No reason given for firing: Mottola
chad Mottola says he was given no specific explanation for his firing after one season as the Toronto blue Jays hitting coach, except for an ambiguous reason that could have been lifted from a scene in the movie Bull Durham.
“They just wanted to go in a different direction. That’s what I was told,” Mottola said in a telephone interview.
Ambiguity also filled the explanation general manager Alex Anthopoulos gave about Mottola’s dismissal during a radio interview Tuesday.
Speaking on Toronto radio station Sportsnet 590 The Fan, the GM seemed to suggest that Mottola’s job was safe as long as he was working in conjunction with veteran coach dwayne Murphy. but when Murphy decided to retire, Anthopoulos and manager John Gibbons saw it as an opportunity to “change the dynamic.”
They had changed the dynamic when Gibbons became manager before the season. Mottola was promoted from Triple-A to replace Murphy, who had been hitting coach for three years. Murphy became first-base coach and coached the outfielders, with a clear mandate to assist Mottola with the hitting duties.
Mottola said he and Murphy got along well. Anthopoulos said Mottola is “wellregarded” and offered no criticism of his work. but one thing was clear: something changed when Murphy, a player and coach for 40 years, decided to retire at age 58.
“Once Gibby and I talked about it, we just said, ‘you know what, we viewed them as a tandem,” Anthopoulos said of Mottola and Murphy. “This a chance maybe to change it up and go in some other direction. Gibby has some guys that he’s worked with in the past that he has good, strong relationships with.”
That seems to suggest that Gibbons wants his own man as hitting coach. First-year pitching coach Pete Walker was Gibbons’s personal choice, while Murphy, Luis rivera and Pat Hentgen were holdovers from the organization. bench coach deMarlo Hale had twice been a candidate for the Jays’ managing job.
Mottola, 41, had developed a solid reputation during three years as the club’s Triple-A hitting instructor. While Murphy worked primarily with Jose bautista and edwin encarnacion, Mottola handled the younger players, Anthopoulos said. Mottola said he was “caught off guard” when told his contract would not be renewed. by appearances, at least, Mottola took the fall for Toronto’s last-place finish after several high-profile offseason moves made the club a consensus playoff pick. To some critics, the move seemed odd because Anthopoulos has repeatedly fingered the starting rotation as the chief culprit.
Walker and the rest of the coaching staff will return next year. Mottola, 41, refused comment about the decision itself, but said he and Murphy worked well together.
“That [relationship] was great,” Mottola said. “Never a problem. Murph only did stuff when I asked him, and that was his choice because he was getting burned out.”