DENVER -- The Diamondbacks are in the final stages of a general manager search that could conclude early next week, with Dave Stewart perceived as the top candidate.
D-backs president/CEO Derrick Hall and chief baseball officer Tony La Russa have concluded interviews with all seven candidates, sources said Friday, and are in the process of finalizing a replacement for Kevin Towers.
Stewart, a player agent, was a four-time 20-game winner for La Russa's powerhouse teams in Oakland in the late 1980s, and the two formed a strong bond that remains. One major league source said Friday that he believed Stewart would take the job if offered.
Stewart was a finalist for the Toronto general manager job when J.P. Ricciardi was hired in 2001. While Stewart was bitterly disappointed that he was passed over, the source said Stewart still relishes the opportunity to be a general manager.
If Stewart took the job, he would be forced to relinquish control of his lucrative Sports Management Partners, an agency he founded. His clientele includes Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp and Houston first baseman Chris Carter, who will be eligible for arbitration after the 2015 season. Major league rules prohibit agents from working inside the game.
A major league source says Dave Stewart (right) would take the general manager's job if Tony La Russa and the D-backs offered.
St. Louis director of player development Gary LaRocque is believed to be another top candidate. LaRocque and La Russa worked with the Cardinals in the latter stages of La Russa's managerial career, and Larocque authored "The Cardinal Way," a handbook for baseball operations.
Hall and La Russa also have interviewed former general managers Larry Beinfest (Miami), Tim Purpura (Houston) and Allard Baird (Kansas City), Los Angeles Dodgers assistant general manager De Jon Watson and D-backs scouting director Ray Montgomery, the only in-house candidate.
La Russa has talked about parceling out responsibilities in the D-backs' front office moving forward, indicating he is not wed to the idea of hiring one person to handle all aspects of the general manager position. La Russa said he would like an increased emphasis on analytics, but he added that another person could be hired to handle that part of the job.
The D-backs have said they want to hire a general manager before the end of the regular season in order to make a quick decision on the future of manager Kirk Gibson and also to begin discussing plans for offseason forays into the trade and free agent markets.
Towers, who has a year remaining on his contract, has been offered a chance to stay in the organization in an as-yet-undefined position. La Russa mentioned Towers in conjunction with talk about beefing up the pro scouting operation moving forward.
Towers and Stewart go back to 1998. Towers, the San Diego general manager at the time, hired Stewart to be the Padres' pitching coach. The Padres made it to the World Series that season. They spoke in the general manager's box when Stewart was interviewed at Chase Field on Tuesday.
Yankees assistant general manager Billy Eppler and Texas assistant general manager Thad Levine withdrew from consideration earlier this week. Los Angeles Angels pro scouting director Hal Morris was mentioned as a candidate early in the process, but he did not interview.
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