Dave Stewart Officially Named Next GM of Arizona Diamondbacks

Updates from Thursday, Sept. 25

The Diamondbacks made things official with Dave Stewart:

Original Text

Just days before the MLB regular season comes to an end, the Arizona Diamondbacks have reportedly offered a contract to Dave Stewart to become their next general manager.

The report came from Bob Nightengale of USA Today, who noted the contract was not finalized or announced at this point. Stewart, 57, would replace Kevin Towers, who Arizona fired earlier in September.

John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle passed along more information about the potential move:

Stewart is a former MLB pitcher who played for five different franchises from 1978 through 1995. As a player, he won three World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1981), Oakland Athletics (1989) and Toronto Blue Jays (1993).

He has been a sports agent since resigning as the pitching coach of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002. The former pitcher also spent two years as the Toronto Blue Jays' assistant GM from 2000 to 2001, but Toronto didn't hire him for the general manager position when it was vacant in 2001, and Stewart left the organization in protest.

USA TODAY Sports

Stewart spoke about the prospects of building a team as a GM, per Shea:

"

Building a team, building a championship. I've done it as a player. I've gotten to the World Series as a coach. So now as a GM, it would be really exciting and interesting to put together the right pieces to try to win a championship on this side of it. It's the challenge of getting it done, and the word is "challenge." As an agent, I'm not challenged every day. But this job is 24 hours every day, and I'm looking forward to that.

"

Nearing the end of the season, the Diamondbacks are currently 63-96 and in fifth place in the National League West. Thanks to a talented offensive core of Paul Goldschmidt, Miguel Montero and Mark Trumbo, the team has pieces to build around for the future.

Arizona has to contend with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants at the top of the division. If Stewart does take over the position, he'll have a tough hill to climb in the NL West moving forward.

Follow @RCorySmith on Twitter.