Diamondbacks Fire Josh Byrnes

by Randy Booth on Jul 1, 2010 11:43 PM EDT in News

Are you kidding me?

The Diamondbacks fired general manager Josh Byrnes tonight. Byrnes was Theo Epstein's former assistant GM before leaving for Arizona in October of 2005.

This is a very interesting -- or, you could say, horrible -- move by the D-backs. Can you say, "trigger finger"? Sure, the D-backs have the third-worst record in the MLB, but it's not Byrnes' fault his ace Brandon Webb has been on the disabled list all season. Or that Chad Qualls doesn't know how to nail down a save. Or that Conor Jackson has been non-existent.

Odds are Byrnes will get a GM job elsewhere, but I'm sure Theo has already sent him a text with an opportunity to come back home, for at least the duration of this season.

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Wow.

Ridiculous. My understanding is that he’s a tremendously well-regarded executive. A quote from Olney’s Insider article on the anonymous GMs-rating-GMs survey: “I think he’s smart as hell, he’s well thought-out, and he’s a good person.” Sounds like someone I would want to build me a baseball team. Josh, come back and consult…

Wait 'til next/this year?
"Laser show. So relax."

by nuthinboutnuthin on Jul 1, 2010 11:54 PM EDT reply actions

maybe he can help Theo cherry pick the Arizona system...

"Man that ball got outta here in a hurry, you know anything that travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it, don't you think?" - Crash Davis

by Dave D on Jul 2, 2010 2:13 AM EDT reply actions

I don't know. I thought it was a deserved firing.

Now, I don’t know about the front office politics and how much control/authority Byrnes was really given, but there have been several head-scratching moves from Arizona. A historically bad bullpen doesn’t help matters either.

(P.S.: Everything else aside, if you trade for Dontrelle Willis you deserve to be fired.)

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Jul 2, 2010 10:22 AM EDT reply actions

He built it...

They look really bad. And this is the team and staff that Josh assembled. He may be smart as hell, but he hasn’t displayed the wisdom necessary when building a team. Obviously, we don’t know what has been going on behind the scenes, but this is a team that strikes out too much, fields horribly and has no bullpen.

We all fail, and if we learn from it we do much better the next time. Hopefully he’s learned some good lessons.

"simul justus et peccator"

by cavman on Jul 3, 2010 1:57 PM EDT reply actions