Diamondbacks Part Ways With Dave Stewart, Chip Hale

(photo credit: Getty Images)

With no time to waste as the 2016 offseason begins, the Arizona Diamondbacks have let go of general manager Dave Stewart and manager Chip Hale. After their disappointing season, the Diamondbacks appear willing to shake up the top of the organization in order to point themselves in the right direction again.

Both men were hired following the 2014 season, a 64-98 campaign for the organization, good (or bad) enough for the 2nd-worst record in the organization's 17-year history to that point. Previously, Stewart had a successful pitching career, amassing a career won-loss record of 168-129 with a 3.95 ERA over 17 seasons with five different organizations.

He spent the most time with the Oakland Athletics, with whom he made an All-Star appearance, pitched a no-hitter, and won one of his three World Series championships. Once his playing career was over he spent time as a pitching coach and assistant general manager with multiple teams until starting his own sports agency in 2002. He continued that endeavor until Tony La Russa, Arizona's chief baseball officer, hired Stewart to be the team's general manager in September 2014.

Hale had a short-lived major league career with the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers before entering the dugout as a bench coach for a handful of teams. His most famous claim to fame to this day is being the hitter in this video of Rodney McCray crashing through a wall in a minor league game. Hale joined the Diamondbacks' as their manager on October 13, 2014.

During the two seasons under the supervision of Stewart and Hale, the Diamondbacks had records of 79-83 in 2015, and 69-93 this season. As a relatively young franchise, Arizona has seen some remarkable success. They won 100 games in just their second season, and won the World Series in 2001, only their fourth season. They have just one more 90-loss season than they do 90-win seasons (6 to 5), and have made the playoffs (by winning the division) five times, all in the 13-season stretch from 1999 to 2011.

It is no surprise when looking back on the early success the organization managed to have that recent struggles are pushing them towards big change after experiencing such down years recently.