4:46pm: Fanhouse's Tom Krasovic reports that Dipoto is likely to remain within the Diamondbacks organization.
Towers met with Dipoto for four hours and came away with a great impression and respect for the interim GM. He's told Dipoto that he'd like him to remain in the organization as the team's vice president of scouting and player development. Towers also said he liked the trades made by Dipoto in his run as general manager, and feels that Dipoto will be a permanent GM someday.
The decision is up to Dipoto now, but according to Krasovic, indications are strong that he will accept the position sometime within the next ten days.
9:23am: When the Diamondbacks gave their vacant general manager job to Kevin Towers earlier this week, interim GM and long time executive Jerry Dipoto informed the team that he would not remain with the club and move on. He may be changing his mind, however, as sources tell FoxSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi that Dipoto and the D-Backs are in discussions to keep him in the organization in a "high-level position." One source even said the odds of him remaining were as high as 80%.
Club president Derrick Hall didn't offer a prediction as to whether Dipoto would return or not, but he is known to have a "great affinity" for him. Dipoto's familiarity with the organization could ease Towers' transition period. Morosi says that Dipoto could choose to remain if he buys into Towers' plan because he knows at some point another GM job will come his way. The Mets are far and away the most likely club to be looking for a new GM this offseason.
One industry person told Morosi that Towers and Dipoto have different philosophies when it comes to assessing talent. In his ESPN chat earlier this week (Insider req'd.), Keith Law said that Towers' strength was "big league trades" while his weakness was "the draft and the farm system." He then called Dipoto "an excellent choice [at GM] for a team looking to rebuild its farm system through the draft," and said "he's a very open-minded guy with a strong interest in using data to increase the effectiveness of his team's scouting efforts."
mrmet128
NOOOO. come to new york!
Slopeboy
As a former Mets player, he should be familiar with the NY media. The Mets payroll will most likely not increase to bring in FA’s, and the Mets are not inclined to eat contracts in order to move players. Unless he wants the exposure or needs,money why would he take a job where he has no real autonomy?
bonestock94
Was the Haren trade Dipoto? If so, wtf is Towers liking about that?
dbreer23
Skaggs is a decent prospect, but I’ve never been impressed with Saunders, so I can see your point re: the Haren deal. However, the Jackson for Hudson trade is likely what they’re referring to.
bonestock94
Oh yea, forgot about that. You have to love the Hudson deal. I just didn’t think Az was so badly off that they had to do a straight salary dump on the Haren deal. I guess if Skaggs pans out it’ll be a distant memory.