Larry Stone shares some welcome news:
Mel Stottlemyre and Lee Elia will not be part of the coaching staff of new Mariners' manager Don Wakamatsu, The Seattle Times has learned.
Stottlemyre, 67, served the 2008 season as Mariners' pitching coach after a 10-year stint with the Yankees. He said he heard over the weekend from Wakamatsu, who told him he had decided to bring in a new pitching coach.
Under Stottlemyre, Felix went from throwing 56% fastballs in 2007 to 65% fastballs in 2008, with corresponding increased fastball percentages in every single count but 1-2 (where he remained the same). Felix's performance took a step back at a time at which he should've been making progress.
If that's not reason enough to send Stottlemyre packing, there's also this:
"It was a really rough year, but I still enjoyed it."
This is a man who has lost his mind.
What it comes down to is this: what did Stottlemyre do right? If Wakamatsu were to call Stottlemyre and ask him flat-out "why do you think I should keep you around," what could he say? That Bedard getting hurt threw everything out of whack? That Roy Corcoran got a lot of grounders? Honestly, aside from its length, is there anything about Stottlemyre's resume that really makes it stand out? Because at no point this past season was I ever impressed.
As far as I can tell, Mel Stottlemyre is considered a good pitching coach because he was a member of the Yankees when the Yankees were awesome. And that just isn't enough. Here's to new blood.
0 recs | 25 comments
Establish the goddamn curveball.
Teej - November 25, 2008
Is Robert unbanned now?
JI - November 25, 2008
With all of the old regime gone
perhaps the opposition will now not know what’s coming on every pitch in the first inning.
JI - November 25, 2008
Yet another piece of good news.
Like many here I feel the pitching coach has the largest impact of any Major League level coach.
I really look forward to seeing our staff getting better tutelage in 2009.
Sec 108 - November 25, 2008
Really?
—Interesting comment…what is he going to say about himself in a newspaper? – “I had a terrible time and did a piss poor job at being pitching coach” – I kind of doubt it…However, I do see Jeff’s point – it would be nice though for him to own up a bit to his mistakes, more along the lines of: “I didn’t do as good a job as I would have liked, or I wish we had done better.”
Huzzah!! though, out w/old and in w/hopefully better!
MissoulaMarinerFan - November 25, 2008
Saying it wasn't a fun year wouldn't be a bad thing for him to say.
BrettJMiller - November 25, 2008
If we had gone .500 I would have been ok with his "still enjoyed it" comment
But we were historically bad, and to say that it was enjoyable is obviously just posturing. In this situation, it is ok to say it sucked, and that nobody did their job correctly
tootthekazoo - November 25, 2008
Not sure why it's a big deal either way, really
nobody will remember he said anything in a week anyway.
pdb - November 25, 2008
Mel Stottlemyre is partially responsible for this, so he can't be all bad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FupXtFYXbxk
JI - November 25, 2008
holy shit!
that was rad!
MissoulaMarinerFan - November 25, 2008
Irony from Todd's wikipedia page:
Fett42 - November 25, 2008
I FUCKING LOST IT! AND I JUST FUCKING LOST IT AGAIN!
Awesome.
Goose - November 25, 2008
Why I am just hearing about this?
Blow-ups are more fun.
mark sobba - November 25, 2008
Mel's kid needs more treble in his screaming voice
Gomez - November 25, 2008
The real question is this:
Is he fucking pissed yet?
Benne - November 25, 2008
I love the optimism curve in this place as the year progresses.
I recall last year people were pretty happy about Stottlemyre being hired. I’m not celebrating anything as good news until I hear that we’re getting a pitching coach who worked for a) the Braves or b) the Twins. Especially the latter.
Bearskin Rugburn - November 25, 2008
We could also opt to save a lot of money
Jeff Sullivan - November 25, 2008
this is the most genius idea EVAR
I expect to see the entire Mariner pitching staff watching this for the first week of Spring Training.
pdb - November 25, 2008
? save money by not hiring a Braves pitching coach?
Is there something I’m missing or was that an intentional non-sequitur to illustrate my comment’s non-seqiutousness (which escapes me)?
Bearskin Rugburn - November 25, 2008
Go look it up and post links
because I really don’t remember that, but that could just be the effect of my own deep unhappiness at his hiring.
The Ancient Mariner - November 25, 2008
no
it’s not worth the effort
Bearskin Rugburn - November 25, 2008
Rick Peterson to the rescue!
Tyler - November 25, 2008
Sounds unlikely
Larry Stone:
Teej - November 25, 2008
Well that's unfortunate.
Tyler - November 25, 2008
Rick Peterson helped the Rays reach the World Series
JI - November 25, 2008
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