Editorials

Dodgers Rumors: McGwire Heading To Arizona?

Fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers will receive this well: batting coach Mark McGwire might be on his way to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a similar role.

As the season went along, the Dodgers’ hitters struggled mightily with consistency and especially into the playoffs. This is where much of the “Dodgers are better against lesser opponents” narrative comes from.




ICYMI: Kershaw, Greinke Named Cy Young Finalists


This, via Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports.

Hitting coaches in the MLB are one of the most thankless jobs in all of sports. You hardly notice them as the team succeeds, but when the bats cool, guess who gets the lion share of the blame? Yeah. I’ll pass on that job.

Now, this isn’t to say McGwire did anything particularly special that makes him absolutely irreplaceable. He worked with Joc Pederson as best he could given the cliff Pederson fell heading into the All Star Break and for much of the second half of the season.

The issue the Dodgers are staring at if McGwire leaves is his replacement will have to develop the youth. We know about Pederson and Corey Seager, but Yasiel Puig needs to bounce back and there are several other prospects who could come up at some point over the next few years.

While fans might celebrate his departure, McGwire’s talents as a hitter were prodigal. Had he been able to impart some of that wisdom on the hitters, his value would be tough to replace. Now, whether he stressed the home run swing given what he was best at and the Dodgers want to focus more on contact hitting, the move makes sense.

Next: Greinke Wins Gold Glove

Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

3 Comments

  1. Not sure if it was him or the front office, but hopefully whomever is in there will not convince the batters to always aim for the fences. It would be nice to see someone get on base and then advanced over.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button