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View Full Version : Orioles sign Leo Mazzone

Raven
10-19-2005, 11:04 PM
As reported by ESPN about 10 minutes ago

Source: Mazzone accepts deal to join Orioles
Associated Press

BALTIMORE -- Pitching coach Leo Mazzone and the Baltimore Orioles reached agreement on a three-year contract Wednesday night, hours after the Atlanta Braves coach ended discussions with the New York Yankees.


"The deal is finished business," according to a source close to the negotiations, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Mazzone, considered to be one of the finest pitching coaches in the majors, has been in the Atlanta organization since 1979 and was pitching coach of the Braves since 1990. He will replace Ray Miller, who served as pitching coach of the Orioles since June 26, 2004.

Orioles executive vice president Mike Flanagan declined comment, and Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo, a longtime friend of Mazzone, did not return a phone call from The Associated Press.

Mazzone, 57, and Perlozzo grew up together in Cumberland, Md. The competed on different teams in American Legion ball, then became best friends. Perlozzo was the best man at Mazzone's wedding.

Earlier Wednesday, the Yankees ended talks with Mazzone after their three-day window to negotiate with him expired.

"Both sides agreed to end their discussions without resolution," Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo said.

Mazzone is credited with helping develop Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine. From 1992 through this season, the Braves ranked first or second in the NL in ERA in every year but two.

Perlozzo was pleased with Miller's performance as pitching coach, but has said he wanted to work with Mazzone. Miller, who had surgery last week to repair an aortic aneurysm, gave Perlozzo permission to talk to another pitching coach before his surgery.
SirFozzie
10-19-2005, 11:10 PM
Gonna be interesting in the AL East next year..
st.cronin
10-19-2005, 11:11 PM
thus endeth the Braves 'dynasty' or whatever it is
ISiddiqui
10-19-2005, 11:15 PM
Gonna be interesting in the AL East next year..And the NL East for that matter ;).
Young Drachma
10-19-2005, 11:34 PM
Well with him being friends with the Orioles manager, it's not that wacky. It's just most folks probably didn't know that their mgr was his best man or vice versa or whatever.

Should be an interesting thing for sure, but I don't think it'll put them in the AL East lead, but the Wild Card should be up for grabs.
FBPro
10-19-2005, 11:37 PM
Not so fast......I seriously doubt that the Mazzone way of doing things ended with him. It is likely an organization philosophy as far as how to handle pitchers in general goes. I don't see the Braves changing the way they do things in this area, though this signing saddens me greatly.
Raven
10-20-2005, 01:34 AM
It'll be interesting to see what he can do with Bedard and Cabrera.

Bedard, if he stays healthy, could be a Cy Young winner one day.
Terps
10-20-2005, 03:53 AM
Great news. I kinda figured this all along knowing that Mazzone has said that the only thing he hasn't done in his career was be a pitching coach for his best friend.

Could help the O's get someone like Burnett or Millwood too.
Tekneek
10-20-2005, 04:12 AM
Why were the Braves not paying him the top salary for pitching coaches? What else did he have to prove to be the highest paid pitching coach in the game? I don't understand it.
GrantDawg
10-20-2005, 06:08 AM
Why were the Braves not paying him the top salary for pitching coaches? What else did he have to prove to be the highest paid pitching coach in the game? I don't understand it.

AOL is cheap, cheap, cheap. I'd paid him Bobby Cox's salary minus $1. He is worth every penny.
Ksyrup
10-20-2005, 06:15 AM
Wow. I'm sure if Bobby could speak freely about whatever occurred here, he'd make a comment similar to what Whitey Herzog said when Bruce Sutter left St. Louis - "I feel about 45 games dumber right now."
GrantDawg
10-20-2005, 06:26 AM
Wow. I'm sure if Bobby could speak freely about whatever occurred here, he'd make a comment similar to what Whitey Herzog said when Bruce Sutter left St. Louis - "I feel about 45 games dumber right now."

Cox seems to be planning on retiring next year (as well as Shureholz leaving/retiring). I wonder if he might reconsider waiting.
Crapshoot
10-20-2005, 08:47 AM
Mazzone is worth his wait in gold. Given the choice of Mazzone or a no 1 pick - I take the former.
Radii
10-20-2005, 09:19 AM
thus endeth the Braves 'dynasty' or whatever it is

agreed. Impressive run. All over now.
Ramzavail
10-20-2005, 09:21 AM
Maybe they think that Mazzone doesn't have it anymore?

Ho-Bags didn't do much, Kyle Davies fizzled, Tim Hudson went backwards this year, Dan Kolb was a disaster, just a thought.

I always thought Dave Duncan had a better resume anyway. Mazzone is great though.
TazFTW
10-20-2005, 03:37 PM
The Washington Post says the Braves are asking for a prospect as compensation.
lungs
10-20-2005, 04:13 PM
Mike Maddux is the new Leo Mazzone.
CraigSca
10-20-2005, 09:48 PM
The Washington Post says the Braves are asking for a prospect as compensation.
The Orioles have a nice, young Aruban prospect that I'm sure they'd have no problem sending as compensation.
Ksyrup
10-20-2005, 10:00 PM
He's not a prospect, though, although I believe he is a very promising suspect.
Raven
10-20-2005, 10:03 PM
Ponson was released.
Ksyrup
10-20-2005, 10:10 PM
Yeah, but I don't think they're through fighting over his contract yet. They didn't release him, they terminated his contract using the "good morals" clause that the Rockies used on Neagle in an attempt to gain some leverage in a buyout of the remaining year on his contract. Unless they've come to an agreement since all of that press - it's not like Ponson is high on my list to keep track of these days.
Raven
10-20-2005, 10:14 PM
You can still have him.
Ksyrup
10-20-2005, 10:16 PM
There's no room in ma belly.
CraigSca
10-20-2005, 11:00 PM
I know he was released - it was purely tongue in cheek. How about a left-handed reliever who hates Baltimore and wants badly to return to the Cardinals?
Terps
10-21-2005, 07:09 AM
If the Braves want compensation, the O's will just wait until Mazzone's contract expires and then sign him.

Edit - Apparently The Baltimore Sun is saying it's a done deal, just requires MLB approval. The O's are sending a 'low-level' prospect as compensation. So, it's likely not anyone worth much.
Critch
10-21-2005, 07:32 AM
This might be just what the Orioles need to clinch that coveted 3rd place ahead of the Blue Jays next season.
Ksyrup
10-21-2005, 08:07 AM
Apparently, this was a done deal the moment Perlozzo got the job, as he and Mazzone are long-time friends. NY was probably in the picture only to up Baltimore's price, which benefitted NY and Mazzone. I wonder if Perlozzo got the job simply because he would be able to bring Mazzone to Baltimore.
JonInMiddleGA
10-21-2005, 01:18 PM
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/1005/22braves.html
The Atlanta Braves on Friday acquired right-handed pitcher Moises Hernandez from the Baltimore Orioles as compensation for Baltimore signing pitching coach Leo Mazzone.

Braves general manager John Schuerholz is expected to discuss the exit of Mazzone, the team's pitching coach since 1990, in a news conference Friday afternoon.

Hernandez, 21, appeared in 11 games at Class A Aberdeen in 2005. He was 0-4 with a 3.08 ERA.
cuervo72
10-21-2005, 01:29 PM
Ponson was released.

So he's no longer a suspect?
QuikSand
10-21-2005, 01:51 PM
Apparently, Leo Mazzone is to earn $450,000 with Baltimore - roughly doubling his salary with Atlanta.

I've said it before - but this seems like such an obvious case to me. For a sport where a team like the Yankees will drop $1-2 million at the absolute drop of a hat to go after a marginal player expected to be a fringe contributor or reserve... how is it that a guy like Mazzone, widely credited with a lot of the Braves' success over the years, would be struggling to pull down half a million?

Is there anyone who thinks that Mazzone will have a lesser impact on the Orioles than even the best free agent they could sign for $1 million or less?

I don't get it.
Ksyrup
10-21-2005, 01:54 PM
Wow. My assumption was he was already making $500K and got a bump up to $1M or more. That's crazy.

Not that he shouldn't have the right to work where he wants, but to the extent loyalty plays a part, I have no problem with him leaving.
cuervo72
10-21-2005, 01:57 PM
Agree completely Quik.
MalcPow
10-21-2005, 01:59 PM
That does seem odd. I would have guessed he was around 500k as well.
QuikSand
10-21-2005, 02:01 PM
Apparently the highest paid pitching coach in all of MLB is Dave Duncan of the Cards (another very highly respected guy) who makes $500K.
ISiddiqui
10-21-2005, 02:26 PM
I couldn't believe how little he was getting paid as well. There are 5th starters getting paid much more than that! Wow!

Though I wonder how much of signing Perlozzo was because the O's figured they could get Mazzone as well.
Ramzavail
10-21-2005, 02:50 PM
I couldn't believe how little he was getting paid as well. There are 5th starters getting paid much more than that! Wow!

Though I wonder how much of signing Perlozzo was because the O's figured they could get Mazzone as well.

5th starters?

The minimum baseball salary is 316,000. Thats more than what Mazzone was making, Thats unbelievable.
Philliesfan980
10-21-2005, 03:48 PM
I don't like talking about Salaries, because it is all supply and demand, and I'm def. a believer in the free market.

With that aside.. how can Phil Jackson make what... 9 million a year and Mazonne only 250k!! I really have no idea how the NBA makes money anyway... does anyone actually watch it on TV?
Ksyrup
10-21-2005, 04:28 PM
Not only that, but the ESPN article says that Mazzone's deal with the Braves was "year to year," meaning not only did he make about $250K a year, but it wasn't like it was a 3 year, $750K contract. It was $250K for one year, continually renewed by the Braves. Unbelievable.
Tom E
10-21-2005, 05:32 PM
I know scouts who make 30K...99 Percant of ex big leaguers who are on a MLB staff are volunteers...
JonInMiddleGA
10-21-2005, 10:52 PM
And from what I've seen bandied about re:salary, he's been at/around $200k for several years, $250k would have been a raise (at least, that's the numbers I've been seeing most often until the past 24 hours or so).
TazFTW
10-29-2005, 07:52 PM
Braves hire Roger Mcdowell as their new pitching coach.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2207938
Tekneek
10-29-2005, 09:26 PM
Braves hire Roger Mcdowell as their new pitching coach.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2207938

At first that seemed like it was out of left field, but then I was not aware he was the Class A coach for them a few years back.
Solecismic
10-30-2005, 05:21 AM
I remember the revolving door of pitching coaches the Mariners went through a few years back. They did a lot of damage, and I'm not surprised that out of what was nearly universely considered the best set of pitching prospects in the minor leagues for many years, the Mariners had almost nothing to show for it.

If a good pitching coach could realize, let's say, one Gil Meche into his potential, he'd be worth far more than $500k. But the Mariner crew struck out on Meche, on both Andersons, on Heaverlo, on Dasher on Dancer on Donner and Blitzen. Instead, they actually hurt half the players they touched, fiddling needlessly with mechanics.

I have no idea why a guy like Mazzone isn't making seven figures. It may be a more important job than manager.
Easy Mac
10-30-2005, 09:26 AM
YAY! Rock n Jock Softball lives on.
sterlingice
10-30-2005, 11:56 AM
I remember the revolving door of pitching coaches the Mariners went through a few years back. They did a lot of damage, and I'm not surprised that out of what was nearly universely considered the best set of pitching prospects in the minor leagues for many years, the Mariners had almost nothing to show for it.

If a good pitching coach could realize, let's say, one Gil Meche into his potential, he'd be worth far more than $500k. But the Mariner crew struck out on Meche, on both Andersons, on Heaverlo, on Dasher on Dancer on Donner and Blitzen. Instead, they actually hurt half the players they touched, fiddling needlessly with mechanics.

I have no idea why a guy like Mazzone isn't making seven figures. It may be a more important job than manager.
Sounds like the parade of Royals pitching coaches the last few years.

SI
sterlingice
10-30-2005, 11:59 AM
Braves hire Roger Mcdowell as their new pitching coach.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2207938
The perfect follow up to this would be the image of Jack McDowell flipping off the crowd and asking if it's him but I can't find that image.

SI