Report: D-backs GM Kevin Towers on San Diego Padres’ radar
Jun 22, 2014, 8:38 PM | Updated: 8:39 pm
The San Diego Padres parted ways with general manager Josh Byrnes on Sunday, and their preferred replacement may reside in the desert.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted Sunday that Arizona Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers may be San Diego’s preferred replacement after Towers previously spent 14 years in San Diego before joining the New York Yankees then the D-backs.
Now that the #Padres have fired GM Josh Byrnes, they are internally discussing the possibility of bringing back #Dbacks GM Kevin Towers
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 22, 2014
Towers still is under contract through 2016 with the #Dbacks, but now that Tony LaRussa is in charge, the #Padres have Towers on radar.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 22, 2014
Towers helped lead the Padres to four NL West championships and an appearance in the 1998 World Series. He was fired following the 2009 season, then joined the New York Yankees as a special assignment scout before the D-backs hired him in September 2010.
Byrnes served as the D-backs’ GM before Towers, holding the position following the 2005 season until being fired during the 2010 season. The Padres are 12.5 games back of first-place San Francisco, but hold a 1.5 game lead over the last-place D-backs. The Padres have scored the fewest runs in baseball this season.
Much speculation has surrounded Towers’ job security in Arizona after the team hired former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa in the midst of one of the worst starts in franchise history.