Arizona Diamondbacks Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa has been many things throughout his baseball career. He is a former MLB player, a four-time Manager of the Year, a three-time World Series champion as manager and already a member of the Hall of Fame. He’s a masterful tactician from inside a dugout. We all know that. What we are unsure of is, will La Russa’s legacy end where his managerial days left off? Or will it continue to evolve as a builder and executive from beyond the box score?
The third winningest MLB manager of all time, La Russa was hired in his current role in May of 2014. Before 1998, baseball in the desert was played only across the Arizona Fall League and Cactus League outside the months of summer.
Then the Diamondbacks were born into existence. The club sported turquoise, purple and copper uniforms. They signed Randy Johnson as a prized free agent, traded for Curt Schilling and then witnessed a 2001 Luis Gonzalez Texas Leaguer hit off Mariano Rivera drop-in behind Derek Jeter‘s glove to give the organization baseball immortality with its first World Series title after having been around for only a mere four seasons.
Now the club wears red, black and Sonoran sand as its club colors. Their best active pitcher is Josh Collmenter and every player in the previous paragraph — be it a D-back or Yankee — have all hung up their cleats for good. The club last made the postseason in 2011 and set a franchise mark for the second most losses in a regular season in 2014 with 98.
Hired aboard just in time for last years June amateur draft, La Russa didn’t flinch by selecting two high school pitchers with the Diamondbacks’ first two 2014 draft picks. Then he hired his former pitcher when he was manager of the Oakland Athletics, Dave Stewart, to be the D-backs new GM on September 25, 2014.
For La Russa and Stewart, a couple of things are clear. They must build around first baseman Paul Goldschmidt on offense. They also will likely have to build a rotation and pitching staff through the draft and trades to benefit the defense.
The youth movement for arms was afforded to La Russa because in the year previous, the Diamondbacks used two first-round picks on college pitcher’s, Braden Shipley and Aaron Blair. The team also has top pitching prospect Archie Bradley, a former seventh overall pick in 2011 waiting on the farm, though he’s not developing as quickly as Arizona would like. Patrick Corbin, who went 14-8 with a 3.41 ERA in 2013 is also expected to debut in June after Tommy John surgery last year.
In terms of 2014 trades, La Russa doubled up this offseason by shipping Wade Miley to the Red Sox for two guys projected as starters in the D-backs’ 2015 rotation, Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster. Shortly before that, he saw the Yankees’ need for a Jeter replacement at SS and sent Didi Gregorius to New York as part of a three way deal, eventually netting LHP Robbie Ray in the process.
Another statement move even before all of these came on November 14 to stock up on MLB-ready arms, as La Russa traded two prospects for veteran starter Jeremy Hellickson, who logged 640 IP from 2010-14 with the Tampa Bay Rays. The resolution is crystal clear in that La Russa intends to live by the old saying “you can never have too much pitching.”
La Russa intends to live by the old saying “you can never have too much pitching.”
Like many of his rotations in St. Louis that won La Russa a lot of ball games, the 70-year old now gets to be the architect behind the pitching staff that first-year manager Chip Hale will have at his disposal in 2015. Although it’s shaping up to be primarily of AL East castaways so far and the club may not have its version of a Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright on the roster right now, La Russa’s resume and eye for talent could soon change all of that.
As for Goldschmidt, La Russa offered his most significant free agent deal this offseason to Cuban defector Yasmany Tomas to be an immediate complement to him. Right now Tomas is slated to start at third base and hopefully supplement the offense with 20-plus home runs and 70-plus RBI. He is under club control for six years.
2015 will be year number one for revitalized MLB in America’s desert. While it will probably take years for all of Tony La Russa’s moves and drafts to take full affect, the hour glass has been officially flipped over and fans will soon feel entitled to more wins than losses. For a legendary manager, a shame it would be if failure as an executive comes to define the more recent years of La Russa’s lasting legacy.
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