Padres problem: Not the hitting coach!

Dave Magadan was fired as hitting coach of the Padres in June 2006.

Sixteen months later, he was hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox when they won the World Series.

Merv Rettenmund replaced Magadan and was fired in July 2007.

He was long considered among the best hitting coaches in Major League Baseball.

Wally Joyner has just resigned as hitting coach of the Padres.

Does anybody see a pattern here?

Maybe, just maybe, it isn’t the hitting coach. Gee, do you think that maybe the problem is the hitters … not the hitting coach … for the Padres?

Give somebody chicken salad and that’s what your final product will be. But give them chicken manure … and guess what that smells like?

How about the Padres hitting …

Certainly, Petco Park has been a hindrance to Padre hitters the last five years. But other teams play in expansive parks, and they don’t go through hitting coaches on an annual basis.

Rather than continue the merry-go-round on hitting coaches, isn’t it about time that the higher ups in the front office be held accountable?

Padres: It's the hitters; not the coach

It’s bad enough that the Padres have turned over 20 percent of their roster in less than a week.

But firing hitting coach Merv Rettenmund on top of it all?

Maybe one day, management will learn it’s the hitters on the team – not the hitting coach – needing to take the blame for the team’s woeful offense.

The Padres fired their last hitting coach, Dave Magadan, 14 months ago. But doesn’t Magadan look like a great hitting coach now that he’s with the Boston Red Sox this year?

As for the Padres’ moves, it sure doesn’t appear as if the roster is any better than it was a week ago.

"It doesn't really serve a purpose, other than there's chaos in the clubhouse, and that's not a good thing, either,'' Trevor Hoffman told the Associated Press.

Chaos, indeed. And it’s not the fault of the hitting coach.