Knowing the possibility existed that he’d be among the dismissals did not help ease the sting on the final day of the 2012 season, when general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. summoned Gross into the manager’s office at Nationals Park.
“They called me in right after the game was over in Washington,” Gross said. “They told me they were going in a different direction, and they weren’t going to have me back.”
Gross said he walked out without saying a word.
“I basically thought I had been thrown under the bus,” he said. “I know we didn’t hit, but we also didn’t have much of a lineup for most of the year. It was disappointing.”
If Gross thought he deserved better than a pink slip after last season’s uphill battle without Ryan Howard and Chase Utley for half the season, he’s right. The Phillies also fired bench coach Pete Mackanin and first-base coach Sam Perlozzo, two men who were around when the team won its second straight National League pennant in 2009.
“It took me a long time to think about what I wanted to do,” Gross said. “I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to go back into [the Phillies’] system. That wouldn’t have happened. But going to a whole different organization where I don’t really know anybody, I looked at that as a positive thing.”
Repoz
Posted: February 17, 2013 at 09:41 AM |
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1. bookbook Posted: February 17, 2013 at 10:43 AM (#4370956)Where has Greg Gross been all these years?
So GG, yeah you're a scapegoat, but there is no compelling reason for you not to be scapegoated.
Obviously there are exceptions, I figure there are guys who espouse philosophies that can be good or bad (expand your zone if your a 4 hitter with 3 balls so you can drive in a run). And there are probably a few guys who really can change a players fundamentals to make them more slump proof. All that said it seems to me we're too quick to expect these guys to do miracles, but also too quick to give then credit when a player comes out of a slump likely caused by bad luck.
From the outside it seems impossible, even with 12-man pitching staffs, to spend sufficient time with every hitter. Granted, equal time may be a seriously sub-optimal goal. But asking one ex-major leaguer to work as a technical and psychological instructor for half a team seems, as others have pointed, essentially impossible.
Hitting's about as specialized a skill as playing golf and I don't think many (if any) swing coaches have even 10 professionals in their portfolio, plus you have short game and/or putting specialists sub-dividing the coaching landscape.
An interesting analogy. It probably goes deeper than that once you start including the Euro tour and the various sub-tours though. Since it's an individual sport, the very top teachers can sell themselves to an elite clientele but once you're outside the top 5 swing coaches or so, I suspect the client lists get pretty long.
But, yeah. It's always mystifying that somehow guys who weren't good hitters/pitchers somehow become good coaches but it's doubly mystifying that somebody like Greg Gross would have any insight into how Ryan Howard should swing. He might of course -- just because he had no power doesn't mean he doesn't understand how to swing for power. He might have even understood it as a player but, being Greg Gross, swinging for power still would have meant little more than warning track flyballs so he went with an approach that would be a lot more successful for him.
I suppose it's "natrual" to think that somebody like Gross would be a better hitting coach than Rob Deer but it seems common-sensible that you'd want Gross working with your slap hitters and a guy with power working with your power hitters. Next thing you know they'll have catchers as pitching coaches! :-)
Scott Fletcher as a hitting coach is pretty hilarious.
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