Tigers Announce Rich Dubee As New Pitching Coach
By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby
The Tigers have hired Rich Dubee as their new pitching coach, per a team release.
The opening on the staff was filled after Jeff Jones announced his retirement earlier this month. Dubee has been Atlanta's minor league pitching coordinator for the last two seasons, and spent 12 years within the Phillies organization before that. He served as the Phillies' major league pitching coach for nine seasons, leading a staff that included Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels.
"Rich is someone who brings great experience and a proven track record of success with major league pitching staffs," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said in the release. "He will be a solid complement to our coaching staff and I look forward to working with him."
Dubee also spent time as a pitcher himself. Drafted in 1976 by the Royals, he spent six seasons in Kansas City's organization and compiled a 4.07 ERA and a 45-49 record. Dubee also pitched 26 complete games and started 113 in his career, collecting 357 strikeouts, mostly at the minor league level.
During Dubee's time as Philadelphia's pitching coach, the staff put together a quality 2012 season, leading the MLB in innings pitched (1,033), strikeouts (918) and walks allowed (231).
The season before, in 2011, the Phillies led the majors in ERA (3.02), complete games (18), shutouts (21), strikeout/walk ratio (3.22) and quality starts (108). That year they also had the fewest baserunners per nine innings (10.79) and fewest pitches per inning (15.4).
Perhaps most importantly, Dubee has been on winning teams. While he was in Philadelphia, the Phillies won five straight National League East championships, went to two straight World Series and won it all in 2008.
In Detroit, Dubee will walk into a franchise that struggled this season, even with ace Justin Verlander returning to his normal form. The Tigers' pitching staff as a whole ranked near the bottom of Major League Baseball in several pitching categories this season.
That staff also took an emotional blow this offseason, after Daniel Norris (who Detroit received in the trade that sent David Price to Toronto) announced he had thyroid cancer. Norris showed bright spots during his short tenure with Detroit this season (3-2 record and a 3.75 ERA in 13 starts), and the team is hoping he'll be back to full strength by spring training.
The Tigers hope to also have back right-hander Anibal Sanchez, whose season was cut short because of a rotator cuff injury.
