D-backs in Talks With DiPoto, May Stay On In Role TBA Later

Earlier this week it looked like former interim GM Jerry DiPoto would head out of town after getting passed over for a very tanned Kevin Towers. Now it seems the D-backs are making a play at keeping DiPoto.

One source with close knowledge of the talks believes there is an 80 percent chance that DiPoto will remain with the club.

Diamondbacks club president Derrick Hall didn’t offer a prediction on whether DiPoto will accept the team’s offer, but he said late Friday, “I am hopeful he will stay, because I believe he belongs here and we all want him here.”

Kevin Towers Talks About Bullpen, The Draft And Strikeouts

A very fit and tanned Kevin Towers was introduced to the Arizona fans and media today. He talked about philosophy on a number of pressing Diamondbacks issues.

Bullpen

"I've always been a believer in building backwards from the closer on down to your starters," Tower said and then went on to use the analogy of having a great meal ruined by having to wait 45 minutes for the check and also then the anecdote of Daniel Hudson pitching a great game only to have that ruined by the bullpen.

"My goal here is put together a bullpen that's better than San Diego's. To me, it's several weapons. A bullpen's not just the closer. To me, you should have five to six guys that can pitch in the seventh, eight, or ninth inning against the middle-of-the-order hitter and be able to get a strikeout."

Draft Philosophy

"I've always been a big believer in position players early. Hitters usually don't slide. Power comes late, but guys that have that knack of putting the sweet spot on the ball, you don't get those guys deep in the draft."

According to Towers, you can get lucky with pitchers later in the draft, but good hitters should be taken early. He talked about assessing the organization's needs from a position standpoint, but hinted at being more of a "best player available" guy.

Towers talked about looking for size and strength when evaluating young pitchers.

Strikeouts

"With power comes strikeouts; they usually go hand-in-hand. You're going to have a couple of guys in your lineup that have high strikeouts and hopefully the homers come with them," Towers said on this question that goes to the core of how much change is made to the D-backs lineup. 

"Personally, I like contact hitters. I like guys that have good pitch recognition. Strikeouts are part of the game, but if you have four or five or six guys in your lineup, it's hard to sustain any sort of rally."

Towers talked about the importance of grinding out an at-bat and seeing a lot of pitches. 

Towers seems to be right on-board with what we've been hearing from CEO Derrick Hall and interim GM Jerry Dipoto. With five guys in the top 15 in NL strikeouts, that would imply some moves are coming.

Other Notes

• Towers said he had a planned 30-minute meeting with interim manager Kirk Gibson that ended up going two hours. He said he was impressed with Gibson's intensity and he's heard good things so far. Towers will travel with the team on this final road trip and spend more time with Gibson, but hinted strongly at keeping him on and giving him a full season to work with.
• Jerry Dipoto's status is up in the air and will depend on what he decides to do. Both Derrick Hall and Ken Kendrick were highly complimentary of Dipoto, who has now been passed over three times for a GM job. Towers seemed inclined to keep Dipoto on should he decide to stay. Word around the press box is that he's disappointed in not getting the job and still undecided on his future. He should have no trouble getting a job elsewhere should he decide to leave.
• Towers claimed there were no "sour grapes" with the Padres, but also said that he spent this season focused on the Yankees, who he was doing some scouting work for. Asked if he felt any pride or connection to the San Diego team he helped build that is doing so well, he only would say that he's turned the page.

Reports: D-backs Pick Towers. Priorities Include Manager, Bullpen And Strikeouts

Multiple local and national media outlets are reporting that the Diamondbacks have agreed to a two-year deal with Kevin Towers to take over as the new general manager.

Interim Jerry Dipoto made it to the final cut. No word yet if he will remain on Towers staff and be groomed for the job.

The choose of Towers means that interim manager Kirk Gibson should be feeling a bit less secure in his chances to keep his job. Towers could bring in his own guy having been around baseball since his days as scout for the Padres in 1989.

Keys for Towers will be an extreme makeover of the D-backs horrible bullpen and addressing the lineup that just set a new major league record in team strikeouts (with 11 games remaining).

That means fan favorites like Mark Reynolds or Kelly Johnson could be gone.

Five of the National League’s top 15 strikeout artists start everyday for the Diamondbacks: “King of the K” Mark Reynolds (202); Adam LaRoche (157); Justin Upton (152); Chris Young (134); Kelly Johnson (133).

One would think guys like Young and LaRoche could adjust their approach to reduce their strikeouts but that’s got to start with an attitude adjustment in the club house.

In a recent Nick Piecoro article in the Arizona Republic LaRoche was quoted as saying that “98 percent of the time,” a strikeout is the equivalent of a ground out or a fly out.

NL West Drama

John Gambodoro tweeted that Towers was thrilled to take this job so he can “stick it to” his former boss, Padres CEO Jeffery Morrad.

The Padres recently hired A.J. Hinch as their VP of Professional Scouting to complete the hate triangle.

D-backs GM Search Down To Two, Announcement Expected This Week

According to a number of sources, the search for the next Arizona Diamondbacks general manager is down to two: current interim GM Jerry Dipoto and Kevin Towers, former Padres GM.

John Gambadoro of Sports 620 KTAR tweets that an announcement is anticipated later this week.

Diamondbacks Interview Five Potential GM Candidates

AZ Diamondbacks.com reports that the the team has interviewed five candidates for the open general manager position. Interviewees include: 

Interim GM Jerry Dipoto, former Padres GM Kevin Towers, Dodgers assistant GM Logan White, Dodgers assistant GM De Jon Watson and Angels scouting director Eddie Bane. 

Kevin Towers To Interview For Diamondbacks GM Job Tuesday

Both a front (for the Diamondbacks GM job) and according to this report, a friend of Mark Grace who won't let money stand in the way.

Sources: Front-Runner Kevin Towers to Interview for D'backs GM Job Tuesday -- MLB FanHouse
Kevin Towers will interview on Tuesday with the Arizona Diamondbacks for their general manager's job, FanHouse has learned. From the looks of it, Towers has a pretty good chance to succeed interim GM Jerry DiPoto, who remains a candidate

We shall know soon enough how close we are to the Kevin Towers era of the Diamondback.

Diamondbacks Target Kevin Towers And Others For GM Job

The Diamondbacks were always going to interview candidates for the general manager job that Jerry Dipoto is holding down on an interim basis after the team fired Josh Byrnes in July.

Names for potential candidates are starting to leak out, with former Padres GM Kevin Towers at the top of the list -- at least as far as name recognition.

But according to this report from Fox Sports, Kevin might be looking for more money than the Diamondbacks are willing to spend, especially since the team still owes big bucks to Byrnes through 2015 ...

Arizona Diamondbacks target Kevin Towers as general manager - MLB News - FOX Sports on MSN
"If the money’s right, he’ll go," one source said of Towers, who currently is a special assistant with the Yankees. "He doesn’t like sitting on the sidelines."

According to the story, Dipoto is still in the running for the job he currently holds.

It's not certain how involved he was in pulling off the myriad of deals the team made at the trading deadline,but if he was responsible then he certainly has earned the right to keep the job.

The team managed to dump a couple of bad contracts (Chris Snyder and Chad Qualls) and turned Edwin Jackson into Dan Hudson, who's looking like a legit rotation pitcher. The jury is still out on the Dan Haren deal, but it is hard to argue with the combination of Joe Saunders and a couple of left-handed pitching prospects.

As we've said time and again, the story of the trade deadline salary dumps won't be fully told until the team spends -- or doesn't spend -- the money they saved this winter to plug some holes on a team that really doesn't look that far away from competing next season.

Other names that have surfaced for the job are two Dodgers’ assistant GMs, Logan White and De Jon Watson.

It very well could be that the D-backs are floating a big name like Towers for PR purposes and they certainly would be crazy not to at least talk to candidates from other teams. If nothing else, it's a great way to see what your competition is thinking.