The Red Sox announced today that they have reassigned pitching coach Dana LeVangie and assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister. LeVangie will stay in the organization as a pro scout. Bannister will move into the role of VP of pitching development, which deals primarily with minor leaguers.
Pitching is what did the Red Sox in in 2019, as the club finished 19th in the majors in team ERA. It’s worth noting too that injuries played a big role, with Chris Sale, David Price and Nathan Eovaldi missing dozens of starts due to various maladies. Any chance that the bullpen would make up for that was a dead letter the moment the front office decided to go cheap on the pen last winter.
So, yes, on some level LeVangie and Bannister are fall guys here. But such is life for big league pitching coaches.