D-backs GM Towers: ‘We’re going to be pests’
Feb 20, 2013, 9:42 PM | Updated: 9:49 pm
Call the Arizona Diamondbacks “gritty” all you want, because the team’s GM Kevin Towers has no issue with the moniker.
Having finished an offseason that saw the team unload high-profile underachievers Trevor Bauer, Justin Upton and Chris Young in exchange for players who lack big-time name recognition, many around baseball believe the D-backs are trying to prove that grit beats talent.
“I like those kinds of players, personally,” Towers told Arizona Sports 620’s Burns and Gambo Wednesday. “I think they’re talented too.”
In a way, simply describing the players Arizona acquired as gritty does them a disservice. Martin Prado, for instance, is a career .295 hitter who doesn’t strike out often and can play many different positions on the field. However, Towers doesn’t hide from the fact that the roster he’s constructed is filled with players who will work hard on a consistent basis.
“I think that’s an intangible that those guys possess, but there’s also a great deal of talent that they bring to the field each and every day,” he said.
So while there may not be any “stars” on the team, Towers believes he’s assembled a group that will be very competitive in 2013.
“We’re going to be pests, we’re going to be one of those teams that just won’t go away,” he said. “I will say, after I think our fans and you all get a chance to watch these guys this year, my intuition and my gut feel is right now is I don’t know how it’s going to equate to wins and losses, but I know they’re going to like the way they play the game.
“They’re not going to give up, they’re going to hustle at all times. There’s going to be a speed dynamic that we haven’t had. Their uniforms are going to be dirty at the end of the game, and they’re not going to give in.”
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