Major League Baseball

Diamondbacks met with other candidates before hiring La Russa

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 3:04 p.m. ET

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Ken Rosenthal

On the day that the Diamondbacks named Tony La Russa chief baseball officer, team president Derrick Hall acknowledged meeting with other candidates, some for La Russa'€™s role, some for general manager.

According to major-league sources, one of those candidates was Larry Beinfest, whom the Marlins fired as president of baseball operations on Sept. 27, 2013, when Beinfest had two years left on his contract.

The D-backs also spoke with former Indians and Rangers general manager John Hart, but that conversation did not constitute an interview, sources said.

Hart, now a special advisor for the Braves, is a longtime friend of D-backs managing general partner Ken Kendrick. He had no intention of leaving the Braves and merely served as a sounding board for the D-backs, sources said.

Beinfest, on the other hand, presumably would have replaced GM Kevin Towers, unless the Diamondbacks planned to award him the same title as La Russa. Towers, for now, remains the D-backs GM.

Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria first hired Beinfest to work for the Montreal Expos in 2001. When Loria bought the Marlins in 2002, he named Beinfest his general manager.

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