Candidates Emerge For Diamondbacks G.M Job

Jun 3, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers former pitcher and agent for Matt Kemp, Dave Stewart, watches the game against the Chicago White Sox at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

On Friday, the Diamondbacks announced that Kevin Towers would be dismissed of his duties as General Manager. One day later, Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa began compiling a list of potential candidates, and when the Dbacks continue their road trip in San Francisco, La Russa’s focus will be on trying to find a new G.M.

La Russa, Team President Derrick Hall, and Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick want to find a new G.M in the next two weeks. They don’t want the process to drag out into the offseason so they can begin evaluating the team, Manager Kirk Gibson, and the rest of the coaching staff.

One thing to keep in mind is that La Russa is beginning to get on board with advanced metrics which is really surprising given the fact that he was an old school manager during his hall of fame career. This is what Steve Gilbert tweeted out on Friday:

That is something to keep in mind when considering who could be the General Manager. The Diamondbacks have always been an old school organization, but it’s clear that things are going to change under La Russa.

According to Gilbert, La Russa has officially complied an initial list of 9 candidates. He will interview them all, and then once he narrows down the list to two or three finalists, then he along with Hall, Kendrick, and other club officals will conduct a second round of interviews.

The list includes Diamondbacks director Ray Montgomery, Allard Baird, Billy Eppler, Larry Beinfest, Gary LaRocque, Hal Morris, Tim Purpura, Dave Stewart, and DeJon Watson.

Montgomery is the only in house candidate. He has been the Dbacks scouting director since October 2010. He started out in the Brewers organization before coming to Arizona. La Russa was reportedly impressed by the way Montgomery handled this year’s First Year Player Draft.

Baird was the Royals General Manager from 2000-2006, and after he was fired from his job there he was hired as an assistant General Manager with the Boston RedSox. He is respected around the league as a great talent evaluator. His current title is director of player personal.

Beinfest was the General Manager of the Miami Marlins from 2002-2013. He lead the Marlins to a World Series title in 2003. He was interviewed by the Padres before they hired A.J. Preller. It has been reported that the Dbacks talked to him in May before hiring La Russa.

Eppler is the assistant General Manager of the Yankees and has said to embrace analytics. He is respected as a great talented evaluator, and he has a background in scouting. Eppler finished second for the Padres G.M job.

LaRocque is the director of player personal with the Cardinals, and interviewed with La Russa on Saturday. They worked together in St. Louis which has to make him a front runner. He spent 10 years with the Mets before joining St. Louis.

Morris is the director of pro scouting for the Angels, and he is highly respected around the league. Purpura was the Astros General Manager from 2005-2007. In 2005, the Astros won the World Series under his direction. Watson is the assistant G.M in charge of player development for the Dodgers. He was a candidate for the Dbacks G.M job when they decided to hire Towers.

Stewart has to be favorite to win the job at this point. He has the most varied background in baseball among all of the candidates, and he has the closest relationships with La Russa. Stewart won many big games as a starting pitcher for La Russa’s Athletics, and has been a pitching coach and an assistant G.M in the past. He is currently an agent representing many players including the Dodgers Matt Kemp