The last two years in Arizona have been tumultuous (to say the least). The Diamondbacks have responded to those two seasons of tumult by firing both manager Chip Hale and GM Dave Stewart.
OFFICIAL: The #Dbacks have parted ways with Sr. Vice President & GM Dave Stewart and Manager Chip Hale.
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) October 3, 2016
As for Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa, he’s reportedly escaped the axe…for now.
dbacks are in the process of determining what role tony la russa will have going forward
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 3, 2016
Arizona finished 69-93 this year, ten wins in the wrong direction after going 79-83 last year. Stewart was hired in September of 2014 after the firing of Kevin Towers, and he hired Hale soon thereafter. Not much went right after that, including numerous salary dump trades, the bizarre signing of Cuban Yoan Lopez, the over-market signing of Zack Greinke, and the disastrous trade of Aaron Blair, Ender Inciarte, and Dansby Swanson to the Braves for Shelby Miller, who had a 6.15 ERA in 2016 with the Diamondbacks.
Whatever the Diamondbacks decide to do next, they’ll need to find a plan and stick to it. The last two years wasted two more years of Paul Goldschmidt’s prime, who is signed through 2019. Only reliever Daniel Hudson and second baseman (in theory) Rickie Weeks are free agents after the season, so it’s not as if the cupboard is bare with Goldschmidt, Greinke, Jake Lamb, Jean Segura, a potentially resurgent Miller, and a hopefully healthy A.J. Pollock all returning for Arizona in 2017.
As for the future of Stewart and Hale? I wouldn’t be shocked if Stewart went back to being an agent, which was his job before Arizona hired him two years ago. As for Hale, he’s just 51, which is young for a coach in baseball, and I highly doubt his career is over. But with only the Rockies and Braves having managerial openings (along with, naturally, the Diamondbacks) at the moment, his odds of picking up a major league managerial job this offseason look a bit bleak.
