Boston Red Sox: Pitching Coach Bob McClure Should Be Fired

Al Nipper, Dave Wallace, John Farrell, Curt Young and Bob McClure have all been pitching coaches for the Boston Red Sox recently. McClure is the only one still employed by the Red Sox, but that needs to change.

Nothing has gone right under McClure’s control.

The problem goes back to when general manager Ben Cherington and manager Bobby Valentine were hired over the offseason. Boston brass made many coaching decisions without the discretion of Cherington or Valentine.

McClure was hired as the pitching coach before Valentine was hired to run the club. Along with McClure, coaches Gary Tuck and Tim Bogar were all on the staff without Valentine’s choosing. Don’t you think that the manager should get to hire his own set of coaches? I certainly do.

ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes recently wrote about some of the issues surrounding Valentine and his relationships with the players and coaches, and a few really struck me.

Edes writes that Tuck and Valentine rarely talk and that most of the time Tuck won’t even acknowledge Valentine if he passes him in the hallway. This is a little concerning, but the more pressing issue involves McClure.

Edes writes that McClure was away from the team for three weeks with a family issue and didn’t have any contact with Valentine during that period of time. I imagine it’s tough to manage a pitching staff when you’re absent for nearly a month.

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McClure and Valentine haven’t meshed that well even when he’s been with the team. According to Edes, “McClure goes to the mound to visit only certain pitchers, while Valentine usually has taken it upon himself to visit the younger pitchers. Valentine has told associates that, at time, McClure tells him little of what was said at the mound; McClure acknowledged that was true, but anytime there was something of significance to report, he always did.”

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This is my main basis for suggesting McClure’s termination. Shouldn’t Valentine know exactly what was said each time McClure visits the mound to run his team better? If Valentine doesn’t know how the pitcher on the mound feels about upcoming batters, his health, etc., things won’t go according to plan.

The starting pitching has been up and down the entire season, with only one or two starters being somewhat consistent through the first half of the season. The bullpen was atrocious in the first month of play, but quickly rebounded and has been good ever since.

The underachieving starting pitchers falls right into McClure's hands. It’s his job to work on what’s working, what isn’t working and what areas they need to improve in order to win games. If they aren’t winning games, he isn’t doing his job.

All of the praise for the bullpen’s success goes to Valentine. He’s the one who chooses what reliever comes in when and to face who, not McClure.

There is an immediate McClure successor, that being Randy Niemann. Niemann has been used as an assistant pitching coach, but hasn’t been with the team recently, according to The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo.

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Interesting: For the second straight game assistant pitching coach Randy Niemann, a Bobby V hire, is not on Sox bench.

— Nick Cafardo (@nickcafardo) July 15, 2012"

It is strange that Niemann hasn’t been with the team for the last two games, especially coming off of the All-Star break. Maybe he has family issues like McClure did, but hopefully he hasn’t lost his job. If anything, he deserves a promotion.

The Red Sox are making a huge mistake if McClure returns next season and Valentine doesn’t. There’s no way that these two can coexist on this Boston team. It’s not working, they don’t like each other and action needs to be taken.

Valentine has done a great job with the hand he’s been given this season, while McClure has failed miserably. Keeping McClure on the coaching staff helps no one and will not make the Red Sox playoff contenders this season.