Washington Nationals Fire Pitching Coach Randy St. Claire

Though no press release has been issued by the team at this point (--ed. The team released a statement at 3:02 pm Tuesday), pitching coach Randy St. Claire was relieved of his duties by the Washington Nationals on Monday night, according to Nats Journal.

St. Claire was the longest-tenured Nationals coach, reaching back to their days as the Montreal Expos.

"That's life," St. Claire told Nats Journal. "I've been in this game for 31 years. I've been fired before. But it's a tough one...I would have liked to be around when the organization takes off.

"The pitching isn't performing up to where it needs to be to win, and I think a lot of factors go into it, but I guess I'm easier to replace than 12 guys," he said. "Easier to replace and cheaper to replace. But that's the game. When the team doesn't perform, they're bound to make changes."

The thing is, the Nats did change most of the pitching staff over the last two months. And they've had a parade of pitchers in the last three years.

Other than Odalis Perez, can anyone remember any of them exceeding expectations?

I don't want to be overly critical of a guy who was just shown the door. I've been defending manager Manny Acta all season as not having the right parts to be fairly judged, and St. Claire clearly had the reputation as a good pitching coach.

It's just tough to justify his reputation based on the past three seasons, as the staff has continuously regressed to the point it is now, with a bullpen full of re-tread veterans because the kids that management placed their hopes in turned out to be the "not ready for prime time players."

Triple-A Syracuse pitching coach Steve McCatty replaces St. Claire—hard to envision for how long though.

One has to wonder how much time this buys Acta. Will he last through the next homestand? The All-Star break? Or do they just let him twist all summer as a lame duck and wipe the slate clean on Labor Day?

I'll continue to defend Acta, because I think he's going to be a good manager once he has a complete team to field, and not a "beer league softball team," as resident expert Rob Dibble said the other day.