Report: Arizona Diamondbacks to name new GM Thursday
By Phil Watson
According to a report, the Arizona Diamondbacks plan to announce their new general manager on Thursday.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported via Twitter:
The #Dbacks plan to announce their next GM on Thursday, and all indications point towards Dave Stewart while Dejon Watson still in running.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) September 22, 2014
Dave Stewart is considered the overwhelming favorite, given his history as a player agent and with Diamondbacks’ chief baseball officer Tony La Russa.
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Stewart, 57, has been a pitching coach for three teams—the San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays—and was also an assistant GM for the Jays. He started a sports agency called Sports Management Partners, which currently represents Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp among other clients.
Dodgers assistant GM DeJon Watson, 48, is still considered a viable candidate, however, and CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman reported that Boston Red Sox executive Allard Baird, 52—a former GM with the Kansas City Royals—is still in contention.
Kevin Towers was fired as the Diamondbacks’ GM earlier this month, less than four months after La Russa was appointed to lead baseball operations for the club.
Towers was hired in 2010 and Arizona won 94 games and the National League West crown in 2011. But that was followed up by two straight .500 seasons and a collapse to the NL West basement this season. Going into Monday, the Diamondbacks were 62-94 and three games behind the Colorado Rockies for fourth place.
Stewart pitched 16 seasons in the majors, including eight for La Russa’s Oakland Athletics teams from 1986-92 and 1995. He won 20 games in four straight seasons from 1987-90, but never captured the Cy Young Award. He was the World Series MVP in 1989 when the A’s swept the San Francisco Giants and was the MVP of the ALCS twice (1990 and 1993).
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