The Washington Nationals lost, again, on Saturday, 4-3 to the Miami Marlins. They were actually on the cusp of contention heading into this month sitting 28-30, but they have gone 2-10 so far in June, including a current seven-game losing streak. They’ve only scored 30 runs (2.5 per game) and nine of those came in a loss on Friday.
On Saturday, manager Dave Martinez was asked about the offensive struggles and how much any of it could be blamed on the coaching. In his mind? None of it.
“Never on coaching,” he told reporters. “Coaches work their asses off every single day. We’re not going to finger point here and say it’s on coaches. It’s never on the coaches. They work hard. The message is clear. All the work is done prior. Sometimes, they gotta go out there and they gotta play the game. It’s always been about the players. Always. I played this game a long time. Never once have I blamed the coach for anything. We worked our asses off to get better. They gave us information and we used it. These guys understand what the game is, man. I’ve never had such a group of coaches that works as hard as they do. They’re here due diligently. They go over everything. They sit with players every day. These coaches, they work their assess off. I know every coaching staff is like that. And the players know, sometimes you gotta put the onus on the players. They gotta go out there and they gotta play the game, and play the game the right way. We can’t hit for them. We can’t catch the ball for them. We can’t pitch for them. We can’t throw strikes for them. They gotta do that.”
It’s an interesting discussion point. On one hand, he’s totally correct that the coaches can’t play for the players and the players need to produce on their own. And it’s long been pretty funny to me when a fan base sees a team struggle to hit for a few weeks and thinks firing a hitting coach is going to change matters. The firing is almost always just eye wash that’s more a PR move than an actual baseball decision.
Sometimes a new voice can help, though it’s difficult to know if the change in coaching is what made the difference or if things just sort of evened out during the marathon of a baseball season.
The Rangers fired their offensive coordinator on May 4. Before the firing, they were 17-18 and averaging 3.22 runs per game. Since the firing, they’ve gone 18-18 with 4.17 runs per game. Did the change really trigger things or did some of the hitters off to terrible starts just begin to look more like their old selves?
The Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde when they were 15-28. They’ve gone 14-12 since and are threatening to climb back into the wild-card race. Is it truly because Hyde needed to go or did the Orioles just start playing more like last season. After all, keep in mind that they lost six of seven after the firing and are now on a run where they’ve won 13 of 19. The turn didn’t happen right away, but those who think the firing was the right move could say a new message in the clubhouse takes time.
And anyway, isn’t a coach’s job to put his players in the best position to succeed? He may not throw the pitches or take the at-bat, but he’s still part of the process.
On Sunday, Martinez was asked about how his comments sat with the players (via the Washington Post).
“They were great,” he said. “I talked to them already. Hey, it wasn’t on them, right? My comments was nothing about them. They know that. They read through it. Like I said, I talked to them about it, and they’re all good… The clubhouse is as good as it’s ever been. I mean, those guys have stuck together.”
He was asked to clarify since it sounded like it has to be the fault of the players if it isn’t on the coaches (remember, he went as far as to say the “onus” is on the players).
“I never mentioned anything about the players, right? I appreciate those players. I played. I understand how hard this game is. They know that. So it’s a difficult game. Those guys are out there trying hard. We got to do the little things. As I talk about, we start doing little things, we’ll start winning some of these games.”
“They asked me about the coaches. ‘Do you put blame on the coaches?’ No, I don’t.”
Martinez has been around plenty of winning. He spent parts of 16 years in the majors, making the 2001 NLCS with the Braves. He was the bench coach for the Rays for four playoff runs, including when they won the 2008 pennant. He was the Cubs‘ bench coach for three seasons, all of which saw the team reach the NLCS and, of course, includes the 2016 World Series title. As manager of the Nationals, he won the 2019 World Series.
This is to say that Martinez, especially as a coach and manager, knows what it takes to win. I take his word that the coaching staff shouldn’t be shouldering a big portion of the blame when the offense just stops hitting. Then again, sometimes heads roll and that’s part of the business as well. Keep in mind, the Nationals haven’t had a winning season since that World Series title.
