Arizona Diamondbacks: Team Fires Top Executive; Changes Coming?
Amid rapid speculation of a front office shakeup, the Arizona Diamondbacks have informed their Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations, De Jon Watson, that his 2017 contract option will not be picked up. Does this signal further changes this offseason?
As a season of disappointment draws closer to an end, the Arizona Diamondbacks have informed one top executive that he will no longer be working with the club past this season. According to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, Team President Tony La Russa informed the media that Vice President of Baseball Operations, De Jon Watson, will not return to the Diamondbacks next season.
However, the longtime St. Louis Cardinals manager tiptoed around what the move means for him and the rest of the baseball operations department.
"“I honestly don’t have any idea how it’s going to turn out,” La Russa said. “We have meetings still to be held with Ken and Derrick. That’s when we’ll get it decided.”"
(Quote from the Arizona Republic)
This is a rather big development for a team that has been expected to make some changes to their baseball operations department after flopping in 2016. It was just over two years ago that Arizona hired La Russa to head their baseball operations department after the tremendous run that he had with the St. Louis Cardinals. However, things have not worked out well for the decorated manager as his club failed to finish above .500 in the two full seasons he’s been on board. In fact, the Diamondbacks have regressed this year in spite of bringing in two former top of the rotation starting pitchers.
Zack Greinke was coming off what was the best season of his career in 2015, when the Diamondbacks came seemingly out of nowhere to sign the veteran ace for a whopping 6 yr, $206 million deal. The move seemed to show that La Russa was confident that his ballclub could compete in 2016. He upped the ante even more after he traded former first overall selection Dansby Swanson to the Atlanta Braves for 25 year-old Shelby Miller. The young right-hander did dazzle in his only season in Atlanta, but the price was a bit outrageous for a pitcher that probably was more of a guy better represented by his FIP (3.45) then his ERA (3.02).
Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks, both starting pitchers struggled mightily out of the gate, with Miller eventually being sent down to the minors to work on finding his form from a year ago. Greinke has since recovered a bit, but he is still far away from the guy he was with the Dodgers. A spring training injury to star center fielder A.J. Pollock made matters worse too, as the team did not lookaa nearly as strong on paper without their second best hitter in the lineup.
Ownership has reportedly already been thinking about moving on from La Russa and their General Manager, Dave Stewart. So this move could further point to changes to the team’s top decision makers.
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At this point, it looks like there will be at least one significant move to mix up the club’s front office, and if they’re looking in the mirror, multiple changes should probably be made. While the Pollock injury is obviously out of team management’s control, many of La Russa and his group’s moves have not played out well to say the least. Both the Greinke and Yasmany Tomas signings look like overpays. The Diamondbacks bullpen has been very shaky thus far and there has been an overall lack of consistency from club’s starting rotation. You can’t go all in like this and have things turn out the way they have. Plus, the Miller-Swanson trade truly looks like an all time robbery…still can’t believe that happened.
It’s a sad development for a guy as well respected as La Russa, but he has driven this organization backward rather than forward in a relatively short period of time. Granted, it’s never a good sign to fire a head decision maker after just two seasons, but it’s clear that the team needs to go in another direction. We’ll just have to wait and see if this move is a signal of another front office shakeup in Arizona.
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Do you think that La Russa and/or Stewart will be let go in the offseason? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.