LOS ANGELES – Technically speaking, Wally Joyner fails the scapegoat test.
He resigned rather than await his anticipated firing at season's end. He beat the Padres to the punch.
But as the third San Diego hitting coach to be sacked or shoved toward the exits since June 15, 2006, Joyner looks more like a martyr than a quitter. He looks like a man trying to make a statement while simultaneously adhering to the clubhouse code of silence.
He looks like a man urging us to look closer.
“If you talk to anybody on this team and ask them what kind of person Wally was, what kind of hitting coach he was, I think you wouldn't hear anything negative come out of anybody's mouth,” pitcher Jake Peavy said last night at Dodger Stadium. “For a guy like him to say, 'I have to walk away from this situation,' there's got to be some eyebrows raised and some questions asked.”
The Padres have been raising a lot more eyebrows than pennants of late. That much is a predictable byproduct of being a last-place ballclub.
Yet with five games remaining in the regular season, the inherent friction between the front office and the clubhouse appears to be escalating.
Some Padres players believe Joyner's departure to be the direct result of clogged communication (read: interference) between the club's executive offices and its uniformed personnel. To some, it foreshadows the firing of manager Bud Black, who has a contract for 2009 but no assurances he will be brought back.
Perhaps some of this is predictable, too, with a 100-loss season still attainable and so much blame yet to be dispensed. Perhaps this helps explain why upper management has suddenly gone mute.
Padres CEO Sandy Alderson declined to speak on the record last night. General Manager Kevin Towers did not immediately respond to an interview request. That the two executives would enter lockdown mode so close to the end of a dismal season is not surprising, but it can hardly be read as a vote of confidence for their coaching staff.
This left Black in the awkward position of having to play company spokesman yesterday without being in possession of all of the salient facts. That predicament is not uncommon among field managers, but Joyner's resignation had to make it uncomfortable.
“I thought Wally was a fine hitting coach,” Black said. “Coming in as he did last year in the middle of the season after really not (having been) a coach but a roving instructor, I thought he did a great job.
“It's not easy, coming in like that, but because of Wally's personality, his knowledge, his ability to communicate with players, (it) made that transition much smoother.”
Joyner's many personal attributes made him popular among the players, but his bottom line showed serious liabilities. With five games to go, the Padres have scored the fewest runs of any major-league club (619).
As hitting coach issues go, that one is pretty insurmountable. Still, it's worth noting that Dave Magadan, the hitting coach fired in favor of Merv Rettenmund in 2006, latched on with the Boston Red Sox and failed to prevent them from winning the World Series last year.
Same guy. Different ballpark. Fenway Park is to Petco Park as a broom closet is to a ballroom.
“In this ballpark (Petco), you're going to play 3-1, 2-1 ballgames,” said Padres right fielder Brian Giles. “You're going to win with pitching and defense.”
Giles, the Padres' hitter closest to the Alderson ideal, says habits form so early that most major leaguers need a hitting coach as much to handle the mental stress of failure as to tweak swing mechanics or a hitter's approach.
It is a rare hitter who discovers strike zone discipline at the big-league level. That said, one of the concerns of Padres management is that some of their most prized prospects appeared to be slipping under Joyner's instruction. With 98 strikeouts in 313 at-bats – and against only 29 walks – Chase Headley became Exhibit A in the case against Joyner.
“I know what everybody in the clubhouse will tell you,” Peavy said. “Wally Joyner was an All-Star, an established great major-league player. I don't know who you'd want talking to these kids (other) than somebody like Wally.”
For the remainder of the season, the hitting coach responsibilities will be shared by the remaining members of the coaching staff. How many of them will be around next spring is unclear.
Tim Sullivan: (619) 293-1033; tim.sullivan@uniontrib.com
ANOTHER COACHING CHANGE
How the Padres have fared offensively since 2003 in two home ballparks with three batting coaches: Dave Magadan, Merv Rettenmund and Wally Joyner:
YR HOME PARK BATTING COACH AVG. R HR SLG. OBP
2003 Qualcomm Magadan .261 678 128 .388 .333
2004 Petco Magadan .273 768 159 .414 .342
2005 Petco Magadan .257 684 130 .391 .333
2006 Petco Magadan/Rettenmund* .263 731 161 .416 .332
2007 Petco Rettenmund/Joyner** .251 741 171 .411 .322
2008 Petco Joyner*** .250 618 150 .391 .317
*Magadan replaced by Rettenmund on June 15
**Rettenmund replaced by Joyner on Aug. 1
***Through Sunday's 156th game
