The Nationals released Randy St Claire from his pitching coach position yesterday. They replaced him with the AAA pitching coach Steve McCatty. When looking at a team with the highest ERA in the majors, you want to say it is a pitching coach problem. Except you have to look at the Nationals pitchers.

The bullpen frankly sucks. There is no secret about that. While some might argue there was no talent out there, the Nationals truly sat on their hands for pitching, opting to go for hitting power instead. St Claire did not get this team to produce, but I argue that anyone could have. Ultimately its the pitchers out there on the mound and they are responsible for their actions. All St Claire could do is make sure they were as prepared as possible. The talent is just not there.

Now that McCatty is taking over, the pitching might improve. Hey, they held on to the lead in his first game, winning 10-6. Yeah! Wow cheering for 6 runs given up. What I find unbelievable is that time and time again, a mid-season change in coaching is expected to produce. It almost never does. We will see how the Nationals respond long term. But the bullpen is bad. There's no getting around that without acquiring new talent.