About to wrap up a season that will see them finish with the worst record in baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacks and new executive Tony La Russa have fired manager Kirk Gibson.
Tony La Russa cleans house, as #Diamondbacks fire manager Kirk Gibson and bench coach Alan Trammell http://t.co/xAFcfVtlbz
— HardballTalk (@HardballTalk) September 26, 2014
It’s been an incredibly disappointing couple seasons for Gibson and the Diamondbacks, who were 63-96 on the season prior to today’s news.
Back in 2010, Gibson replaced A.J. Hinch on an interim basis. He proceeded to lead the team to a 34-49 record in the second half of the year before helping Arizona to a 94-68 record and first place finish in the NL West the following season.
It’s been downhill for Gibson and the Diamondbacks ever since. After finishing the past two seasons right at the .500 mark, Arizona took a major step back in 2014. By virtue of the Rangers win over Oakland on Thursday, the Diamondbacks are guaranteed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 amateur draft. That’s not how the brass in Arizona figured things would transpire following Gibson’s first season at the helm.
This move comes on the heels of the Diamondbacks hiring former MLB pitcher Dave Stewart as their new general manager. And it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise considering Stewart and new Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa wanted to go in a new direction early in their tenures with the team.
Gibson finishes his Diamondbacks career with a 353-375 record.
Photo: USA Today