Former Padres and Diamondbacks General Manager Kevin Towers Dead at 56
Former Padres and Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers died Tuesday morning, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. He was 56.
Towers was diagnosed with a rare form of thyroid cancer in December 2016.
Towers pitched for eight seasons in the Padres system but never cracked the majors. He became a scout after his player career ended in 1989 and was named San Diego’s GM shortly after the end of the 1995 season. He remained in that position until 2009, when the Padres fired him after two losing seasons.
The Diamondbacks hired Towers in September 2010 and he was pushed aside in September 2014 when the team installed Tony La Russa as the new head of baseball ops. La Russa then hired Dave Stewart as general manager.
During his time in San Diego, the Padres made four playoff appearances, including a National League pennant in 1998 when they were swept by the Yankees in the World Series. The Diamondbacks won the NL West in Towers’s first season in charge but failed to finish above .500 in his final three years.
