The D-backs announced today that Tony La Russa is leaving the organization, effective at the end of the month. The 73-year-old Hall of Famer served as the D-backs’ chief baseball officer from 2015-16 and worked for the club under the title of chief baseball analyst in 2017 following a restructuring of the front office (including the hiring of general manager Mike Hazen).
“I am grateful to everyone in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization for the opportunity to complete my baseball education,” La Russa said in a statement released via press release. “After years in uniform and working with the Commissioner and many special members of Major League Baseball, being a part of the D-backs was both exciting and educational. The challenges facing baseball operations, player development and scouting are unique, as it’s a 24-7, 12-month job and more demanding than I ever realized. The success in 2017 was a complete team effort throughout the organization — including great support from our fans — and with the current leadership in place, we can expect it to be the foundation for many winning years to come.”
Hazen, Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall and Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick all thanked La Russa for his services as well. “Tony has been of great value to me, personally, and our staff during the past season, and I’m very appreciative for all that he has done here and the manner in which he handled the transition,” said Hazen.
You’re a legendary manager, Tony La Russa.
At the end of the day, no matter how your Diamondbacks tenure is viewed, you’ll always have that going for you.
Odd move. He doesn’t know anything about sabermetrics, a “must” for all new manager hires, so what’s he going to do next? Maybe follow Torre and work for MLB?
Not an odd move at all. He’s 73. I would presume he’s going to retire. isn’t that what 73 year olds do?
Depends on how much they like their wives, LOL
Easy old timer with the “LOL”
Not gonna lie, I actually laughed out loud at that
As long as he can continue to stay sober and doesn’t drink and drive, I wish him well.
Lame comment
LaRussa would be hirer by any owner tomorrow if he wanted to manage. One of the greatest of all time doesn’t need sabbermetrics. Baseball is more about heart than numbers
LOL
LOL
Look Out LaRussa.
TLR: Take over from Matheny and lead the Redbirds back to glory !
There’s not enough room in the NL Central for 2 managers who both invented baseball.
C’mon, Bryan Price isn’t that old….
Yea Do that!
Give Tony credit for understanding and accepting that he is not a fit with the new leadership. Colletti (10 years younger) should have understood the same and moved on when replaced.
They likely excluded him from significant decisions to the point where he figured it wasn’t worth it anymore.
In a world of advanced algorithms and sabermetrics, LaRussa hasn’t used a calculator since 1992.
It’s the slow decline and sad death of the human element in baseball where everybody and everything is nothing more than numbers, but fan apathy makes it impossible to change now.
I know you’re trying to make a point here (and everywhere else really), but people have always used numbers to make decisions in baseball, just different ones than what they use today
There was never a time when baseball was not ruled by numbers. And if you spent nine figures a year on your product, you’d use every last analytic you could too.
True that
Great long time manager. Also an innovator in a sport that has a hard time changing its decades old way of playing games…..look at how match-ups outta pen has evolved into exact science since he showed its value. A Winner. I’m sure we’ll see em at a ballpark soon….
Tony and Dave Stewart almost destroyed the franchise. Fortunately the Snakes were so bad in 2016 the ownership had to quickly shift course and the new regime did a great job. The ownership allowed Tony a soft landing. I give them credit for that.
A large portion of the DBacks current roster was acquired under La Russa and Stewart. Aside from the disaster that was the Shelby Miller trade, it’s hard to make the argument that the regime did anything to “destroy the franchise.” I like the work Hazen has done so far but he merely added to a core that was built by his predecessors. Stewart is gone, as he should be, but I think people exaggerate how bad he was.
Nope, that regime was beyond bad. The Yoan Lopez signing was pure negligence. 16.5 million on a bust. That move prevented the team from signing a decent international prospect for two years. Not to mention “3B” Yasmany Tomas who will eat up 13.5 M next year to ride the bench. Zach Greinke at 34 M for a small market team. Dont get me started on Shelby Miller.
That may have been the worst group of morons running a team in recent history.
Calling it now, next Red Sox manager 😉
Ha….would be crazy!
Not much more the man can accomplish in baseball. Enjoy your retirement!
I’m not sure how much he implemented some sabermetrics but he managed the Cardinals at a time when the front office was going hard in that direction. Gm was let go over it. But I think he was well ahead of the curve with how he managed middle relief bullpen matchups. He judged lineups like crazy everyone was calling him to have a set regular lineup but now teams are all over that. He may haven’t been totally invested but I think he was always trying to innovate and not the kind of guy who bullheadedly just ignores new ideas. He was a pioneer in some ways really
Much respect to “Don” La Russa. (((Kisses ring)))
Definitely a legend.