THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks fired manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Josh Byrnes on Thursday night in a shakeup at the top of a team cemented in last place in the NL West for the second year in a row.
Diamondbacks bench coach and ex-major league slugger Kirk Gibson will take over as interim manager for a ballclub that was 31-48, 15{ games back of San Diego entering Thursday’s games.
Team president Derrick Hall called the dismissals "a first and major step in the re-evaluation of our team."
The 35-year-old Hinch was hired May 7, 2009. Despite having no managerial experience at any level, he was moved from the front office to manager following the firing of Bob Melvin. Hinch has two years remaining on his contract after this season.
Hinch is the fourth manager to lose his job this season. Florida’s Fredi Gonzalez, Baltimore’s Dave Trembley and Kansas City’s Trey Hillman have also been fired.
Byrnes, once considered a rising star among young baseball executives, has a whopping 5{ years left on a deal that runs through 2015.
Former major league pitcher Jerry DiPoto, vice-president for player development, will take over the GM duties on an interim basis.
In a statement issued Thursday night, Arizona managing partner Ken Kendrick called the firings "a significant decision, but one that we find necessary in order to achieve a direction of winning consistently on the field again."
The team scheduled a Friday news conference to discuss the move.
Byrnes was in his fifth season as general manager after being lured from the Boston Red Sox, where he was assistant to GM Theo Epstein. After the young Diamondbacks finished with the NL’s best record and made it to the NLCS in 2007, Arizona gave him an eight-year extension.
Hinch, who has a degree from Stanford, was vice-president for player personnel when he was moved to the manager’s role, even though he had never even been a coach before. At the time, Byrnes touted Hinch’s "organizational advocacy."
The team stumbled on to a last-place finish in the NL West (70-92), but Hinch confidently said "I like this team" coming out of spring training this year. Quickly, though, the Diamondbacks faded. At one time, they lost 10 in a row, including a franchise-worst 0-9 road trip. When the club returned from that awful journey, Hinch acknowledged, "This group hasn’t responded that well to me."
The Diamondbacks open a 10-game home stand Friday night with the first of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The team is on pace to shatter the major league record for strikeouts in the season and its bullpen statistically is one of the worst the game has known.
"We have a number of talented players, obviously see great room for improvement," Kendrick said. "This franchise has enjoyed tremendous success over the years and we want to get back to our winning ways. The loyal staff of this organization, as well as all of our fans, hopes for and deserves better results on the field."
