Bailey dinged up...

[Kingspoint]

So, what's your opinion on Dick Pole? Think he should still be the Pitching Coach and that he does a great job?

[camisadelgolf]

Originally Posted by Kingspoint

So, what's your opinion on Dick Pole? Think he should still be the Pitching Coach and that he does a great job?

My opinion on Pole is that he's average at best. I think there are a lot of cities that are crying for a new pitching coach, though. Does he do a great job in my opinion? No. But I don't think he's the reason the Reds' pitching has struggled.

Actually, how much is the pitching really struggling? The Reds have one of the best bullpens in baseball, which is a borderline miracle after last year. And outside of the very disappointing year from Harang, the starters are doing about what should be expected from them. If the Reds had a guy putting up a 5.00 ERA as the fifth man in the rotation, the Reds would have an average team ERA, which is pretty good considering half their games are at GABP.

But instead, the Reds have had a way-too-hittable Matt Belisle (who is overrated in my opinion), a batting practice pitcher in Josh Fogg (which is to be expected), somewhat of a head case in Homer Bailey (I don't mean that literally or negatively--I just mean that he's a very different person who a lot of people would have trouble coaching), and a rookie Daryl Thompson (who clearly had trouble with his command, which probably was the result of butterflies in his stomach, so to speak). I don't think there's any pitching coach in the world who could have gotten a much better performance out of the current staff. I think the Reds can upgrade at pitching coach, but I don't think the results would be much better. And I think the fans' attitude about the Reds' pitching would be much better if they had a somewhat respectable fifth starter to run out there instead of the four players I just mentioned. I think there's still hope for those guys, but I wouldn't have counted on any of them for 2008.