The old-school Arizona Diamondbacks will enter baseball’s new-age of advanced statistics.
So says the club’s chief baseball officer, Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, as Arizona begins its search for a new general manager to replace Kevin Towers, who was fired on Thursday.
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La Russa has already identified several candidates for the GM post and told MLB.com that if he hires a GM who does not have a heavy background in baseball’s advanced metrics, he would look to bring in others who do as a support structure.
"“I know that there’s an awful lot of attention and it’s kind of popular to look at some of the general managers that have been hired and look at what their academic credentials are and not so much their baseball experience credentials,” La Russa said. “I don’t want to disrespect what you get academically, but I also definitely want to respect the education you get in the game from watching the type of players that produced and helped contribute to a champion and the way championship baseball is played.“So that’s why I think it’s smart for us to have an open mind that each candidate comes in with a list of talents and then you make an assessment of who fits the best.”"
La Russa confirmed his interest in five candidates, including former Oakland Athletics pitcher Dave Stewart, St. Louis Cardinals director of player development Gary LaRocque, Los Angeles Angels director of pro scouting Hal Morris, New York Yankees assistant general manager Billy Eppler and one internal candidate, Diamondbacks scouting director Ray Montgomery.