The Arizona Diamondbacks have confirmed that Tony La Russa will be leaving the team at the end of October. La Russa was hired by the Diamondbacks as chief of baseball operations in 2014 before staying with the Diamondbacks in a lesser role as chief baseball analyst in 2016. The former Cardinals manager had his position "simplified" after the 2016 season, which basically means that 2016 did not go as planned.

However, after a significantly better 2017 campaign, La Russa will be a free agent. His name will inevitably be attached to old haunts like St. Louis, but he has spent time in the MLB front office before. He worked with former Yankee rival Joe Torre in the disciplinary committee, but it's unknown what his next step will be.

Despite the Diamondbacks demoting La Russa last season, he always seemed at ease with his place in the organization. After his reassignment last year, he said that he never felt slighted by the Diamondbacks or how they treated him. All of this was in spite of a Hall of Fame resume -- although his career as an executive has been largely unsuccessful to this point.

Perhaps a change of scenery would do La Russa well should he decide to stay in the game as an executive. The Diamondbacks finally turned themselves around this past season -- but a lot of that may have been a new regime coming in. Whatever the case may be, the departure may benefit both parties as La Russa continues his post-managerial career.