Towers Takes Over as New GM

Well, so long Jerry Dipoto.  It’s been real.

After what Arizona Diamondbacks Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick called an “intensive” search, the Dbacks named former San Diego Padres General Manager Kevin Towers as the new GM of the Dbacks, effective immediately. I’m not so sure how intensive the search was though given the Dbacks sound like they got the man they wanted all along.  Even Kendrick said this is a “do-over”, as in they had the chance to get Towers before and missed that opportunity.

Towers sounds like a smart man who knows what he is doing when it comes to putting together a quality baseball team.  I liked a lot of what he had to say in his press conference today.  I also heard some things that were concerning, but not to the point that they couldn’t be remedied.

Towers said he likes to build a bullpen from bottom to top.  He said he likes to build a satff where you can legitimately have five or six guys who can pitch in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.  That’s something the Dbacks haven’t been able to find in the past.  It has been a pitcher by committee in the bullpen as far as specific roles go over the past two or three seasons. So, that I liked to hear.  If there is one thing Towers is known for, it is building a quality pitching staff.

When asked about the offense, Towers mentioned it was just as important and didn’t want to slight the fact you still need an offense.  The sticking point with many of us has been the number of strikeouts.  The Dbacks set a major league record last night for most strikeouts by a team in a season and we still have 11 games left.  Towers didn’t sound too concerned though.  He said that you will see a lot of strikeouts from power hitters.  While this may be true with guys such as Mark Reynolds, Adam Laroche, how does that explain it with the others?  The strikeouts have been a team effort.

Also, Towers brought up Colorado as an example of having the humidor, something the Dbacks have apparently been thinking about for quite sometime, in order to help reduce home runs at Chase Field.  Towers actually used Colorado and pitchers park in the same sentence and I about fell out of my truck.  I just don’t see the upside in adding a humidor or scaling back fences.  Sure it will reduce the number of home runs for the opponents.  However what limits them, limits the Dbacks as well.

The other hot topic was that of current interim manager Kirk Gibson.  What is to become of him?  Apparently Towers has met with Gibby and is going to spend time with the team on their final road trip next week in San Francisco and Los Angeles.  It sounds like a 50/50 proposition whether he stays or goes depending on who you listen to.  We’ll see what happens.  Welcome to Arizona Mr. Towers!