Continuing his career in baseball, Towers became a pitching coach for minor league Single-A Spokane Indians in 1989 and 1990.[5] He served as a scout for the Padres from 1989 through 1991 and for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1991 through 1993. Towers rejoined the Padres as scouting director in 1993.[4]
Towers became the Padres' seventh general manager in 1995, succeeding Randy Smith. As GM, Towers led the Padres to four division championships and an appearance in the 1998 World Series. In November 1998 after the Padres' World Series appearance, San Diego voters approved funding to build the team's new stadium, Petco Park.[8] The Padres also finished last in their division five times. Towers was known for his ability to find talented pitchers that many other teams had released.[9] On October 3, 2009, the Padres fired Towers after two disappointing seasons.[10] Towers joined the New York Yankees as a special assignment scout for the 2010 season.[11]
On September 22, 2010, the Arizona Diamondbacks hired Towers as their general manager.[12] In his first season at the helm of the Diamondbacks' baseball operations, the team won 94 games and the National League West Division title just one season after finishing in last place with 97 losses.[13]
Following the 2013 season, Towers fired his pitching coach, Charles Nagy, partly for refusing to instruct pitchers to hit players on opposing teams, saying, "while in the old days this was known, now you have to teach it."[14] It was duly noted by journalists that the Diamondbacks pitchers hit 60 batters last season, while their batters were hit only 43 times.[15]
On May 17, 2014, the Diamondbacks hired Tony La Russa to oversee Towers and all baseball operations. The Diamondbacks dismissed Towers from the general manager position on September 5, while offering him another position in the organization, which he declined.[16] In 2015, he joined the Cincinnati Reds as a scout and special assistant to the general manager, Walt Jocketty.[17]
Death
Towers was diagnosed with cancer in 2016.[18] He died of anaplastic thyroid cancer on January 30, 2018, at a hospital in San Diego.[19] He was elected posthumously into the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame, and was inducted on May 12, 2018, as part of a week-long celebration of the Padres' 1998 National League championship team.[8][20]
