Kevin Towers -- the fun-loving, straight-talking baseball lifer who served as general manager of the Padres and Diamondbacks -- has died at the age of 56 from an aggressive form of thyroid cancer. 

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred released the following statement: 

"Kevin Towers devoted his life to baseball.  After playing in the minors and coaching, Kevin spent nearly 20 years as a general manager who was known for great talent evaluation.  Kevin built four National League West Championship teams in San Diego, including the 1998 team that went to the World Series. He also won the NL West Championship as General Manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  In addition to the successful teams he led, Kevin is remembered for being one of the most well-liked individuals in our game whose love of life and baseball will be missed. 

"On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Kevin's wife Kelley, their entire family and his countless friends throughout our game."

Towers was originally a right-handed pitcher out of Brigham Young and a former Padres draftee whose playing career ended, partly because of arm problems, at the age of 27 and not long after he reached the Triple-A level. From there, Towers worked as a minor-league pitching coach and then a longtime scout. His ties to and deep respect for the scouting community that would later help define his time as a major-league GM. 

In 1995, Towers, at the age of 33, succeeded Randy Smith as GM of the Padres. He would remain in that position for 14 years, and on his watch the Padres, despite constant budget constraints, would make the playoffs four times. In 1998, they won the pennant for the second time in franchise history. 

After Towers was let go in October 2009, he joined the Yankees in a scouting role. Shortly thereafter, he was named GM of the Diamondbacks. In his first season in Arizona, the Diamondbacks improved by an astounding 29 games en route to the National League West title. However, successive .500 seasons followed, and then Towers was dismissed late in what would turn out to be a 98-loss season in 2014. The following year, he joined the Reds in a scouting and advisory capacity. 

In December 2016, Towers was diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer, a rare form of cancer that almost always carries with a grim prognosis. Most fans and observers were unaware of Towers' fight until Astros manager A.J. Hinch put Towers' name on his placard for the Stand Up To Cancer tribute during Game 4 of the 2017 World Series: 

In addition to his many years in the game, Towers is beloved for his relentlessly affable nature and ability to relate to anyone in baseball regardless of background or predispositions. Towers was one of the first GMs to meld traditional scouting with analytics in a meaningful way, which speaks both to his open-mindedness -- he was an old-line baseball man down to his bones -- and plainspoken leadership capabilities. 

People will remember that, and they'll remember his disarming candor with the media. Moreover, they'll remember him who didn't let the business side of the game diminish the human side of it. This, after all, was a man who shared his home with Dave Stewart after Stewart replaced him as Arizona GM. 

Kevin Towers was almost singular in his enthusiasm for the game and his ability to channel that enthusiasm toward building baseball teams. He will be missed as a baseball man but above all as a man.