It’s very common with all 30 clubs, where if you’re going to have a large decision to make, a very big decision, an impactful decision, it’s going to go all the way up the flagpole and everybody is going to weigh in, whether it is the owner of any ballclub – the owner, president, GM, all opinions are going to be weighed at that time,” said Hall. “It’s a matter of allowing people to do their jobs but also weighing in when there’s a matter of extreme importance, which I think is not uncommon anywhere.”
Stewart didn’t speak negatively of either Kendrick or Hall after his dismissal. However, Stewart did reveal that he and Kendrick “were oil and water” in terms of their personalities. On whether the franchise was too quick to ax Stewart after hiring him in September 2014, Kendrick offered, “Since Dave Stewart was hired two years ago, there have been 16 general managers hired. Sixteeen. What does that tell you? It’s a tough business” (Twitter link via Piecoro).
Stewart’s successor could be someone with past Diamondbacks experience, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, who points to Brewers scouting director Ray Montgomery as a “natural strong candidate” (Twitter link). The 47-year-old Montgomery was previously the D-backs’ scouting director from 2010-14.
I’ll take the job. Just putting it out there. The balls in your court Arizona.
Whether you can fill the position and whether you can optimally fill the position are different, however.
D Back should keep LaRussa & make him manager! Wish he would come back to the Cardinals!
The game passed LaRussa behind a long time ago.
Amen!
TLR was way ahead of the game in using”situational players”, especially in the bullpen. He has a brilliant baseball mind, just not as far as building a team.
That said, there’s no way St. Louis would have him back. He’s too hard-headed and that’s a big reason the Cardinals wanted a first time manager. But I still bet he’s a better manager than Mke Matheny.
“Some of the dysfunction up there (Phoenix)”
Where is this candidate from, the Mexican league?
Hahaha I wondered if anyone else caught that
LOL
Montgomery, really? They need to get a real GM, enough of these Fantasy Baseball Interns, they need somebody who has a solid track record and success
Please just stop it. The reason the Cubs, Red Sox, Cardinals etc are so good is because of analytics. And your favorite gm(Dave Stewart) was just fired lmao
No you genius, the reason they are good is because of the players. Analytics tells you what they have done, it’s the people behind it that makes the difference and the numbers are the same for all. By the way, you are my favorite gm, you idiot!
Your comment makes no sense at all. The GM/Analytics department works with the scouts(who have the first say) on players which they can acquire
Obviously, you have never been a scout, in the front office, or part of anything in MLB, but I’m sure your team won the division last year in little league, zip it
Did you watch STL in 2016? Mediocre at best…
Just ignore him, Baltimore is considered analytical and they lost the game yesterday with a recycled thrower on the mound when they had one of the top 5 relievers sitting in the pen with his jacket on. Reason analytics; he has been pitching well the last couple of weeks (who cares) RHP vs RHH, (who cares), BJ’s RHH’s struggle @ RH BP’s, and so on…get off the analytic train, the Best Mgr’s (Boche/Madden) are baseball minds and the best players don’t have a degree from MIT. Manage that from a computer.
And get off my lawn while you’re at you, you no good kids!
Yeah, enough of these analytics guys like all of those teams who win all the time hire. D-Backs should hire Tony La Russa.
Allard Baird from Boston
Decent name, not the track record of Ned Colletti
I like Colleti. Probably best for overseeing the whole thing. I like Baird better for setting up baseball ops, adding talent to the front office, operating in the traditional gm role. Interesting in that both of these men are among the most respected and well-liked in the game among their peers.
Tony’s responsible for this disaster in Arizona , he should have been fired three months ago !
I’m sure ownership had the intention of letting La Russa and Stewart ride for a few more seasons but they didn’t expect them to fail so conclusively. It wasn’t the losing, it was that the transactions they made were immediately recognizable as some of the most magnificently terrible moves we’ve seen in a LONG time.
I’m sure other GMs had to ask things like “Oh, you’re serious?” or “Would you be willing to submit to a voluntary field sobriety test?” or “This isn’t a Dateline special, is it?”
They really need one of the younger Ivy League type guys and to stick with him for five years and see where things go.
No doubt it’s dysfunctional, but I give them a little more slack. Kevin Towers needed to go, no doubt about that. As far as Stewart and La Russa, well they made some of the most boneheaded moves that so many panned from the start. It’s as much the dysfunction of the others as it is the candidates themselves. If you’re a person and you get offered a GM job, you’ve got to take it. It’s up to you to actually do something. Teams have won in spite of owners before. Of course, it’s easy to say you’d never take it if you knew you’d never be offered. 30 in the world. You get fired after a few years, so what?
The Miller trade is what killed DBACKS FO. Traded far to much for a talented, but flawed SP.
The Diamondbacks seem to be the Cleveland Browns of Major League Baseball.