Former Ranger hitting instructor Rudy Jaramillo, considered by many to be one of the games best just turned down an extension with the Rangers.

Dayton, Please find a spot on this team for Jaramillo. He's a hitting guru, and I know he can help improve Jacobs and others on this team. I'm not saying fire Seitzer, I just want Jaramillo in the organization.
Thoughts?

Boy, I would love to see what Jaramillo can do in KC. But I don't see how you can hire Jaramillo and keep Seitzer on the staff unless they have the exact same approach to hitting and can coexist.

And, you have to give Seitzer at least one more year to see if this offense can turn around. One year with the current offense is not enough time.

I wonder if Seitzer is only responsible for successes like Butler--sort of like McClure is with Greinke-- or if he has responsibilities for failures, too.

Or at least that is what some around here would like to believe.

I see what your saying and agree with you. However, GMDM has made up jobs in the past to get quality guys into the organization. Let's see if he can do it again!! Hmm..... Executive director of hitting? lol

Batting Czar!

LOL. Maybe we can hire Rudy as the 'offseason HC' and keep it hush hush from Seitzer.

Oh, Lordy here we go again. More nonsense about the hitting coach.

The major league hitting coach is not responsible for "turning the offense around." He is not an NFL offensive coordinator, calling plays and dictating hitting strategy from the sidelines. He is only peripherally responsible for hitting successes or failures in the major leagues, and even then in only a few cases. Billy Butler's work habits were established long before he ever met Kevin Seitzer, as were John Buck's propensity to swing and miss and Miguel Olivo's love for the slider in the dirt. Neither Kevin Seitzer nor anyone else is going to "cure" Mike Jacobs.

A major league batting coach has little to do with the success or failure of a team's offense. Most players have learned all they will ever learn about batting mechanics and plate discipline by the time they reach the major leagues; the batting coach only influences the two or three players on the roster that listen to him. His role is vastly overstated. Getting a new batting coach in the hopes of turning the offense around is like firing the bullpen coach in the hopes of turning the bullpen around.

A good hitting coach can still diagnose and correct problems in a hitters swing.

Does your theory also hold true for pitching coaches?

A good hitting coach can diagnose problems in a hitter's swing. But he usually can't correct them because they are usually too ingrained in a player by the time he reaches the majors. And he probably feels, perhaps with some justification, that he has made it to the major leagues with the swing he has, so why fool with it?

A pitching coach seems to have a little more influence, but it's basically the same there. There are always prominent examples of symbiotic relationships between coaches and particular players that get a lot of attention (e.g. Brett/Lau), and fans always hope that the coach can do the same for other players. But the truth is that cases like Brett/Lau are rare exceptions. The general rule is that players who have made it to the major leagues tend to tune out the hitting coach or the pitching coach.

I don't necessarily think that this is the right attitude for a player to have, but I think it's the attitude most of them have. And who's to say who is right and wrong? There are plenty of examples on the other side of coaches who stunted the development of perfectly talented players.

Well, there are some guys they should ignore. I think a guy with the skills and accomplishments to make it to the major leagues doesn't need to be rebuilt from the ground up, and that is what a lot of people think a pitching or hitting coach does. They are supposed to turn the proverbial sows' ears into silk purses.

What they are most useful for is when things aren't going right. The good ones know when a guy needs a pat on the back and when he needs a kick somewhat lower. And the really good ones are able to spot something that a guy is doing differently than when he was having success, and is able to communicate that and work with the guy to correct it.

But the biggest thing they can do is not put any player in a position where he is expected to deliver more than he can. That's when they truly get messed up.

Help me out here since you have a bit longer memory with the Royals than I do. Didn't George Brett start out slow in the majors until a hitting coach turned his world around? I'm not being sarcastic. This runs in my memory, but I'm not recalling the details.

I'm taking you at your word here, about the lack of sarcasm....

You're thinking of Charlie Lau. BTW, you might enjoy reading what Brett had to say about Lau in his Hall of Fame induction speech... you can find that with Google, I'm sure.

Rudy wouldn't come to the Royals, he's looking for a higher profile job. I could see the Mets.

Seitzer did a good job, the guys who needed it just weren't listening until they were proven wrong.
Jacobs got better in the 2nd half, Olivo too, even Betancourt late in the season. Early on, they just let it go in one ear and out the other. Both Jacobs and Olivo believe the money they make is tied to the number of HR's they put up. They were selfish players. It also didn't help that they were brought in to provide power.

Now I just hope Gordon doesn't end up being the same type of hitter. He tries to pull everything, which is why they pound him away. Until he learns to drive it the other way he will struggle.