Our long local nightmare is finally over! Fifty-two days after firing Rich Dubee, and after numerous candidates decided against signing with Philadelphia, the Phillies have found their pitching coach for the 2014 season. Unlike some of the more recent Phillies hires, he actually has no prior history with the Phillies.
Sources: Phils will hire Bob McClure as pitching coach. #Philliestalk
— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyCSN) November 21, 2013
Bob McClure it is. McClure's last coaching position was with the Red Sox, where he served as their pitching coach for part of their disastrous 2012 season. McClure was relieved of his duties in August of last year when reports surfaced that he was possibly the person leaking information to the press about how disjointed and contentious that clubhouse had become. It probably didn't help his cause any that at the time the Sox had the 14th worst ERA in the AL.
Prior to his role with the Red Sox, McClure served as the pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals (2006-2011) and the Colorado Rockies (1999-2005; four of those years were with their minor league affiliates).
McClure also had a long major league career, appearing in nearly 700 games over 19 seasons in the big leagues. He finished his career with a 3.81 ERA, good for an ERA+ of 103, which is pretty good for a guy with a career walk rate of 9.9% and a career K rate of only 14%. Not that any of that matters when it comes to his ability to coach other players, it's just interesting background.
McClure is also the owner of a 70-grade mustache and, as Phrozen mentioned in the e-mail thread, a name that sounds like it could have been lifted from a Simpson's character.
We now know who will be guiding this pitching staff next season. Now we wait to find out who rounds out that pitching staff.
EDIT:
A crucial edition by me, Trev, your Bloglord pro tempore:
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