PHOENIX -- After 33 seasons as a Hall of Fame manager, Tony La Russa said this week that his nearly one full year as a club executive has been "eye-opening."
"I've got new respect for the guys who work upstairs," the D-backs chief baseball officer said in a wide-ranging interview with MLB.com this week at Chase Field. "The responsibility is definitely different."
Trying to get the most out of the talent the front office gives you instead of acting in the role of providing those players is a completely different experience. After one of the most successful managerial careers in Major League history for the White Sox, A's and Cardinals, La Russa went to the other side this past May 17 and the transition hasn't been easy.