Rick Waits: Pitching Coordinator

Jay Yencich · November 15, 2010 at 4:31 pm · Filed Under Mariners, Minor Leagues 

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Waits takes over Carl Willis’ old job, after seven years of serving in the minor league pitching coordinator capacity for the Mets. Prior to that, he had served as the pitching coach before Rick Peterson, and the bullpen coach before that. The Mets didn’t exactly have the strongest track record for developing pitching while he was in charge. In fact, you may be familiar with some of his former charges that have come our way in Yusmeiro Petit and Gaby Hernandez. You may also recognize certain names from the past of prospecting lists like Philip Humber and Mike Pelfrey. If you’re sensing a trend of the Mets not really generating good pitchers internally, you’re correct. I suppose Jonathon Niese is all right.

How this will turn out for us, we don’t know exactly. There are more factors involved in the development of a pitching prospect than can easily be accounted for, or attributed to one individual. Waits will take his orders from Willis, and we’ll see how things shake out from there. It’s unlikely that this is going to make a huge impact one way or the other. This is just some small amount of news.

For my own part, I plan on working in as many Tom Waits references as possible as long as he’s here.

Comments

11 Responses to “Rick Waits: Pitching Coordinator”

  1. xxtinynickxx on November 15th, 2010 4:59 pm

    It’s dreamy weather we’re on
    You waved your fastball wand
    Along the Safeco walls with a frozen moon
    A strikeout of silhouette Angels I saw
    And the tears on Hunters face
    And the lights on the board
    They spell Felix

  2. Jay Yencich on November 15th, 2010 5:02 pm

    Yes, exactly like that.

  3. jld on November 15th, 2010 5:05 pm

    That looks about right, tinynick, but please be sure to smoke two packs of cigarettes before singing.

    Thanks.

  4. diderot on November 15th, 2010 6:27 pm

    And yet, you seem too young to even know who Tom Waits is.

  5. xxtinynickxx on November 15th, 2010 6:36 pm

    Tom Waits is a legend remember his acting in Mystery Men so hilarious.

  6. Bremerton guy on November 15th, 2010 7:58 pm

    Tom Waits is a legend remember his acting in Mystery Men so hilarious

    .

    He was also recently the shopkeeper/engineer in The Book of Eli.

  7. Bretticus on November 15th, 2010 8:16 pm

    Gotta say, while I like Tom Waits, I can’t help but think about this when I hear someone say “Tom Waits”. Maybe I’m too much of a young’n. We can say we got The Fall of the Mets by Rick Waits…!

  8. zippyflynn on November 15th, 2010 8:59 pm

    C’mon! Softballs are pitched and you aren’t swinging! Shouldn’t this be “For my own part, I plan on working in as many Tom Waits references as possible until ‘Closing Time’?

  9. Jay Yencich on November 15th, 2010 9:13 pm

    I don’t think of that album all that much. I’ve probably listened to it five times total. Doesn’t do it for me, for the most part. Now, I could have said “…until he’s ‘Real Gone'”, or “…until ‘Everything Goes to Hell'”, or said “Rick Waits, ‘Step Right Up’, but I chose not to.

  10. jonw on November 16th, 2010 9:21 am

    “Drive all the way to Reno on the wrong side of the road” My favorite Wailts line

  11. bigred on November 16th, 2010 8:43 pm

    I read somewhere that when Felix wins the Cy Young he gets a 1 million dollar pay raise every year for the remainder of his contract.

    Is this right?

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