The Red Sox are slated to name Dave Bush their new pitching coach. Bush, who has recently served as the club’s minor league pitching performance coordinator, was previously tabbed as the front runner for the pitching coach position in a Monday report from Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. Jared Carrabis of Barstool Sports (link) was first to report today that a final decision has been reached.
It appears that Bush beat out four other candidates for the post, among them former Reds manager Bryan Price (the names of three other candidates remain unreported).Bush’s familiarity with the organization likely worked in his favor, as the 39-year-old has been a coach in the Boston system since the beginning of the 2017 season. Previous pitching coach Dana LeVangie was reassigned to a pro scouting role with the organization earlier this month.
Of course, Bush is best known to readers as a longtime starter in the majors, logging 187 starts with the Blue Jays, Brewers, and Rangers in a nine-year big league career. That background will distinguish him from his predecessor, as LeVangie was noted for being a formidable scout despite having never pitched professionally.
pasha2k
I hope he works out, n very happy they promoted in house.
deweybelongsinthehall
A nothing signing to most of us fans that we hope pans out. No way to tell how he will relate to the experienced starters the team has.
AtlSoxFan
Same could be said for just about anyone who was available.
At least he has experience as a mlb hurler
bobtillman
He did a nice job when he owned the Rangers…..and his mom Barbara was tops….
I may be a bit confused here……
GothamNeedsMe
No, that sounds about right.
dynasty in boston
His brother Reggie won a Heisman
goldenmisfit
This is a very logical hire. Boston is about to embark on a rebuilding process with their entire organization. There has been talk that they will be trading Jackie Bradley and even Mookie Betts why go out and spend money you don’t need to on some big-name pitching coach for a team that might not compete for the first year or two.
Melchez
Red Sox will be competitive in 2020. They have way too much talent to rebuild.
jbigz12
Boston doesn’t have much choice. They’ll have to take a step back eventually. They’re not going to run out 250 million dollar payrolls every year and there isn’t much help coming up on the farm. I don’t expect them to suck but i don’t see anymore cash being used as the band aid this season.
hawkny11
If Sele and Price pitch like they are paid to do the Red Sox will be in the thick of the playoffs in 2020.
ellisburks
If Sele makes the starting staff, the Sox may be in a lot of trouble. The man is 49 years old and hasn’t pitched in 12 years.
dynamite drop in monty
Lol nice
Sasha C. Handelman
A great move to promote Bush! His experience as a pitcher as well as his unique experience working with Brian Banister should give him a good base to work with
bobtillman
Even without Betts and JD (I think both will be gone), you have Benetendi, Devers and Boegarts in the middle of the order. I also wouldn’t expect the return for Betts to be Class A players; i.e. it’ll be immediate help. They’re still defensively and mechanically sound. The pitching? Healthy, it’s tolerable.
This isn’t an owner or a fan base that’s going to by into a rebuild, and nor should they; too much revenue to even think about it. And the owner saw what happened to his profits during the Valentine debacle.
The Yanks got incredibly lucky with their bargain basement pickups this year; the Baseball Gods seldom repeat the favor. The Rays won’t spend enough to keep them in the discussion; with 35M or so tied up in 3 players, a trade of Pham (e.g.) is more likely. The Jays will hoard their money, selling the “future”; the O’s are a ways away.
They’ll be competitive. Meanwhile, the challenge for Bloom will be to rebuild the farm without selling off his assets; not an easy task. Next to San Francisco, he’s got the biggest challenge in the MLB landscape this year. And he’ll have to deal with 30 phone calls a day from the media, instead of the one a week he got in Tampa.
Right now, they’re definitely behind the Yanks and the Rays. But the school bell has just rung.
mt in baltimore
Well said.
Will be interesting to see how he is able to handle the hotter and brighter spotlight in NE.
He is a bright fellow.
jbigz12
Mookie is going to be a 30 million dollar rental. They’ll get a solid haul back but I wouldn’t expect that to be franchise or you know rebuild changing Package. A slightly better package than the O’s got for Machado seems like the likely outcome to me. Or you know maybe something like the Greinke package. Really depends on what Bloom is looking for.
But the 28-30 million dollar salary is a factor. The Yanks, Stros, and I’m sure Cubs won’t be playing in that market……So where does that leave Mookie’s market? LAD? Twins? Braves? Maybe the Reds? They seem to be forcing themselves into the playoff mix at least. I don’t know but I don’t think a one year rental is going to provide enough immediate help to push the Sox past either ALE team they finished behind this year.
They shouldn’t be down too long. As they are the Boston Red Sox but you have to pay the piper eventually with the way Dave Dombrowski runs your organization.
bobtillman
I too expect the return for Betts to be Manny-like, but probably more skewed toward MLB-ready type guys; obviously, the end-game play is different than it was for the O’s.
Again, it’s John Henry, so it’s all about the Benjamins. It’s about money for everybody else too, but the Sox’ particular spot on the Revenue Scale means winning and losing is VERY important. Does he tries to maintain his record franchise-value growth by spending lavishly? Does he take a few steps back, realizing that the “Golden Age” is probably over?
Left unsaid is ownership’s relationship with the head baseball guy. As long as he was winning (or coming close),DD operated I think somewhat unfettered. Plus DD had a zillion years experience.
Bloom’s still the new kid, and with Henry paying all this money to what seems to be an endless collection of advisors, JH may decide he wants the new kid to listen to them a lot more than DD did. DD is pretty forceful, due largely no doubt to his age and CV; he probably really didn’t give a rat’s behind what Jason Varitek thought. I’m not sure Bloom will have that advantage.
brewcrewbernie
Every time I hear the name Dave Bush, I think about when he was a Brewer and gave up four consecutive homers to the D Backs.
southpaw2153
What?? They didn’t hire a 7th grade pitching coach/calculus teacher to fill their pitching coach vacancy? Bloom already is turning old school. Red Sox will never be successful by hiring guys with actual experience!!