The Red Sox announced several notable changes to the coaching staff under manager Alex Cora. In particular, the club will be hiring a new pitching coach duo.
While the Boston organization will retain the services of pitching coach Dana LeVangie and assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister, both will be reassigned. The former will join Steve Langone (who had been manager of advanced scouting) as pro scouts. Bannister will become VP of pitching development, thereby turning his attention to the organization’s farm system.
In addition, the club announced that Andy Barkett will not return as the assistant hitting coach. He had been in that role since the 2018 season, working alongside hitting coach Tim Hyers.
It isn’t entirely clear whether the Red Sox are contemplating any further changes to the staff, though it seems reasonable to presume that they’ll retain the remaining coaches. The club has continued to move ahead with fairly significant decisions even though it still lacks a single chief of its baseball operations department.
I’m so glad the Red Sox missed the playoffs cuz that lineup was insanely scary in every level but their pitching sucked outside of Workman
Glad to see Levangie was reassigned as a pro scout and Bannister as VP of pitching development. Wish them luck in their new positions.
Hope we can find another pitching coach with MLB experience.
John Farrell is available LOL.
I’m almost a tiny bit serious, I don’t know what to think if he might back off a manager role to go back to pitching…. he did excel there.
But then he burned his relievers when he had authority.
Sadly, after injuries and inconsistencies with the pitching staff meant that LeVangie was most likely to be reassigned . Be curious if Sox stay in house or who they look at to take over as pitching coach in 2020
Maybe another coach would’ve let Porcello pitch like he did in his act Young yr?
Lol!
They have needed to do player acquisition and development better for years now.
Hopefully they have turned their attention to this area with this news.
Their whole approach to this year was awful. From Spring Training forward. They kept thinking that magically they would just flip a switch and poof back to playoffs. Awful Approach.
think more effort went into than that. They just didnt have it. Pitchers were worked like crazy in the playoffs last season and they were behind physically in spring seemed like. Chris Sale could barely get the ball over 92 for a couple starts.
Hard as the Sox staff worked, teams like the dodgers worked just about as hard… including signing away a “tired” red sox arm.
If anything, I blame the lack of a spring training where starters only made one start. That rolls into a heavy heavy lean on t he pen. From there things just don’t quite get going or stabilize
Everyone wants to point spring training and I’m just not buying it. Fine maybe that explains the slow start but by May that excuse kinda goes out the window. Maybe people just need to open up their eyes and realize that everything went right for the Sox in 2018 and that doesn’t happen every year. They were dumb to do nothing last off season and expect everything to go right a second season in a row. Who honestly thought Eovaldi was going to pitch like he did in the 2018 playoffs for 4 years? The guy gets hurt and pitches to a 4.5 era every season but looked like cy young in the playoffs. Sox fans literally thought Braiser could be a closer after 2018 based a sample size of about 20 innings and isn’t even good enough to keep a major league spot. Pearce gets MVP and can’t bat 100 or stay on the field. All these guys had the seasons/post seasons of their lives and it just doesn’t happen every year. The team clearly has more talent than they showed this season but I don’t think they’re nearly as good as they looked in 2018 either and that’s a big reason they did so poorly this year. Not spring training which honestly by the time you are a big league player you should know what you need to do to get ready for a season and what it takes to get in shape…
Bingo. Pitchers gave up of themselves a lot to win in 2018. Other teams did this before Boston and such is continuing now. Very risky given the amount spent on pitching. Teams baby most during the regular season then use them differently in the playoffs.
Dana Phalange?
I like Bannister a lot. He can definitely help out the organization wherever he is best suited.
Ray Searage resurrection or further exposure that you can’t just throw a sinker all the time!?!!
Searage would be a good addition to the Red Sox coaching staff.
Going to angels under maddon
Reassignment interesting. At least both of them have been with the organization a long time and are highly respected and valuable. Looks to me like someone on that baseball ops dept. is getting the GM role or they would not move forward with all of year changes. Plus we are hearing the big names in MLB front offices are concerned to commit to work for Henry with all the moves since Theo. But… how can Sox fans complain with 4 WS Championships? They can but it does not matter.
Cherington and Dombrowski gave out a lOT of stupid contracts, so these guys get to pay for it…….
Each also won a championship something so many past GMs (think before Theo) failed to do.
Jeff, Bannister already had the role of VP of Pitching Dev. He just relinquished the dual role of assistant pitching coach.
Whomever the Red Sox bring in as a pitching coach he/she has to get Sele and Price back into a winning groove from day 1 of the regular season. There is no reason that justifies paying these guys a combined $50,000,000 in annual salary for only 13 wins a year. They have to do their jobs or go. Speaking of “have to go”, Pedroia, Pearce and Porcello have to go post haste. That is a savings of $42,000,000 against total payroll. None were major contributors in 2019. Its time to let the younger guys play.
In my opinion, the coaches have been reassigned because Sale, Price and Porcello were not who they are supposed to be, because of injuries or other issues. The bullpen lost Kimbrel and didn’t replace him, and to me, beyond Kimbrel never really did have much of a bullpen anyway. The bullpen performed well in 2018, especially when it mattered and they all had an outstanding season. If your teams players don’t perform the way they need to because of injuries or because they’re not good enough, that’s not the coaching staff to blame!
Hopefully LaVangie and Bannister can find 1 or 2 more aces (sale, price, evolving) that turn into 5 inning pitchers once they get the big contract.
Kenny Powers would be a most excellent choice for pitching coach.