Arizona GM Kevin Towers took to Phoenix radio Tuesday, responding to questions about the firing of pitching coach Charles Nagy by suggesting the Snakes’ failure to retaliate against teammates’ plunkings was a personal embarrassment (“it’s a reflection on Gibby, on myself, on our entire organization…hey slapped us around and we took it”), Towers went so far as to suggest future roster decisions might come down to who is or isn’t willing to participate in a beanball war (“..some of them, contractually, it’s tough to move..come spring training, it will be duly noted that it’s going to be an eye for an eye and we’re going to protect one another…if not, if you have options there’s ways to get you out of here and you don’t follow suit or you don’t feel comfortable doing it, you probably don’t belong in a Diamondbacks uniform.”)
Arizona Sports.com’s Dave Burns is less than impressed with Towers’ tough guy routine (“if you want to go get a bunch of badasses in the offseason, fine. Just make sure they can play ball first, be vigilantes second,”), and I’d have to concur. As any student of Michael Winner’s filmography can attest, Yasiel Puig is not nearly as formidable a foe as Manny (Being Manny) Fraker.