Padres coach Randy Ready interviewed for Hitting Coach job in Texas

Let me try something here...

TA DOW! Hey that looks pretty good.

In any case, you can understand why Randy Ready might want to interview with the Rangers. First it shows the Padres that his services are in demand. If he needs a Christmas bonus from the Padres for that new backyard swimming pool then he has a little bit of leverage in the negotiations.

Second, when you're a Padres hitting coach your days are numbered. You're a marked man when you take that job, it's only a matter of time until you're blamed for the inevitable weak offense and you're fired.

Third, if you get a job at that band box in Texas you've got it made. Look at Dave Magadan, he tried to teach hitting in Petco Park and failed miserably. Sure the Padres lacked talent and any kind of plate discipline too but Magadan couldn't help them. Then Magadan takes a job in Boston and suddenly he's coaching a juiced, high payroll, high octane offense and he looks like a genius. It's a cushy job if you can get it.

Here's my theory on hitting coaches. I'm not sure you can teach hitting. Tony the Gwynn knows everything about hitting and his son, who he's been coaching his entire life, has been flirting with the Mendoza line for a few seasons now. That's your proof.

If I'm hiring a hitting coach, I only hire players who are switch hitters. The reason is because if you can't teach yourself to hit on both sides of the plate, how are you ever going to teach someone else how to hit?

In fact that would be the interview process. It'd be like the duel in The Princess Bride between Inigo Montoya and the Dread Pirate Roberts where they size each other up while fencing with their left hands. I'd give them a few weeks to prepare and then take the coaches applying for the job and put them in front of a pitching machine and see how they hit from their weak side. If their swing looks ridiculous then they don't get the job.