Randy St. Claire Named New Pitching Coach

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Yes. He just stayed in Montreal when Loria and everyone else went south.

[Omar]

I wouldn't be surprised if that was a contributing reason to them bringing him on, then.

Which sucks uber hard.

[Party]

Fuck.

I was holding out hope for Bill Robin....

oh wait......

[Swifty]

I wanted John Titor

[Ramp]

lol tit

[nny]

While Patterson and Hill each had 1 nice season, they regressed after that. Seems/ed like it was more a fluke season than anything

both suffered injuries, not regression.

[Namaste]

I don't hate this move as much as some do but I find it a little funny that out of the 786 billion people on the earth, we're bringing in a guy who just did 7 years with the Nationals.

Festa will hate this but it reminds me of Rich Waltz getting the job as the play by play guy.

[Ramp]

both suffered injuries, not regression.

Perhaps the injuries were his fault

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

Randy St. Claire has overseen some nice starting pitching staffs with some well-regarded pitchers. The Javier Vazquez-led 2003 Expos finished in the top three in National League rotation ERA. The 2005 Nationals featured Livan Hernandez, Esteban Loaiza and John Patterson.

He hasn't seen his new Marlins staff yet, but St. Claire doesn't hesitate to rank this group's potential as better than any he's worked with to date.

"I would say without a doubt from top to bottom," said St. Claire, hired by the Marlins as their pitching coach Monday. "I've had some guys that did a nice job for me, but I don't think they were thought of like these young kids."

St. Claire's primary task is getting the likes of Ricky Nolasco, Chris Volstad, Anibal Sanchez and Andrew Miller to perform equal to their talent. Having spent his first six-plus seasons as a major league pitching coach in the Expos/Nationals franchise, he's never had this much talent to steer.

None of St. Claire's rotations has ever won more games than it's lost. From 2006-08, St. Claire's starting staffs with the Nationals ranked 16th, 15th and 13th in NL ERA.

"He's had a young staff all along in Washington and he had some good arms he worked with and made better," said Marlins right-hander Brian Sanches, who spent 2008 spring training and a month's worth of that regular season with St. Claire in Washington. "I would classify him more as a mechanics guy. He wants to make sure everything is in line with the plate. He's always in the video room."

The Marlins turned to St. Claire after Bryan Price declined their offer and opted for a job with the Reds. A native of Glenn Falls, N.Y., St. Claire knows the Marlins' ownership group from his time in the Expos system. Before taking the major league pitching coach assignment in December 2002, St. Claire, 49, spent five seasons coaching Expos farm clubs. He opted not to relocate with the Marlins during the ownership change.

"It was more of a family decision at that point," St. Claire said. "My daughters were young and still in school. From [Triple-A] Ottawa I could scoot home on off days."

The Marlins hope to make additional hires before week's end, but they won't make any official announcements until after the World Series.

New Florida Marlins pitching coach Randy St. Claire sees lots of potential in staff

Sorry, Brian, I like you and all but I don't believe a word you just said. Name one of the "young pitchers" he made better? And if he's so good, why aren't you still in Washington, Brian? Maybe because the time you spent in Washington under St. Claire resulted in your highest career ERA to date (almost 2 full runs worse than your previous year in Philly)?

[CrimsonCane]

If you're going to criticize the guy, citing the W-L record of his pitching staff is pretty stupid. Wins are a pointless statistic, by and large.

[nny]

using 11 inning sample sizes FTW

[Beef]

FUCK YOU BRIAN!

[Ramp]

Sorry Brian

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

The decision to hire Randy St. Claire as the Marlins' new pitching coach is generating a fair degree of feedback, most of it negative, and most of it built upon his dismissal in June by the Washington Nationals. The rationale tends to follow along the lines of "How in the world could the Marlins stoop so low as to hire a pitching coach who was fired by the crummy Nats?"

But when you compare his staffs' numbers against the ones produced by the Marlins during St. Claire's six-plus seasons with the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, the results might surprise you, especially when you factor in what little --and I can't emphasize enough how little it was -- he had to work with.

Let's start with those champion Marlins of 2003 since that was the year St. Claire took over as pitching coach in Montreal. The '03 Marlins adhered to the Larry Beinfest motto of "pitching, speed and defense." It was anchored by a balanced starting staff of three 14-game winners in Brad Penny, Dontrelle Willis and Mark Redman, a 12-game winner in Carl Pavano, and a 9-game winner and soon-to-be World Series sensation in Josh Beckett. Including the bullpen, the Marlins' ERA that season was 4.04. While that figure out-ranked nine NL clubs, it was a tick inferior to St. Claire's Expos, who ended up at 4.01. His starting staff that year consisted of Livan Hernandez, Javier Vazquez, Tomo Ohka, Zach Day and Claudio Vargas.

One season doesn't a reputation make, and St. Claire's Ex-Nats haven't exactly enjoyed much, if any, success overall. Then again, he wasn't the one trading Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Lee Stevens to the Indians for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew (thank you, Omar Minaya), or dealing Vazquez to the Yankees for Nick Johnson, Randy Choate and Juan Rivera (Minaya again).

So how did St. Clarie's talent-challenged staffs perform overall when compared to the Marlins over the same time frame?

Here are the 10 pitchers who started most often for the Ex-Nats from 2003-09: Hernandez (125 starts), Tony Armas (65), John Lannan (64), John Patterson (50), Ohka (49), Tim Redding (48), Day (42), Jason Bergmann (42), and Vargas, Vazquez and Esteban Loaiza (34 each).

Now, here are the top 10 for the Marlins during those seasons: Willis (162 starts), Scott Olsen (97), Ricky Nolasco (85), Beckett (76), Josh Johnson (71), Pavano (63), Penny (53), A.J. Burnett (51) Brian Moehler (46), and Chris Volstad (43).

If you were a pitching coach, which of those two groups would you take?

And yet, for all its supposed talent, the Marlins pitchers (including relievers) from 2003-09 have fared only slightly better than the Ex-Nats. The aggregate ERA for the Marlins over that span is 4.33. For St. Claire's Ex-Nats, it's 4.50. The difference works out roughly to about one earned run per week over the course of those seven seasons. Remember, the Marlins have enjoyed five winning seasons during the '03-'09 stretch. The lowly Nationals? Just one.

It's going to be interesting to see whether St. Claire can wring improvement out of a Marlins staff that last season didn't live up to promise. Only this much appears certain for now: a prospective rotation of Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Chris Volstad, Anibal Sanchez and (pick one), Andrew Miller, Sean West and Rick VandenHurk is a significant upgrade over anything St. Claire has worked with in the past.

Randy St. Claire -- After Further Review

[Ramp]

LOL

That article/blog post didn't prove much at all