Reds Hire Dick Pole as Pitching Coach

The Reds have announced that the beautifically-named Dick Pole will be the pitching coach next year. 

 His resume: 

Pitching Coach:

• Cubs (1988-91) – Coached a young Greg Maddux, Jamie Moyer, Mike Harkey, and Mitch Williams, all of whom pitched well at the time.  Worked for Don Zimmer.
• Giants (1993-97) – First worked with Dusty Baker.  Good staffs with Burkett, Swift, Portugal, and Beck.  Coached future Red relievers (Mike Jackson, Brantley, and Burba).  Developed Shawn Estes, who was once okay.
• Angels (1999) – Must’ve been fired with Terry Collins.  Angels actually had a decent staff, Chuck Finley and a bunch of vets like Ken Hill and  Omar Oliveras.
• Indians (2000-01) – Charlie Manuel’s teams.  Coached Finley and Burba again, plus Colon in his prime, and a bunch of stiffs.  Sabathia broke in during 2001, and was very good.
• Expos (2002) – Robinson’s surprise team.  Vasquez, Ohka, Armas, and Yoshii pitched very well. 

Bench Coach:

• Cubs (2003-06) – Association with Dusty Baker, and his treatment of young pitchers, is a definite yellow flag.  Wonder how Pole feels about baserunners “clogging up” the bases?

It’s always hard to judge a position coach’s track record, but Pole is obviously respected enough to keep getting jobs.  One thing that does worry me, just a little — Pole’s teams rarely had a great bullpen.  I don’t know if that was his area, as a pitching coach, but it’s certainly somewhere the Reds can use some help.