With the team already 11.5 games out of first place just a quarter of the way through the season, the Arizona Diamondbacks have hired Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa as their "chief baseball officer" in hopes of turning things around, according to Steve Gilbert of MLB.com.
Diamondbacks hire Tony La Russa as Chief Baseball Officer
Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa was named Chief Baseball Officer by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, and will be reporting directly to team CEO Derrick Hall.
Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
While La Russa will be reporting directly to team President and CEO Derrick Hall, it does not appear he will be replacing anyone in the front office or on the bench just yet. He will instead oversee the entire baseball operations department, with current GM Kevin Towers and manager Kirk Gibson reporting to him.
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The reason behind the move was clear, with Hall stating “the entire organization is obviously frustrated with the results on the field and we are looking to improve.”
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According to Arizona play-by-play announcer Steve Berthiaume, Hall also made it clear to everyone who will be in charge, telling reporters "any decisions that will be made from the personnel side, [LaRussa] will have the final say." For LaRussa's part, he was excited to be "back in competitive action", and spent much of the last week asking around the league for opinions on Arizona, telling reporters that "the reputation of the organization is outstanding."
While details remain sketchy regarding what precisely will happen with the organization, according to the statements he made at the press conference, LaRussa is looking to move quickly with plans already laid out for the next week. Berthiaume says LaRussa plans to meet with staff gather information and “try and understand what we have.”
What they have, at the moment, is a team that is 4-18 at home and twelve games under .500 so far this season.
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