The Arizona Diamondbacks have dismissed Josh Byrnes as their General Manager, even though he is signed through 2015 season.
The former Assistant General Manager to Boston’s Theo Epstein, Byrnes was granted an 8 year extension after the 2007 season when Arizona reached the National League Championship Series. The Diamondbacks have had a poor season, and Byrnes firing is seen tied to his hiring of Manager AJ Hinch in May of last year.
It seems to me that adding the Washington DC native to the O’s Front Office would be a strong acquisition. ESPN’s Buster Olney was on ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike this morning and stated just yesterday he polled 12 current General Manager’s on whom which of the other 29 GM’s they would like to have run their team. Byrnes received multiple votes.
Byrnes could further mentor under Andy MacPhail, with the condition he will eventually be handed the reigns. This would allow Byrnes to leverage his experiences with Arizona as a first-time GM.
Byrnes has an existing connection to Baltimore, having been introduced to the professional game by Ron Shapiro (Ripken’s agent) who referred Byrnes to Shapiro’s son Mark (General Manager of Cleveland).
Here are some links to articles on Byrnes:
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2005/04/17/byrnes_a_rising_star_on_deck/
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/2008/09/14/20080914biz-dbackbyrnes0914.html
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