Kirk

Gibson

It’s a little surprising Gibson didn’t get a little more given that his pitcher, Ian Kennedy, was more at fault for the melee than anyone else. Nevertheless, he figures to get the suspension out of the way on Friday.

Harkey, 47, most recently served as the bullpen coach for the Yankees. He will replace Charles Nagy, whom the Diamondbacks fired after the season. Harkey does have some prior experience as pitching coach after taking over for Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland during a leave of absence in 2010. He’ll look to improve a pitching staff that ranked 10th in the National League in ERA this past season.

It will be Stottlemyre’s second go-round with the club, as he served as the pitching coach from 2009-2010. The Diamondbacks are also expected to name Yankees bullpen coach Mike Harkey as their new pitching coach.

Terms aren’t yet known, but both Towers and Gibson were set to enter the final guaranteed year of their contracts. Gibson has been the manager for Arizona since July of 2010 while Towers came aboard two months later.

The Diamondbacks have offered him the job, so the ball is in the 68-year-old Duncan’s court as to whether he’ll accept. Duncan stepped down as the Cardinals’ pitching coach in January 2012 -- the same offseason that Duncan’s longtime friend Tony La Russa retired -- to care for his wife as she battled brain cancer. “Another possibility is for Duncan to accept a lesser position, something like pitching coordinator for the entire organization,” wrote Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.

The report has been confirmed by Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The D’Backs wanted Duncan to become their pitching coach, but the 68-year-old decided that he wasn’t ready to take on a full-time job again. Even in a relatively minor role, it’s a nice addition for the D’Backs.

He has been seen as the favorite for a while, with Dodgers executive DeJon Watson and Red Sox executive Allard Baird being the other finalists. Stewart has worked as a coach and front office executive and most recently an agent since his retirement as a pitcher. He, of course, has history with D’Backs chief baseball officer Tony La Russa, having pitched for La Russa in Oakland from 1986-1995.

They have narrowed their search down to four candidates: Jim Tracy, Phil Nevin, Chip Hale and Sandy Alomar Jr. Of the four, Tracy is the only candidate with prior big league managerial experience. Nevin spent the 2013 season as the manager at the Diamondbacks Triple-A affiliate in Reno, while Chip Hale and Sandy Alomar Jr. served as bench coaches for the Athletics and Indians respectively.

Hale had been serving as the A’s bench coach since 2011 and should bring a more forward-thinking voice to the Arizona dugout. He was part of the Diamondbacks’ major league coaching staff from 2006-2009 (under Bob Melvin) and managed before that at Triple-A Tucson. He’s also an alumnus of the University of Arizona, so his ties to the region run deep. The four finalists to replace Kirk Gibson in Arizona were Hale, Jim Tracy, Phil Nevin, and Sandy Alomar Jr.

They let go of bench coach Alan Trammell, as well, though Trammell will stick around through the weekend as interim manager. Although it might have taken a bit longer than expected, Gibson’s firing seemed like an inevitability after Tony La Russa was hired as Chief Baseball Officer. The D’Backs went 353-375 in four and a half seasons under Gibson, which includes a major league-worst 63-96 record this year. They made the playoffs in 2011 but were eliminated in the NLDS.