When Tony La Russa was hired by the Dbacks over the weekend, a lot of people’s first thought was “welp, Kevin Towers is probably a goner.” There has been the suggestion that no changes are imminent, but no one has given Towers a vote of confidence either. Into that vacuum comes various people around baseball speculating as to who is gonna take his job. Gammons:
Execs suggest Tony LaRussa may seek Cards Dir. Player Development boss Gary LaRocque as D’Backs GM candidate. A key in club’s current run…
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) May 20, 2014
Who knows if LaRocque is going to take the job — or even if there will be a job to take — but it’s inescapable that the Dbacks hired La Russa to create an organization in Arizona akin to the one he left in St. Louis: a deep system, a coherent organizational philosophy and a consistent winner without going too crazy in the payroll department.
Why wouldn’t you hire a Cardinals guy to do that?