Marlins make changes in the coaching staff

by craig on Oct 7, 2009 8:57 AM EDT in News Comment 6 comments

The Florida Marlins decided to make two changes in next year's coaching staff.

Pitching coach Mark Wiley and first base/infield coach Andy Fox were not offered contracts to remain in their current roles but were offered positions elsewhere in the organization.

One-year contracts for the 2010 season were offered to all of the other coaches.

Wiley and Fox were not fired but offered different positions in the organization. What those positions are, I cannot say. Mainly because I don't know what they are.

I'm a bit ambivalent to Fox. The team seemed to perform better in the infield given all the parameters. Bonifacio was a crappy third baseman and Nick Johnson was a shell of his former self at first. None of that was Andy's fault. You can do so much with what you are given.

Speaking about doing only so much with what you are given, what the heck was Mark Wiley expected to do, miracles? Nolasco was coming off an incredible increase of innings over the previous year. Miller still hasn't figured anything out. Volstad started strong but couldn't get his sinker to work later in season after pitching a career high 175 innings in previous year, in case you didn't know, that is normal. Sean West did the best that he could, and actually put up some pretty decent starts at the end of the season. Anibal was recovering from shoulder problems. Then there were those special starts by Graham Taylor, John Koronka and Hayden Penn. A man can only do so much.

Who the Marlins bring in as a replacement will prove interesting. If it is Rick Kranitz someone will need to talk me out of flying to Florida and running amok with a hatchet.

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Next Pitching Coach

The best replacement for Mark Wiley as next pitching coach is Reid Cornelius. He did a great job in Jacksonville this year at AA and was at AAA in Jupiter for a couple of years so he knows this staff inside and out and he helped develop most of the young arms that they have.

by T Stack on Oct 7, 2009 9:31 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Bo Porter

I’m so pissed off about Wiley. He is an amazing pitching coach. These young guys need him. But out of all the subordinate coaches it’s clear to me that Porter is the one that needs to be axed the most. As well as whoever is the hitting coach.

by GMFB on Oct 7, 2009 11:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agree with GMFB

Porter and Presley (hitting coach) are the ones that needed to go…

by jrsyeagle on Oct 7, 2009 1:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Um, why?

The Marlins were a pretty great hitting team this year. Moreover, the team has made huge strides in patience at the plate over the last few years — look at Hanley (though he took a step back this year) or Uggla. I feel like that’s the biggest thing a hitting coach can teach a team — the skill of drawing walks, which often isn’t taught effectively at the lower levels..

He's currently two-thirds man, one-third amazing. Which, let's face it, is still a pretty good ratio.

by 3.3seconds on Oct 7, 2009 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You know, none of us know.

We have a lot of young pitchers who just haven’t quite put everything together. Now, as the post says, there are plausible reasons why any one of them might not have become an effective starter this year anyway. But the fact is, none of them did. (Except Johnson, who was probably already there and just needed a full season to show it off.) And you can take that either way — maybe Wiley didn’t do his job, maybe Wiley did his job and the guys would’ve been even worse without him. But maybe the answer to that question seemed clearer from the inside.

He's currently two-thirds man, one-third amazing. Which, let's face it, is still a pretty good ratio.

by 3.3seconds on Oct 7, 2009 1:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

CHEAP FIXES

The removing of Wiley is the perfect view of this team…..Mariano Rivera makes 15 million dollars a season…. Marlins entire pitching staff is half of that. Both closers this season totaled $900,000. You get what you pay for. If you think a new ballpark will change things, Just say Pittsburgh. Loria wants to pocket as much of the TV money(28 million) from MLB and money received from other clubs due to their fines from spending( 20 million) . With a payroll of 35 million the owner made a 13 million profit. With broadcast rights and gate receipts pays for the Stadium former know as Joe Robbie Stadium. What fools the idiots of Dade County are buying this skinflint a new ballpark.

by truth teller on Oct 8, 2009 9:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs