The Phillies announced that pitching coach Bryan Price has elected to retire. It’s a surprising development, as the longtime big league coach just signed with Philadelphia one season ago.
Price, 58, was in-demand at this time last year. He reportedly spurned pitching coach offers from the Diamondbacks and Padres to take the same position with the Phillies. 2020 marked Price’s 15th season as a major league pitching coach, as he previously served in that capacity with the Mariners, Diamondbacks and Reds.
Of course, Price is more famous for his time as Cincinnati’s manager. He skippered the Reds from 2014-18. That wasn’t a particularly successful stint, as the club managed just a 279-387 record in that span, failing to reach the postseason. Nevertheless, Price remained well-regarded in the industry, as evidenced by the number of opportunities available to him last offseason.
Philadelphia manager Joe Girardi will now hunt for a new voice to lead the pitching staff. Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola present an enviable top two starters with whom to work. Zach Eflin seemingly turned a corner in his age-26 season and Spencer Howard is one of the sport’s most talented prospects.
That said, the Phillies will certainly have some work to do in the coming months. Howard struggled as a rookie, while Jake Arrieta and Vince Velasquez continued to underperform at the back of the rotation. The bullpen was atrocious, contributing to Philadelphia getting left out of the 2020 expanded playoff bracket. Price’s replacement will work on building up depth behind that strong core. As Meghan Montemurro of the Athletic observes (via Twitter), that person will be the Phillies’ fourth pitching coach in as many years.
And I thought the Price was Right for the job.
The issues of the Phillies continues. Now they need a new pitching coach and a general manager. Come on, the Phillies needed to be in the playoff this season at least with the expanded playoffs. Hopefully, they hire the right people for those two positions.
What they need is a new owner, let’s start there!!!!!
That would help
The problem isn’t Middleton. The issue is he’s not the only owner. He still has to report to a handful of other Phillies’ owners. He tried in the past to “buy them out” without success. Until they die (not something I’m wishing on them but that’s what happen to a few other Phillies’ minority owners over the last few years). I believe if and when Middleton has total ownership, he will spend more.
Obviously the Red Sox did not have the Sale of the Century….
For both teams, their fans’ sanity is in Jeopardy!
Which is the worse organization; the Phillies or the Sixers? Both appear to not have a clue. of how to bring a winner to town. If the Phillies are rebuilding, they need to trade Harper.while he still has a few prime years remaining. Besides, he was not worth that amount of money.
Their biggest problem is picking up Bryce Harper in the Cash Cab.
That’s not even close to their biggest problem. Harper has been solid.
I’m an idiot. Missed the joke. I guess I’m The Biggest Loser.
Just think though without spending over $300m on Harper’s contract the Phillies might be missing the playoffs by 3 or 4 games instead of 1 or 2 games.
It must have been an infuriating year with that bullpen, but Wheeler looked really good and Eflin turned things around. I think Price did some good work.
alright time for me to retire as a fan of Philly sports this is seriously getting absurd.
Right?? What a brutal end of the season. It started off so well.
The sad price to pay as a pitching coach
Seriously if you played in the MLB in your younger days and was wise with your money why put yourself through another possible season of Covid protocol. He’s 58 and I’m sure he’s living well. Get away from this crap
I seriously doubt a virus had any influence on his decision. He doesn’t strike me as a mass hysteria type of guy.
Covid 19 fears are not mass hysteria
If you ask me, is not that he wanted to retire, is more the need of getting out of Philly
The Steve Jeltz years are beginning to look pretty good in comparison with this continuing fiasco.
Phillies are a mess. They hired Price to replace Chris Young who was let go in 2019. Young had replaced Rick Kranitz who was popular with the pitching staff but the scared front office was afraid of losing Young if they didn’t otherwise promote him. A year later they fire him. 2021 will see the 4th pitching coach in 4 years.
They really are. There’s no consistency. Different coaches every year. Pitchers throwing to different catchers (After they lose Realmuto Nola will be throwing to yet another catcher to start the season.) They need stability.
He is a baseball lifer. More behind this. Hope he isn’t Sick
Guaranteed it’s a COVID-related decision; hopefully he doesn’t have it. Nonetheless, he had a good career, so I wish him well with whatever is next.
Well said. I don’t think he really got much credit for what he did here in Cincy as a pitching coach, and of course stepped up for what he probably knew would be a difficult situation as manager. Always seemed like a measured, intelligent guy, even when he was dropping F bombs lol. Hope he’s well, hats off to him and happy trails.
He’s retiring from baseball and it’s a lock it’s Covid related ?? Care to elaborate on that guarantee ?
A healthy 58 year old male is 10X more likely to die of an accident than contract Covid and die from it
Are you talking auto accidents? How is 38,000 a year 10X greater than 220,000 in 7 months?
That 2014 reds team was really good. They were picked by several commentators to win it in 13 then they lost Choo and not much else. Price was the hot pick for manager at the time and was praised mightily. Yet the 2014 reds didn’t compete much at all that season. Price flopped that year and never over achieved in any other season. Phili better without him
I think the bullpen might do better with a pitching coach who’s initials aren’t BP
In his interview Price said the COVID quarantine was very unappealing to him and he missed his family.. He’s concerned that going forward some form of restrictions on family interactions during the season will be present…That may be over blown but he has the right to retire if wants to.
One year “retirement” only to return to some team for 2022. Just a guess.
It was time for Price to go. This season aside, over the length of his tenure, the pitching hasn’t come close. From the struggles of Vinny to the unpredictability of guys like Pivetta and Eflin, the bullpen struggles and the inability to develop any consistent production from anyone that comes through the system- it’s time for a new approach and a different voice. I thought he was a good hire initially but it’s been a train wreck and I’ll be happy to get a new pitching coach.
The length of his tenure? He was pitching coach for a 60-game season!
He was only the coach for 60 games. Eflin looked good this year. Wheeler looked really good. Price is not to blame for an injury battered bullpen.