Love it , big ol george couldnt use his wallet to get Mazzone,gotta respect a man like mazzone for his talent at making pitchers great,and not selling his soul to the devil for a bigger paycheck..
I agree with some of the above that the Braves are not done. Lets not forget that their offense was very very young and will only get better as the players mature. Last I checked, Mazzone didn't have a heck up a lot to do with them. Plus, they still have Smoltz, Hudson, Hampton, Thompson, etc who, IF they stay healthy, can pitch.
Mazzone's record suggests he's an amazing pitching coach (and was terribly underpaid), but even the best coach needs raw material. Is Atlanta out of young arms? I think that Mazzone is the reason so many of their young arms become good arms they can rely on. I don't expect them to be able to reload the way they've done in recent years whenever they lose a top pitcher.
The Braves will miss Mazzone. He took young pitchers who looked like they had a little talent and made them look like pitchers who had a lot of talent. Mazzone took veterans who had looked like they had seen better days and made them pitchers who could be useful to the Braves. Schuerholz got the players he could with the budget cuts he faced and depended on the Cox-Mazzone duo to make something of them. Now half of that duo is gone. Its relatively easy to replace a pitching coach. You can't replace a Mazzone.
Just keep the cameras off of him in the dougout. I get sea-sick watching him bounce around like a tin can in the north atlantic.
Mazzone also kept Smoltz rock solid throughout his entire career. Even when he came out of the pen. This guy had to have left some magic behind. Don't know how long it will last though.
I wonder if mazzone has a rocking chair at home?
Lookslikeits warwith Steinbrener and the Orioles. He got outbid for Mazzone- and you hardly ever see Steinbrener get outbid. WOW next year should be interesting.
Sorry for the first part of my post- my spacebar is sticking.
