Orioles Part Ways with Mazzone; What's Next?

October 19, 2007 @ 06:42:12

By Eliott Wolbrom
Edited by Ryan Dodson

In what followed nothing short of a disastrous 2007 from the mound, the Baltimore Orioles fired legendary pitching coach Leo Mazzone. Mazzone, with the club since 2006, saw the Orioles rank 29th out of 30 teams with a team ERA of 5.17, and dead last in the league in walks, issuing 696 free passes. The Orioles also gave up 30 runs in a game on Aug. 22 to the Texas Rangers. Mazzone had one year left on his three-year contract.

As the pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves from 1990-2005, Mazzone enjoyed unsurpassed success with the Braves pitching staff. The Braves led the league in ERA in 12 of his 14 final seasons, and can be credited with much of the success of future Hall of Fame pitchers Greg Maddux (San Diego Padres), John Smoltz (Braves) and Tom Glavine (New York Mets).

Mazzone, well known for his dugout "rocking chair shaking", joined the Orioles in 2006 with hopes of developing some of the great arms in the Orioles pitching system. Orioles starting pitcher Erik Bedard exploded in 2007, transitioning into one of the game's premier lefties and was arguably the frontrunner for the Cy Young Award before going down for the season with a strained muscle near his rib cage. At the time, Bedard was 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA and was leading the league in strikeouts with 221 in 182 innings. When potential pitching gems fail, quite often the pitching coach is the first scapegoat; so Mazzone - regardless if he actually deserves credit for Bedard - must be given credit for Bedard's success in 2007. With not much more positive direction for Bedard to grow, anything short of a repeat of 2007 will definitely favor Mazzone and the job he did.

On the other side of the spectrum, Orioles starting pitcher Daniel Cabrera did not blossom as expected - and contrarily put up one of the worst seasons of any pitcher in baseball. In 2007 Cabrera led the AL in losses with 18, in walks with 108, and posted an embarrassing 5.55 ERA and 1.54 WHIP. With Cabrera honing prospect status years before, many are looking at Mazzone for answers.

"We're not going to win here or be able to compete here just because somebody gives you innings," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "There becomes a point in time where potential goes out the window. That's prospect status. And prospect status should be over in your third or fourth year in the big leagues. You should be producing and helping the team to win."

It's pretty evident that Trembley was referring to Cabrera, as Cabrera - despite immense talent - has a 40-48 record, 4.94 ERA, 1.52 WHIP and 387 walks in 658.1 career innings. Mazzone cannot be blamed for that. Prospects are hit or miss in the big leagues, and while coaches do play a role in development, sometimes players can't be helped.

The Orioles made a front-office mistake in the dealings with Mazzone and were too quick to pull the trigger. Mazzone is the kind of coach that has proven - likely better than any other pitching coach in history - that he knows how to win. He has the fire and desire to motivate young pitching talent, as was the case with Bedard. The irony of Mazzone's firing and former New York Yankees Manager Joe Torre's departure leaves two of the game's most accomplished figures now jobless.

There has been whispers the team has kicked around ideas of trading Bedard. Cabrera could have been dealt at the trade deadline last season if he hadn't pitched so poorly. The O's get starters Kris Benson (shoulder) and Adam Loewen (elbow) back from injuries in 2008. They also have a couple of average prospects in Radhames Liz and Garrett Olson that could be factors. The rotation should be better, but it still looks pretty rough - especially if they trade Bedard.

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Eliott Wolbrom
Eliott has been with KFFL since 2007.

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