Pirates Benedict Has Fan in Philadelphia, Competition in Twitter Happy Leo Mazzone?

When your favorite baseball team has a talented coach like the Pittsburgh Pirates do in Jim Benedict, it’s always a little sad when other teams take notice.  Of course for a man like Benedict it has to be flattering.  For Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. it is one of the most important decisions of his career.

The Phillies pitching has sucked despite having some talented arms and stacks of cash to throw at the rotation and bullpen.  So why have the Phillies struggled?  Was it Rich Dubee?

The article by Ryan Lawrence in Philly.com actually makes a great deal of sense about why Benedict would be a great fit for the Phillies.

Lawrence points out that perhaps it should be less about having connections to Philly, and more about the development of the young arms.  But the article really made me think that Amaro would love the guy who gets the job to have some connection to the Phillies organization.

You know, the Flyers model.

Or perhaps the skill he is really looking for is someone that has Major League experience as a pitching coach.

Cue the giant red light to go off in Amaro’s office…..Benedict doesn’t have that experience!

The bottom line is sure, it helps if you once played for the Philthadelphia ball club.  (Just look at the rumor that the team reached out to former Bucs coach Pete Vuckovich for their vacant job as an example.)  But it seems like big league experience might be the reason Amaro is holding out.

And right on time, the Twitter blows up in Amaro’s office!  One man who does really want the job is the human rocking chair, former Atlanta Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone.

Call him up Ruben.  He stayed in a hotel in Philly once and was the best pitching coach on the planet for a while.