Schu has been good, alot better than Seitzer. However, can he get these guys up to that next level of .280 to .300+. Can he get these young players to the level of success that the Rockies young players have.
I wouldn't fire Schu. I would just reasign him to the position he previously held in the organization. I'm sure when he was given the job in July, he knew he was interim hitting coach for the remainder of the season with no guarantees beyond that.
Joined: 10 Aug 2006
Posts: 6059
Location: The carpark outside Milliways
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 11:33 am Post subject:
Bob A wrote:
If Pentland was so good why did the Mariners fire him? I stay stick with Shu.
If they fired him, why invite him to return?
AFAIAC, the job is Schu's; unless he wants to return to his previous post, and took the (interim) position with that understanding.
_________________ Diamondbacks Baseball: We're Gonna Be Great in 2008!
Schu has been good, alot better than Seitzer. However, can he get these guys up to that next level of .280 to .300+. Can he get these young players to the level of success that the Rockies young players have.
I wouldn't fire Schu. I would just reasign him to the position he previously held in the organization. I'm sure when he was given the job in July, he knew he was interim hitting coach for the remainder of the season with no guarantees beyond that.
They gave Schu's old job to Dave Hansen, so that rules that possibility out.
Joined: 30 May 2007
Posts: 926
Location: Aberdeen,Wa
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 1:53 am Post subject:
I don't honestly think Pentland had an effect one way or another. Sexson wasn't his fault. Sexson was Sexson's fault. The only reason the Mariners fired him and the others is because McClaren wants to bring in his own guys. Which is pretty standard.
Firing Chavy kinda sucks though. He's one of Felix's best friends. So is Wlad Balentien, who could be traded in the offseason. It could be a rough winter for The King.
_________________
From Thenewstibune.Com (Sports, Tacoma, WA -October 7, 2007):
No-name coach teaches swagger to M’s batters
JOHN MCGRATH; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Published: January 27th, 2006 02:30 AM
It might not rival coal mining and timber cutting on a Most Dangerous Occupations list, but few jobs offer less long-term security than Seattle Mariners hitting coach.
Since the popular Lee Elia resigned for health reasons in 1997, five former big leaguers have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to impart their wisdom to Mariners hitters. Jesse Barfield was replaced after two seasons by Gerald Perry, who was replaced after three seasons by Lamar Johnson.
Johnson (2003), Paul Molitor (2004) and Don Baylor (2005) came and went, leaving nothing tangible for their efforts but the conclusion that a Hall of Famer such as Molitor, or a former All-Star such as Baylor, is no more effective with his batting tutorials than the largely forgotten Johnson. (Whose claim to fame, such as it was, dwelled on the day he sang the national anthem before a White Sox game in Chicago, then hit two homers and a double.)
Given the pass-the-torch parade of hitting coaches who’ve passed through Safeco Field since its 1999 opening, the lavish endorsements for Baylor successor Jeff Pentland – offered by general manager Bill Bavasi, manager Mike Hargrove and center fielder Jeremy Reed – might’ve been met with skepticism Thursday during the Mariners’ annual luncheon that serves as a primer for spring training.
But then Pentland approached the podium, announcing himself with a blast of fresh air before he said hello. Wearing a tropical beach shirt draped below his waist-length brown winter jacket, the Hollywood native was dressed as if he’d spent the night trolling for metal scraps on the sands of Venice Beach.
So much for first impressions. During a lively and informative Q&A session with reporters, Jeff the Beachcomber morphed into Gen. Jeffrey W. Pentland.
“Offense is intimidation,” he said. “If we don’t intimidate people – if we send up guys the other team is not scared of a little bit – I’m not doing my job.”
Mariners hitting coaches never have talked like this. Mariners hitting coaches always referred to “concepts” and “visualization” and “comfort zones.”
Pentland’s philosophy is as unique as his résumé. During his three years in the minor leagues, he was a first baseman, an outfielder, a left-handed pitcher and, yes, a left-handed catcher. He owns both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Arizona State, where he was a teammate of Reggie Jackson on the Sun Devils’ 1967 national championship baseball team.
Some athletes are natural-born stars, others were meant to teach. Pentland is a teacher. As an assistant baseball coach at Arizona State, Pentland worked with Barry Bonds. As the hitting instructor for the Chicago Cubs, he became a virtual “swing coach” – baseball’s version of golf’s Butch Harmon – for Sammy Sosa.
“I’ve been told he’s the only guy who can give a guy power,” Bavasi said. “Some players come forth with power. Jeff brings it out.”
Pentland smiled when told of Bavasi’s assessment.
“I don’t talk about power with any hitters,” he said. “When I first had Sammy in Chicago, we set 10 goals. Nothing mentioned home runs. I stressed contact, swinging as easy as possible, making it as simple as you can. Nobody likes a three-run home run more than I do, but that’s the hardest way to score runs.
“The year Sammy hit 63 homers,” Pentland continued, referring to 1999, “I figured he took 60 great swings. That’s not enough, 60 times out of 700 at-bats. You’ve got to do better than that.”
In 2000, Sosa’s home run total decreased to 50, but his batting average improved (from .288 to .320), as did his on-base percentage (from .367 to .406).
It requires some, uh, guts for a coach who retired with 16 career homers in the minors to implore a slugger, fresh off a 63-home run season, that he’s got to do better. Pentland clearly has no self-esteem issues. But his modest achievements as a pro make him approachable in a way that maybe Molitor and Baylor weren’t.
“With a hitting coach,” Reed said, “the biggest thing for me is being able to talk to the guy, have a friendship with the guy.”
Reed fell well below the offensive projections foisted on him last year, hitting .254 with three home runs and 45 RBI. Three weeks ago, he met Pentland for some extracurricular work in Arizona, “and it didn’t even take me a day to get to know Jeff.”
The mad professor side of Pentland might be balanced by keep-it-simple theories steeped in common sense.
“I worked with Gary Sheffield when he was a triple crown candidate,” said Pentland, the Florida Marlins’ batting coach in 1996, when Sheffield finished with a .314 batting average, 42 homers and 120 RBI. “After one at-bat, he came back to me and said, ‘I don’t know if I’ll never get another hit.’ I started laughing on the bench. I told him, ‘Next time up, try and hit the pitcher’s head off.’ ”
Next time up, Sheffield connected on a liner that missed the pitcher’s head by, oh, an inch.
“He came back in the dugout,” Pentland said, “and told me, ‘I think I’m fine now.’ ”
Come October, Pentland could join the long line of former Mariners hitting coaches. At least he has some ideas about how to fix an offense that finished last in the league in batting average, runs, RBI, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
Offense is intimidation.
The fury might never be realized, but it’s kind of fun to hear the sound.
I wouldn't be upset if the Dbacks kept Schu. I just think they need to look at the hitting coach position this off-season to assess who would be best to take the young players to a higher level of production. We've got some really talented young players, but the world is full of people who never reach their full potential.
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