Diamondbacks clean house, fire manager Hale, G.M. Stewart
A’s Washington to meet with Braves; Rockies’ Weiss resigns
Coming off a second disappointing season, the Arizona Diamondbacks parted ways with general manager Dave Stewart and manager Chip Hale on Monday in the latest shake-up for an organization seeking consistency.
Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa will be back, though it’s unclear in what role.
“We did not see the trend line moving in the right direction,” Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick said.
The Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001 and had a brief resurgence a decade later by winning the N.L. West. Arizona has been in a steady decline since then, posting five straight non-winning seasons.
Arizona went 79-83 last season and was expecting better things after signing former A.L. Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke to a $206 million deal and trading for Shelby Miller. Instead, the Diamondbacks took a step back.
They started slow and never recovered, finishing with a 69-93 record to miss the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.
Now the franchise will be searching for a fifth GM and fifth manager since 2010. The team is deciding on what role La Russa will have, but Kendrick said it will not be manager.
Braves: The team is thrilled with the job that interim manager Brian Snitker did this season. They’re still going to look at other potential candidates to lead the team in 2017.
Team president John Hart said former managers Bud Black and Ron Washington, the A’s third base coach, would be interviewed for the job, and other outside candidates may be considered as well.
Washington spent nearly eight seasons as Texas manager, guiding the Rangers to consecutive World Series appearances from 2010-11. He spent the last two seasons with the A’s, but his ties to Hart go back to when both worked for the Rangers.
Rockies: Walt Weiss resigned as manager, the result of a growing rift between the former A’s shortstop and his general manager, Jeff Bridich. Weiss really didn’t have a job to come back to because his contract expired after the season finale. Bridich, who took over as G.M. two years ago, will now get to select his own manager.
The Rockies finished 7587 this season, their best record since 2010.
“It was time to move on,” Bridich said in a conference call.
White Sox: Rick Renteria was promoted from bench coach to replace Robin Ventura, getting another opportunity to manage in Chicago after the Cubs unceremoniously let him go after the 2014 season so they could hire Joe Maddon.
Call to the Hall?: Mark McGwire is getting another swing at the Hall of Fame. The former A’s slugger who admitted using steroids joined Bud Selig, George Steinbrenner, Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Lou Piniella and John Schuerholz on the Today’s Game Era ballot to be considered for election to Cooperstown in December.
To be enshrined, candidates must receive votes on at least 75 percent of the ballots cast by the 16member Today’s Game Era Committee.
A.L. wild card: Offense figures to be plentiful Tuesday night when the Toronto Blue Jays play host to the Baltimore Orioles to open the playoffs.
The Orioles led the major leagues with 253 home runs this season, hitting 28 in their 19 games against Toronto. The Blue Jays were fourth in baseball with 221 homers and had 29 against Baltimore.
The challenge of controlling two powerful lineups will fall on the starting pitchers. Marcus Stroman (9-10, 4.37 ERA) gets the nod for Toronto, with fellow right-hander Chris Tillman (16-6, 3.77) going for the Orioles.
If the Orioles have a late lead, they’ll like their chances of locking it down; closer Zach Britton was perfect in 47 save opportunities this season.