Shortly after the hiring of Dave Stewart as the Arizona Diamondbacks general manager, it was clear changes were coming. On Friday afternoon, it was announced that manager Kirk Gibson was fired from his position.
The Diamondbacks' official account reported the news:
During his time as manager, Gibson led the team to a 353-375 record with just one appearance in the postseason. Arizona won the NL West division in 2011 with a 94-68 record but was unable to string together another winning season.
Stewart was hired Thursday, as reported by The Associated Press (via ESPN), and wasted no time in relieving Gibson. Jesse Spector of Sporting News passed along his thoughts on the decision:
Stewart spoke about the upcoming manager search, per Bernie Pleskoff of MLB.com:
The Diamondbacks are currently 63-96 heading into the final weekend of the season, but they have pieces to build around for the future. Despite the struggles for Gibson, the next manager will have a team that has a chance to win.
Having the worst record in baseball also has upside, as Pleskoff notes:
Offensive players like Mark Trumbo and Paul Goldschmidt have shown flashes of greatness, along with Miguel Montero. If those players can continue to swing a good bat in the future, the next manager has weapons to help lead the team.
Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks happen to be in a division along with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. There will need to be changes made to the structure of the team in order to contend with franchises that have postseason aspirations every season.
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