When the contract expires, he will be a former-ranger.

Paging Mr. Melvin….Mr. Melvin, please…

Is anyone else actually happy about this?

Coming to an AL ballpark near you in 2009, Mike Maddux and Gerald Laird starring in “It Came From the Depths of the PCL.” Co-starring the entire Texas Rangers pitching staff (all 30+ of them, if 2008 was any indication!)

In less jocular news, good luck to Mr Maddux in Arlington—he’s going to severely need it.

I’d argue that Maddux had more to do with the Brewers success over the last 2 years than Yost did. The decomposition of Turnbow and Capuano this year may have made some people forget that Maddux was able to turn them into AllStars.

I would’ve taken Sveum+Maddux over Macha+anyone else. Good luck in Texas Mike, I wish you the best.

I guess we will find out soon enough how much of the success we can credit to him. I wish him luck in Texas.

The team refused to let Maddux talk to the Rangers until his contract expired. Did they suspect their offer was below what Maddux could get elsewhere and they wanted to try and keep him from that fact?

to determine if Maddux was in fact a “good” pitching coach. All we have is mixed anecdotal evidence: if he gets credit for Turnbow, does he take the blame for Turnbow’s collapse? He didn’t master Grant Balfour (in a very limited timeframe)—does that mean he wasn’t good? Capuano and Bush showed both promise and inconsistency—which way does that cut?

The reality is that there is simply no way to directly evaluate a “good” pitching coach. A change in pitching coaches is small beer. Even the vaunted Mazzone couldn’t replicate success in Baltimore.

All things considered, I’m rather pleased with the greater likelihood created by Maddux’s departure that the dugout next season won’t just be Macha with all of the same old staff from the past.

Mike, maybe next time you’ll read the Texas Rangers contract a little more carefully.

Over at Lonestarball there is a thread about the hiring with some good research.

It seems like I read several times that Macha was good with young pitchers and the guy seems to know lots of people in baseball, so I assume he’s got some good ideas and will hopefully get someone he gels with.

IMHO – Maddux excelled in taking scrap heap pitchers and making them servicable and average to slightly above average. What he did not excel in was taking average pitchers and making them better.

I tend to agree with Supertramp… I am not happy about the departure… but I aint exactly depressed to the point that I am going to drink a bottle of scotch over it either.

the Rangers have some nice pitching in their minor league system so he will have a lot to work with

Go from one Maddux to another? Mike to Greg?