It has begun – the first baseball firing
June 9, 2008 by Tony Baldwin
Filed under Baseball
Today, the Seattle Mariners made the decision to fire hitting coach Jeff Pentland. Mariners manager John McLaren is still on the hot seat, but Pentland was the first to go this season, and rightfully so.
I’m a believer that the manager should have a chance during a season, so that means at least give him until the All-Star break. But, hitting coaches and pitching coaches are fair game. That’s where you start when you need to shake things up.
Under Pentland’s watch, the Mariners batted just .248 and scored only 253 runs. That’s not really helping the woeful Mariners, who are 19 games under .500 (22-41).
And so it begins – the coaching hot seat has its first victim, but I fully expect McLaren to follow in Pentland’s footsteps. It’s only a matter of weeks.
