So in the annals of "shit only I care about", the Nats fired pitching coach Randy St. Claire today. I'm not terribly surprised - the rotation has been god-awful, so someone was going to be the fall guy - I'd be lying if I said this makes any sense to me. I'm pretty sure Lookout Landing nailed it with their post - what the hell was he going to do with a shit sandwich. (I say "pretty sure" because for some reason I can't figure out if he's being sarcastic or not.)
Seriously, what the hell do you want your pitching coach to do when the GM basically decides in 2007 "screw it, we're going all replacement-level pitchers and it's open season for anyone to try out in Spring Training"? How does he react when the two most talented starters he's coached - John Patterson and Shawn Hill - can't throw their best pitch without getting injured? How about when both guys are just released at the end of Spring Training? How does he prevent injuries to a bullpen where most guys are getting 60+ appearances a season? How does the pitching coach have anything to do with a .321 BABIP and the outfielders resemble a Vaudeville act every other night? What about a 65% strand rate?
I mean, maybe St. Claire sucked. But canning him during this season from hell is a bit of a waste of time. There are far more problems with this team than their ability to throw a decent changeup. Rob Dibble apparently wasted no time ensuring that he ran the truck over St. Claire while he still had shit in the office. On the other hand, I think St. Claire might've quit anyway:
"The pitching isn't performing up to where it needs to be to win, and I think a lot of factors go into it, but I guess I'm easier to replace than 12 guys," [Randy St. Claire] said. "Easier to replace and cheaper to replace. But that's the game. When the team doesn't perform, they're bound to make changes."
At least everyone ended up pissed off. Bet it won't matter, though.
