DaGame Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 BALTIMORE -- The Orioles parted ways with pitching coach Leo Mazzone on Friday, allowing the veteran to pursue other opportunities for next season. Baltimore will still be responsible for Mazzone's full $500,000 salary, a number that will change if and when he takes another job. Brad Steele, Mazzone's business manager, said the move didn't come as a surprise. "He had a strong inclination after Sam Perlozzo was fired and Dave Trembley was hired that he wouldn't be back," Steele said. "He had some conversations with [baltimore executive] Andy MacPhail at the end of the season, and it seemed that the team would be making wholesale changes to the coaching staff. Some of them may even be announced today." Mazzone, a celebrated coach who helped the Atlanta Braves win 14 straight division titles, spent two seasons in Baltimore. He was lured to join the Orioles by his lifelong friendship with Perlozzo, who was dismissed as manager back in June. Mazzone stated that he wanted to be back during the second half, but it didn't work out that way. "He really wants to be part of a winning staff," Steele said. "He'll be 59 years old on Tuesday and he still has a lot of fire in the belly. He wanted to help Baltimore turn it around, but it appears that that's not going to happen." Alan Dunn, who joined the Orioles as bullpen coach midway through the season, appears to be the favorite to take over for Mazzone. Trembley, who worked with Dunn in the Cubs' organization, has expressed confidence in his abilities. Earlier in the season, when told he'd be back next year, Trembley immediately inquired about the possibility of hiring Dunn. "The first person I asked for at that dinner meeting was Alan Dunn," he said in August. "With all due respect, we had a void in the bullpen. There's someone that needs to coordinate the program down there and have a pitching background. People that know the history of the Cubs and the pitchers they've developed there -- he's played a part in that." Trembley also issued a comment Friday as part of an official release sent out by the Orioles. "I spoke with Leo today and told him I appreciated his efforts here," he said. "Moving forward, I felt that we would be better served with someone else working with our young staff and that it was in his best interests and our best interests to give him an opportunity to look elsewhere now." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Back to Atlanta with you pitching "guru". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory Pratt Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Go home, Leo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Please just keep him out of NY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Allen Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Bring him in KW. Let Coop hang out in the bullpen where Cave once stood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory Pratt Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Oct 12, 2007 -> 05:10 PM) Bring him in KW. Let Coop hang out in the bullpen where Cave once stood. That'd be something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitewashed in '05 Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Oct 12, 2007 -> 06:08 PM) That'd be something... that won't happen. There you go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chombi Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Mazzone shouldn't be at fault for that team. Part of me feels that team is so obsessed with guys like Cabrera and Hayden Penn, that they expected him to perform a miracle and make them into HOF pitchers. Just my opinion. I think he is a great coach and I would love to have him. He + Coop for our pitching coach tag team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHITESOXRANDY Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 I'm sure this must be a stupid question but why can't the Sox have both Cooper and Mazzone ? They make almost nothing. It's like a player minimum and it seemed like Cooper was just overworked and overmatched getting all of these young pitchers and older (Contreras) on track. Why wouldn't it be better to have 2 coaches so they wouldn't be spread so thin ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory Pratt Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Why would he come to Chicago? What makes you think we'd pay him? Where else in Chicago have we seen a "College of Coaches" before? PS: he didn't get "fired," per se. I don't care what the newspapers say -- he went for his best friend, his best friend left, he left too. Whether it was mutual, whether they wanted him gone more than he did, whatever they say, there's no way he just up-and-got fired and wanted to stay, per se. No one can be that stupid as to fire him just like that. But then I remember that we're dealing with a certain Owner... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBAHO Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Well under Mazzone the O's didn't exactly have the best ERA as a team, that bullpen didn't have great numbers, but a few guys in Guthrie and Bedard had excellent numbers. Mazzone had a very similar season in 2007 to Coop now that I think about it. We had a few guys in Buehrle and Vazquez who did extremely well, while the rest besides Jenks probably struggled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory Pratt Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Oct 18, 2007 -> 06:37 PM) Well under Mazzone the O's didn't exactly have the best ERA as a team, that bullpen didn't have great numbers, but a few guys in Guthrie and Bedard had excellent numbers. Mazzone had a very similar season in 2007 to Coop now that I think about it. We had a few guys in Buehrle and Vazquez who did extremely well, while the rest besides Jenks probably struggled. Yeah, because the rest besides those guys aren't all that hot. And same with much of Leo's team in Baltimore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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