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Everybody knew that the Philadelphia Phillies were going to be making changes this offseason, and it didn’t take long for those changes to begin. Just one day after the Phillies’ season ended they decided to let go of their pitching coach, Rich Dubee. Is it the right decision?
Dubee has been with the Phillies since 2004. He had helped Cole Hamels develop his career and guided him to his 3.38 career ERA. He helped Hamels almost get to his 100th career win and helped him become an All-Star pitcher. If he didn’t have Dubee’s help and advice who knows what kind of pitcher Cole would turn out to be. Sure Dubee does not deserve all the credit, but he deserves some.
Dubee has also been there for Roy Halladay. He has helped him when he was down and when he needed to work on certain pitches. They are very close, and it seemed that Halladay would always take Dubee’s advice to heart.
Dubee has worked with all kinds of pitchers from veterans to rookies. No matter what type of pitcher he was working with he was always there for them, trying to make them better. The past two seasons the pitchers seemed to underachieve, however, as this season the Phillies finished 27th out of 30 teams with the worst ERA at 4.32. That says that something is wrong.
Dubee has been with the team for a long time. It may be time for a new strategy as the pitchers will start to become younger and it seems that the current strategy is not working. It may be hard for the veteran starters to learn something new as they have worked with Dubee for so long.
Dubee has done a lot for the Phillies pitchers. He is one who is respected and will be missed in the organization. It will be interesting to see how this replacement works next season.
Rebekah is a Philadelphia Phillies writer for www.Rantsports.com. Follow her on Twitter and Google+
