Braves parting ways with Roger McDowell

I always liked Roger and thought he did great work here over his 11 years. But what's most important is the development of the young pitchers on the team now and not the development of Jurrjens, Minor, and Medlen. It does seem like Wisler and Blair stalled out under Roger and the success of those two is far more important than retaining Roger, despite his good work here.

I think Roger generally did good work with young pitchers, just not these specific young pitchers.
 
chop2chip said:
I always liked Roger and thought he did great work here over his 11 years. But what's most important is the development of the young pitchers on the team now and not the development of Jurrjens, Minor, and Medlen. It does seem like Wisler and Blair stalled out under Roger and the success of those two is far more important than retaining Roger, despite his good work here.

I think Roger generally did good work with young pitchers, just not these specific young pitchers.
Click to expand...

Didn't we have two hitting coaches before?

Why not just keep Roger and hire someone else.

He's been one of the best in the bigs.
 
yeezus said:
And there's just no way two guys could have similar personality traits.
Click to expand...

I don't care either way. I just think its funny that Roger was brought in to work with young pitchers since Leo couldn't do it anymore and now he's being fired because he apparently can't do it anymore.
 
Forever Fredi said:
Didn't we have two hitting coaches before?

Why not just keep Roger and hire someone else.

He's been one of the best in the bigs.
Click to expand...

And that went horribly.

I'm not sure its beneficial to have multiple pitching philosophies being shared with young pitchers.
 
Pretty interesting really. Assuming it's Black and he brings Balsley with him, I think we could actually have the makings of a really good coaching staff. Bud has ties to Seitzer as well, meaning he could well be kept around. Seitzer seems to really be good with the guys we have in place, and Black and Balsley were really successful with a 2014 staff that included Ian Kennedy (who DMGM might make available), Andrew Cashner (who's likely to be available), and Tyson Ross (who you could describe as Folty-like). If Perez could be kept on as Bench Coach, I could warm to that group pretty quickly - even though I do agree with those that feel that Snitker's done everything possible to deserve a shot too.
 
chop2chip said:
And that went horribly.

I'm not sure its beneficial to have multiple pitching philosophies being shared with young pitchers.
Click to expand...

With the hitting coaches it seemed to make sense ... one guy (Walker) was the bench and on-field guy and the other (Fletcher) was basically doing visual analysis and reinforcement with tape in the video room. Seemed like a decent idea, didn't work.

Similarly, I could buy into the idea of keeping a guy like Roger around in the bullpen, because that is supposedly his true area of expertise. I get that he likely would have no interest in that kind of role, but I do like the idea of having somebody out in the bullpen to enforce and enhance the continuity of a pitching philosophy (especially since some of these young guys are going to be bouncing in and out of the rotation at a regular clip). But I guess you could make the argument that role is already filled in many ways by the bullpen coach.
 
Just about every organization in every walk of life tries to give some reason for firing a person; that's pretty logical. It may read as trying to trash them on the way out, and there have been times where they have probably taken it too far, but it's not like it's an unusual thing.

Even in Bowman's tweet, he indicated he actually liked that approach.
 
smootness said:
Just about every organization in every walk of life tries to give some reason for firing a person; that's pretty logical. It may read as trying to trash them on the way out, and there have been times where they have probably taken it too far, but it's not like it's an unusual thing.

Even in Bowman's tweet, he indicated he actually liked that approach.
Click to expand...
Yup. I think the Braves understand Roger's strengths and there is probably a scenario where we would want him (say if our pitching staff was as experienced as Washington's or Chicago's), but understandably they feel like a change in approach is needed with their young pitchers.

At the very least, it shows a welcomed sign that they are willing to deviate from the "Brave's way" of doing things.
 
smootness said:
Just about every organization in every walk of life tries to give some reason for firing a person; that's pretty logical. It may read as trying to trash them on the way out, and there have been times where they have probably taken it too far, but it's not like it's an unusual thing.

Even in Bowman's tweet, he indicated he actually liked that approach.
Click to expand...

And more often than not the reason given is not the real reason.
 
thewupk said:
yes...or when anybody leaves really
Click to expand...

I'm very excited to see how he reacts to the Braves hiring Bud Black instead of Snitker. In his present view, the current regime can do no wrong. However, he's been leading the hire Snitker campaign for four months. Catch-22 for all ages.
 
CyYoung31 said:
Except for the fact that McDowell was allegedly hired because he was good with young pitchers.
Click to expand...

Leo was let go because he was old school and too hard on the next generation of pitchers who had fragile egos. And now Roger is being let go for the same reasons. I'm worried about the future mind set of our young starters.

The reality is Bud Black is likely to be manager and wants his own staff. That is something I actually prefer. I do find it funny this is the Braves go to reason for letting pitching coaches go.
 
Forever Fredi said:
Well Bowman's article already stated his "tough love" approach.

Sucks because Jurrjens, Meds, Minor, Beachy were all awesome until they went down with injuries.

If Medlen, Beachy, Minor don't get hurt in 2014 we may not even fire Frank Wren... so eh.
Click to expand...

The Braves cannot part with anyone without kicking them on the way out, even McDowell will get it. That is long what has bothered me about my home team but it is something I cannot deny without lying.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top