Diamondbacks GM Towers clarifies 'eye for an eye' comment

Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers clarified Wednesday some controversial comments made the day prior that seemingly encouraged his team's pitchers to retaliate after Arizona hitters get plunked plunked by the opposition.

"I'm not saying hit players on purpose," Towers told MLB.com's Steve Gilbert. "I'm saying if our hitters are being made uncomfortable at the plate, we need to be the same way; we need to make the opposing hitters uncomfortable at the plate and pitch in with purpose and take that inner third away. I'm talking about pitching inside effectively with purpose. Sometimes they're not always strikes, but you pitch in to a hitter to be able to get the slider down and away.

During a Tuesday appearance on Arizona's KTAR 620AM, Towers outlined the attitude he intended to instill in his club's pitchers this spring, a message that drew some crticism:

"But I think come Spring Training, it will be duly noted that it's going to be an eye for an eye and we're going to protect one another," Towers said.  "If not, if you have options, there's ways to get you out of here, and you don't follow suit or you don't feel comfortable doing it, you probably don't belong in a Diamondbacks uniform."

The executive's comments were borne of frustration that surfaced after seeing his players -- particularly first baseman Paul Goldschmidt -- get battered by pitches without any retaliation from the Diamondbacks' pitching staff.

"You'd think the GM comes down and makes it a point to talk to the staff about it that at we need to start protecting our own and doing things differently, Probably a week later [Paul Goldschmidt] gets dinged, and no retaliation. It's like 'wait a minute.'

"Not that I don't take any of our guys from a lesser standpoint, but if Goldy's getting hit, it's an eye for an eye, somebody's going down or somebody's going to get jacknifed."