ST. PETERSBURG — Steve Henderson was praised by his bosses Monday for his work ethic, attention to detail and how well he worked with both minor league and major league hitters during his 13 years in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
“We felt there were a ton of areas where Hendo did a tremendous job,” Rays vice president of baseball Andrew Friedman said during a conference call.
All this after Henderson’s contract was not renewed earlier in the day.
The Rays set single-season team records in 2009 for home runs, extra-base hits, walks and runs scored, yet Henderson, the team’s batting coach since 2006, was the only coach to take the fall for their third-place finish.
“Ultimately we felt it was time for a new voice,” Friedman said.
Pitching coach Jim Hickey will return, despite an off year for his staff, which saw James Shields and Matt Garza finish with losing records and the team’s ERA rise from 3.81 during their pennent-winning season of 2008 to 4.33 this year.
“You can’t just evaluate this thing on ERA,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “That’s where people get confused.”
Maddon cited the hours Hickey spent in the video room, the pages of notes he took each day, the 200-plus innings thrown by both Shields and Garza and the fact his rotation featured two rookies for most of the season and had to negotiate the American League East as examples of why he ranked Hickey among the best pitching coaches he’s ever worked with.
“Pitchers,” Maddon added, “have to be accountable for their own work, also.”
The Rays did not renew the contract of Todd Greene, the team’s quality assurance coach. The Rays created the position before the 2008 season, but Friedman said they will eliminate the position because it was a great theory that just didn’t work out.
Henderson was the Rays’ first pitching coach in 1998, but was reassigned to the minor leagues in 1999 and served as the organization’s minor league hitting coordinator until he returned to the majors to join Maddon’s staff.
The Rays struggled this season with situational hitting, moving runners along the bases and driving them home from third.
“This move isn’t the result of us pointing fingers at Hendo,” Friedman said. “Ultimately, I’m the one responsible.”
Friedman did not set a timetable on when he would hire Henderson’s replacement.
Friedman also said senior baseball adviser Don Zimmer will return and that he has had talks with assistant to the baseball coach Brian Anderson about Anderson returning for a third season.
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