AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > September > 20
Thursday, September 20, 2007
How much do Braves miss Leo?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Judging from e-mails and comments some have posted here, I get the impression Braves fans have mixed opinions about pitching coach Roger McDowell’s performance in his first two seasons with the Braves, despite the praise he’s gotten from pitchers and team officials.
And believe me, I understand why many would view the Braves’ unparalleled pitching tradition under former pitching coach Leo Mazzone, see their relative mediocrity (and for many of the starters, worse than mediocre) in McDowell’s first two seasons, and come to the conclusion that it’s his fault, or at least in large part his fault.
It can’t help that folks who were so used to seeing Leo quoted so often here and on TV and radio, with his folksy demeanor and self-deprecating personality, hardly ever see McDowell interviewed on camera or hear his voice on radio, or even see him quoted in print at length.
But put aside the limited public presence for a moment, folks, because it really means absolutely nothing in terms of his job performance. He’s not paid to be interviewed, and most pitching coaches and hitting coaches don’t like to be front and center, they’re uncomfortable taking attention from the players and manager, I’m sure in part because they feel there’s better job security in laying low and just doing your job.
So let’s look at the pertinent stuff.
As I see it, all we can go on, really, are two things:
1. Statistics for Braves and Orioles pitchers in the past two years and in the years immediately before McDowell and Mazzone arrived in their new jobs (what the Braves did in the 1990s, when they had a budget that routinely ranked in the top three in baseball and had rotations better and deeper than all other teams in the modern era, is really not very relevant in comparisons to their current team);
2. What the pitchers are saying, on or off the record. Because believe me, when things go south, you can almost ALWAYS find folks willing to point a finger at a coach or manager, off the record at least, to try and defer some blame. That is, if there’s any dissension or problems in that regard.
Let me reiterate what I’ve said before: I and other reporters can’t find a pitcher, including some who’ve struggled, who’ll blame McDowell or even say they don’t want to talk about his performance, or even roll their eyes and say, no comment, etc. Folks, I’m giving it to you straight on that one. They really do seem to all like the guy and his methods.
Me, I’ve got no real relationship with him to convey to you much more than that he’s cordial enough, says hi when you greet him, etc. He’s the antithesis of Leo in that regard; Leo, I’d talk to almost daily. But again, it’s not the coach’s job or responsibility to be engaging with media members. It’s nice when they do, and I do like talking to Terry Pendleton a lot. But it’s not essential they do.
OK, a few stats: A lot of people recall that the Braves were far and away the best pitching staff in baseball over the 1991-2002 period. None other was even close over that period, either with its pitching staff as a whole or its starting rotations, in particular.
The Braves ranked third in the NL in 1991 in overall ERA and third in starters ERA, then ranked first in the NL in overall ERA in ’92, ’93, ’95, ’97, ’98, ’99, 2000, ’01, and ’02. The only years they didn’t lead the league in that 11-year span, they finished second (’94, ’96).
And in that 11-year span, the starters led the NL every season. Repeat, every season.
Amazing stuff, folk. Just amazing.
But people tend to forget that after the budget was cut, and there was no longer the funding to pay for rotations three- and four-deep with healthy, established veterans in their prime, the ERA streak ended.
In Leo’s final three seasons as Braves pitching coach, the pitching staff finished with these NL rankings: 2003, ninth in overall ERA (4.04) and seventh in starters ERA (4.16); 2004, first in overall ERA (3.74) and second in starters ERA (3.84); 2005, sixth in overall ERA (3.98) and third in starters ERA (3.65).
In Roger’s first two seasons as Braves pitching coach, the pitching staff ranked, in 2006, 10th in overall ERA (4.60) and ninth in starters ERA (4.71); and this season they’re seventh in overall ERA (4.16) and seventh in starters ERA (4.45).
It probably should be noted here, they’ve been without Mike Hampton in both of McDowell’s seasons. Hampton, after going 14-8 in 2003 and 13-9 in 2004, got hurt in 2005 and hasn’t pitched since late that season.
Meanwhile the bullpen, an area that the Braves never emphasized too much during their loaded-rotation era, was one they hoped would improve under McDowell, a former reliever.
Bullpen ERA isn’t the greatest indicator of success, but for what it’s worth: The Braves finished sixth in bullpen ERA in 2003, third in 2004 and 12th in 2005, Leo’s last three seasons.
They finished 11th in bullpen ERA in 2005 and are third this season.
In Baltimore’s last three seasons before Leo arrived, the Orioles in the American League finished 10th in overall ERA and 10th in starters ERA in 2003; seventh in overall ERA and 10th in starters ERA in 2004, and 10th in overall ERA and ninth in starters ERA in 2005.
In Leo’s two seasons there, they finished 13th (in a 14-team league) in overall ERA and 13th in starters ERA in 2006, and this season they’re 13th in overall ERA and ninth in starters ERA.
I don’t profess to know the ins and outs of the Orioles staff and challenges they’ve faced, so I decided just to look at starters who were there in the last year before Leo arrived and how the holdovers fared under his tutelage.
Erik Bedard was 6-8 with a 4.00 ERA in 24 starts in 2005, the last year before Leo arrived. Bedard was 15-11 with a 3.76 ERA in 2006, and he’s 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA this season.
Daniel Cabrera was 10-13 with a 4.52 ERA in 2005 before Leo, 9-10 with a 4.74 ERA in 2006, and 9-17 with a 5.51 ERA this season.
Bruce Chen was 13-10 with a 3.84 ERA in 2005 before Leo, and 0-5 with a 7.41 ERA in 12 starts last season and spent the rest of his time in the bullpen. He wasn’t re-signed.
Hayden Penn, the big Baltimore prospect the Braves pursued last winter, was 3-2 with a 6.34 ERA in eight starts as a rookie in 2005 before Leo. Penn was 0-4 with a 15.10 ERA in six starts in 2006, and hasn’t started in the majors this season.
That’s all I could find for starters who were there before Leo. Not much of a sample, so make of it what you want.
Now, the second part of this is an interview I did with John Smoltz a few days ago. John was the most-quoted pitcher after Leo left the Braves, mainly because he was the most-asked, having been with Leo all those years.
Smoltz’s answers to most questions about Leo were along the lines of, he’d be missed, he’d done a lot for Smoltz’s career, but the Braves would move on and be just fine without him.
And some took Smoltz’s silence on some Leo questions to indicate the veteran pitcher didn’t think too highly of some of the coach’s methods or his persona or whatever. People read what they wanted to read into it.
So I’m going to run the interview with Smoltz verbatim, at least his answers.
It was part of a bigger interview I did with Smoltz for a story to run at the end of the season, but I wanted to go ahead and run the part about Leo. I’ll paraphrase my questions, but not Smoltz’s answers, some of which ramble a bit (Smoltz does that, and it’s far more preferable to short, clipped responses; I’ll never complain about Smoltz being long-winded or roundabout in responses):
On the good-cop, bad-cop theory that some fans have come up with regarding the loss of Leo and how he was the need balance to manager Bobby Cox’s players-manager persona, and how that’s been sorely missed:
Smoltz: “You’ve seen this organization turn over a lot of people. Everybody has had a huge impact. He [Mazzone] had a huge impact, but his time … it was probably best to move on. For whatever reason.
“Leo is a mechanical guy. He was good at mechanics. But Leo would admit, he wasn’t going to teach you how to pitch. He wasn’t going to show you how to get hitters out. That wasn’t his forte. And I think with the emergence of some young pitchers, they needed a little bit more. They needed to be able to pitch with what they had. He was so used to great stuff, that it was probably difficult - it would have been difficult for me [in his shoes] — to see someone not have particularly great stuff.
“Everybody that’s been through here, with the exception of Bobby, who’s been here the same time, everybody had something to add. But as times have changed, the game has changed. The strike zone has changed, You have to adapt. And I think the adaptability was difficult for [Mazzone’s] mindset, and a younger mindset.
“I think that, more or less, to be fair about it, that’s what became difficult…. Take an older player, someone who’d had success — they’d have success [again under Mazzone]. But the younger player who was struggling with certain components of what we were trying to do — you now, if you’re talented enough that you can hit down-and-away and down-and-away and down-and-away [in the strike zone], you can fit it [with Mazzone].
“But if you can’t, you’ve got to find a way to adjust to him, as a player.”
So Roger has, in your view, had nothing to do with the disappointments of past two years, that it’s been injuries and whatnot and not the absence of Leo?
Smoltz: “Absolutely. I think what Roger’s done is given a player an insight that will help them from a pitching standpoint — how do you get guys out with what you’ve got, and how do you improve on it? Where, again, everybody has something different. You go to 25 different pitching coaches, you’re going to get 25 different ideas, which is great, but in no way does that….
“This is the thing. In Leo’s last three years, we were pretty bad. Our ERA went the other way. It wasn’t just Leo, it was the product of some of the things that were changing here — philosophies, budgets. It’s not a blame or pointing the finger at anybody, it’s just the way it evolved. And you just didn’t have your power arms, your guys who could strike guys out when they needed to.
“I think any time in sports when someone’s spent a long time somewhere, i.e. Glavine, Leo — there’s always going to be a bigger story [when they leave], it’s always going to be ‘Oh, my God.’ And it’s always going to be more emphasis on trying to figure out why it happened.
And sometimes the media will take silence as a negative thing.
It’s just one of those deals where, if I’m fortunate enough to have accolades come my way, [Mazzone] be there. That’s how important he was for my in my career. It’s just that, uh— I don’t mean this in the wrong way, but when that story becomes bigger than what it is….”
He left it at that, folks. Draw your own conclusions. But I will say, that viewpoint is shared by several other veteran pitchers I’ve talked to.
OK, I’m gonna be at the ballpark tonight, but all this week I’m working on some interviews for feature stories to run next week. Carroll’s got the game coverage, and she’ll be responding to any in-game blog queries and such.
Hope the Smoltz interview helps, at least in some small way, to allow you all to understand the sentiments of those who worked under Leo the longest.
”CRY, CRY, CRY” by Johnny Cash
Everybody knows where you go when the sun goes down.
I think you only live to see the lights of town.
I wasted my time when I would try, try, try.
When the lights have lost their glow, you’re gonna cry, cry, cry.
I lie awake at night and wait ‘til you come in.
You stay a little while and then you’re gone again.
Every question that I ask, I get a lie, lie, lie.
For every lie you tell, you’re gonna cry, cry, cry.
You’re gonna cry, cry, cry and you’ll cry alone,
When everyone’s forgotten and you’re left on your own.
You’re gonna cry, cry, cry.
Soon your sugar-daddies will all be gone.
You’ll wake up some cold day and find you’re alone.
You’ll call to me but I’m gonna tell you: “Bye, bye, bye,”
When I turn around and walk away, you’ll cry, cry, cry,
When your fickle little love gets old, no one will care for you.
You’ll come back to me for a little love that’s true.
I’ll tell you no and you gonna ask me why, why, why?
When I remind you of all of this, you’ll cry, cry, cry.
You’re gonna cry, cry, cry and you’ll cry alone,
When everyone’s forgotten and you’re left on your own.
You’re gonna cry, cry, cry.
You’re gonna cry, cry, cry and you’ll want me there,
It’ll hurt when you think of the fool you’ve been.
You’re gonna cry, cry, cry.
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