Tony LaRussa leaving Diamondbacks

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Spider John
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Tony LaRussa leaving Diamondbacks

Post by Spider John »

Tony La Russa said Wednesday that it was his decision to leave the Arizona Diamondbacks because the ballclub’s operations from the front office to the field would function just fine without him.

“It’s not that I can’t contribute,” he said. “It’s that they don’t need it. These guys are sharp.”

La Russa praised General Manager Mike Hazen and the front office staff, calling them “a really unique group of guys.”

“I was really impressed,” he said. “They’re very smart. … They understand all the formulas, but they totally believe in the balance of the hearts beating and how you blend the reality of the dynamic of playing a game that can change inning to inning with the preparation that the metrics provide you.”

He was equally complimentary of manager Torey Lovullo and the Diamondbacks coaching staff.

“The fact is that Torey has a really outstanding background, and he’s got a really outstanding staff,” La Russa said.
a Russa said he doesn’t know what’s next, but he’s not done.

“I’m not gonna sit home,” he said. “I’m gonna do something.

“I’ve had a few calls already that people are interested. So we’ll see what’s out there."
http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/m ... 776968001/

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Joe Shlabotnik
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Re: Tony LaRussa leaving Diamondbacks

Post by Joe Shlabotnik »

Reading between the lines, sounds like Tony became irrelevant there.

What do you think - Cardinals new bench coach?
Spider John wrote:
Tony La Russa said Wednesday that it was his decision to leave the Arizona Diamondbacks because the ballclub’s operations from the front office to the field would function just fine without him.

“It’s not that I can’t contribute,” he said. “It’s that they don’t need it. These guys are sharp.”

La Russa praised General Manager Mike Hazen and the front office staff, calling them “a really unique group of guys.”

“I was really impressed,” he said. “They’re very smart. … They understand all the formulas, but they totally believe in the balance of the hearts beating and how you blend the reality of the dynamic of playing a game that can change inning to inning with the preparation that the metrics provide you.”

He was equally complimentary of manager Torey Lovullo and the Diamondbacks coaching staff.

“The fact is that Torey has a really outstanding background, and he’s got a really outstanding staff,” La Russa said.
a Russa said he doesn’t know what’s next, but he’s not done.

“I’m not gonna sit home,” he said. “I’m gonna do something.

“I’ve had a few calls already that people are interested. So we’ll see what’s out there."
http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/m ... 776968001/

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JoeMcKim
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Re: Tony LaRussa leaving Diamondbacks

Post by JoeMcKim »

Basically he was brought to the Diamondbacks just to right the ship, he would've probably left sooner if Dave Stewart had worked out as a GM.

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heyzeus
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Re: Tony LaRussa leaving Diamondbacks

Post by heyzeus »

I think what comes next is a job with MLB. Something along the lines of what his predecessor, Joe Torre, has.

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Farewell Friends
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Re: Tony LaRussa leaving Diamondbacks

Post by Farewell Friends »

I think he really, really wants to be an executive. Working for Manfred doesn't get his competitive juices flowing

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Hoot45
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Re: Tony LaRussa leaving Diamondbacks

Post by Hoot45 »

heyzeus wrote:I think what comes next is a job with MLB. Something along the lines of what his predecessor, Joe Torre, has.
I'd love to know that Tony is in a role like Joe Torre working on improving the sport however he can. TLR is one of the great living baseball minds and I think he would do a lot of good for Major League Baseball and the sport in general. In other words, TLR is so damn smart we should all get to benefit from his work, not just one franchise.

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JoeMcKim
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Re: Tony LaRussa leaving Diamondbacks

Post by JoeMcKim »

Didn't Tony already work for MLB for a while before taking the D-Backs job?

Spider John
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Re: Tony LaRussa leaving Diamondbacks

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JoeMcKim wrote:Didn't Tony already work for MLB for a while before taking the D-Backs job?
I believe you're right.

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Re: Tony La Russa leaving Diamondbacks

Post by greenback44 »

Joe Shlabotnik wrote:Reading between the lines, sounds like Tony became irrelevant there.
It sounds like he was fired a year ago, and the Diamondbacks finally fixed the glitch.

TLR doesn't belong in the MLB office, because he's just not much of a bureaucrat, as his stint with the Dbacks demonstrated. That's to say he really doesn't belong in a front office either; it's like asking FRBG to cook. I gathered from "Three Nights in August" that it got under TLR's skin that he witnessed the rise of the MBA in baseball, and now the talk of the game is dominated by front office wonks (i.e. Moneyball) at the expense of field staff ("stand on the top step, Art [Howe]"). I think that dynamic offends his sensibilities, and gets his aforementioned competitive juices flowing, but the dude was built to be a field manager of a major league baseball team. I work in the financial sector, where plenty of rainmakers don't have huge staffs or fancy job titles, but everybody with a fancy title understands the business only works with our equivalents to field managers.

Somewhat selfishly, I hope he steps away, and writes a book. That is contingent on him finding a co-writer with more talent than Buzz Bissinger. There are a lot of gaps in our knowledge he could fill (Haren, Jocketty, Rolen, maybe Rasmus) and there's plenty he could explain about the game that you won't see on FanGraphs. La Russa seemed to drive some good decision-making in St. Louis, but he had very little concern about how to articulate that decision-making to us fans. Would be nice if he rectified that state.

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sighyoung
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Re: Tony LaRussa leaving Diamondbacks

Post by sighyoung »

greenback44 wrote:
Joe Shlabotnik wrote:Reading between the lines, sounds like Tony became irrelevant there.
It sounds like he was fired a year ago, and the Diamondbacks finally fixed the glitch.

TLR doesn't belong in the MLB office, because he's just not much of a bureaucrat, as his stint with the Dbacks demonstrated. That's to say he really doesn't belong in a front office either; it's like asking FRBG to cook. I gathered from "Three Nights in August" that it got under TLR's skin that he witnessed the rise of the MBA in baseball, and now the talk of the game is dominated by front office wonks (i.e. Moneyball) at the expense of field staff ("stand on the top step, Art [Howe]"). I think that dynamic offends his sensibilities, and gets his aforementioned competitive juices flowing, but the dude was built to be a field manager of a major league baseball team. I work in the financial sector, where plenty of rainmakers don't have huge staffs or fancy job titles, but everybody with a fancy title understands the business only works with our equivalents to field managers.

Somewhat selfishly, I hope he steps away, and writes a book. That is contingent on him finding a co-writer with more talent than Buzz Bissinger. There are a lot of gaps in our knowledge he could fill (Haren, Jocketty, Rolen, maybe Rasmus) and there's plenty he could explain about the game that you won't see on FanGraphs. La Russa seemed to drive some good decision-making in St. Louis, but he had very little concern about how to articulate that decision-making to us fans. Would be nice if he rectified that state.
My goodness. Long time no see.

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