FanHouse MervRettenmund

Because of all the trading they've been doing lately. They got rid of a declining Scott Linebrink for a trio of prospects, they traded for Scott Hairston, they acquired Morgan Ensberg, Rob Mackowiak and Wilfredo Ledezma, and they signed Shea Hillenbrand to a minor league deal. Predictably, the series of deals, coupled with the firing of hitting coach Merv Rettenmund, not to mention the recent string of losing, has left Hoffman quite disappointed:

"I think today's (moves) caught people off guard," Hoffman said. "There's a bit of scrambling around not knowing what happened or why. I'm a big believer in clubhouse chemistry. ... It's dangerous. There are only so many spots. Its musical chairs and you better get a chair."

Those complaints from Hoffman came only a week after he termed the trade of setup man Scott Linebrink "incomprehensible." While I'm not a member of the Padres clubhouse, I do have to say that team is better off with the moves they've made. Their bench is significantly stronger, just as GM Kevin Towers reasoned. Maybe they're losing not because of the lack of chemistry, but because there's only so long a pitching staff can dominate at the rate the Padres had been without having a good offense to pick them up. Had the Padres been playing better, I'm not so certain you'd be hearing the same complaints.

Previously at FanHouse:
Padres Can Hitting Coach Merv Rettenmund, Resurrect Wally Joyner
The Morgan Ensberg Saga Goes to San Diego
Padres Acqure Rob Mackowiak From White Sox
Brewers Trade for Scott Linebrink

And by firing Rettenmund who had been the team's hitting coach since June of '06, they became the third team in the weak-hitting NL West to fire a hitting coach. The Dodgers fired coach Eddie Murray and replaced him with Bill Mueller, and the D-Backs canned Kevin Seitzer about three weeks ago, replacing him with Rick Schu. So once again, I'll bring up my question -- how much responsibility for the lack of hitter's performance should be assumed by the hitting coach? Seems like it's just the easiest way for the teams to address their problem.

Here's the thing: going into the year, it was common knowledge that the Padres didn't have much offense. The fact that they're last in the majors in batting average shouldn't be much of a shock. The team would be hard-pressed to do worse than .244, making Wally Joyner's job seem somewhat easy. The firing was also good timing by the Padres; they did it the same day as the trade deadline, possibly hoping all the deals would overshadow the firing. That's not the feeling in the Padres clubhouse -- some of the players knew they could have saved Rettenmund's job had they performed better.

Previously at FanHouse:
Dodgers Can Hitting Coach Eddie Murray
Do Hitting Coaches Impact the Game?