Indians Fire Pitching Coach Scott Radinsky, Promote Ruben Niebla

The Cleveland Indians are in a slump if there ever was one. They're losers in 11 of their last 12 games, with their only win over that time coming in their most recent outing, a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins, who swept them as part of said 11-game losing streak in the previous series. So what is there to do?

Fire someone, of course! Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer took to Twitter to announce that the team has fired Scott Radinsky as its pitching coach:

#Indians fire radinsky as pitching coach. Ruben Niebla replaces him.

— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) August 9, 2012

The Tribe have been outscored 97-42 over their last 12 games and, really, you can make arguments against the pitching and the hitting. Sure, only 42 runs were produced, but it's unrealistic to expect your offense to put up 11, 12, 10, 10 and 14 points a game - all double digit totals that the Indians have allowed since July 27.

Still, only time will tell if firing the pitching coach can actually change things that much. The Indians have fallen back far in the AL Central race, sitting 9.5 games back of the Chicago White Sox, who hold first place. As Al Yellon of Baseball Nation notes, it's likely that the promotion of Ruben Niebla is simply for the interim, and the team will look for a steady replacement once the offseason hits.

Niebla has spent the season as the pitching coach for Cleveland's Triple-A affiliate, the Columbus Clippers. Radinsky was in his third year on the Indians' coaching staff, and in his first year as the full pitching coach.

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