"..it's always somethin'"
There's no doubt the pitching is a problem - but who created the problem? Who traded Chris Young? Who traded John Danks for Justin Thompson...er Brandon McCarthy? Who decided to let go of Armando Galarraga? Who signed Jason Jennings? Last time I checked those decisions were made by a much larger group than just Mark Connor and Dom Chiti.
We were told one the biggest reasons for hiring the current manager was his emphasis on defense - so for the past two seasons the Rangers have been one of the worst defensive teams in all of MLB. Poor fielding doesn't help a pitcher, and the Rangers have the most errors in all of MLB with 99 errors - by the way that is 10 ahead of the next team on the list (the Marlins with 88) .The pitchng staff has trotted out seven rookie starters - the IF has 2 All-Stars and exactly one rookie, so what's their excuse? My question is if Connor and Chiti are being held accountable for the poor performance by the pitching staff - then who is going to be held accountable for the absolutely wretched fielding, especially the infield's?
Every time you think the Rangers have turned the corner and are heading down the road to being a respectable franchise, they manage to do something like what they did on Friday night to remind us all of Ranger fans why it's hard to be proud of an organization that spends alot of making questionable public moves (and I'm being polite) and reminds us with those embarassing gestures why we've been waiting 37 years (and counting) for a championship caliber organization in Arlington.
Maybe there needed to be a change in the "voice" and "direction" of the pitching philosophy but firing the pitching coaches during the season doesn't change anything but uniform numbers and names - the same pitchers who've managed the worst ERA in MLB are still in the rotation and in the bullpen. Real change is going to happen when the Rangers finally figure out how to scout good pitching, develop good pitching (and not trade it away) and most importantly keep their pitchers health. That's an organizational change that starts in offices on Ballpark Way, not just the dugout.
I don't know if firing Mark Connor and Dom Chiti was the right thing to do - but I do know that expecting them to be miracle workers with the staff they were given as well the usual impatient approach from the front office was an impossible task.
Or as Roseanna RoseannaDanna would (probably) say: "You can't make chicken salad from chicken***t" -- Marla Hooch
P.S. No blog entry next week - I'm taking a short vacation.
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1 comment:
Good grief. We need DNA testing for you, Evan, and T. R. to see if you're all related to Mark Connor. This is 4 years of crappy ERA, near the AL bottom, under Mr. Connor's tutelage. If any of us had that kind of results on our job, we'd have been fired ages ago. And do you honestly think Mr. Connor is an innocent bystander to JD's moves? Did he have no input into whether Chris Young was worth keeping, that Danks was not near-major league ready, that Galarraga would never amount to much, that it was time to give up on Volquez? Of course, he did. I'm tired of media types and insiders yipping about loyalty and scapegoating. Not one pitcher has ever left Arlington, had success, and then credited Mr. Connor for their newfound greatness, unlike the disciples of Rudy. So there. This was not only the right move, it was way, way, way too long in coming. Our pitching is the laughing stock of baseball, and last I looked, his title was PITCHING COACH.
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