Red Sox

“My job was to try to get the most out of the players,” Bush said. “Somewhere along the way, we fell short.”

The Boston Red Sox began their offseason on Monday by firing pitching coach Dave Bush and third base coach Carlos Febles. Bush said that there’s no one to blame for his firing but himself.

“The feedback was ultimately that we just didn’t perform well enough from the mound,” Bush told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. “As the pitching coach, that falls under my responsibility. I wouldn’t put too much more into it than that.”

Bush was hired at the end of the 2019 season, and his four years in the role ties him with John Farrell for most seasons spent as pitching coach since the turn of the century according to Speier. Over the past four years, the Red Sox pitching staff has produced an average ERA of 4.72, which includes a 21st-ranked 4.52 ERA this season.

“In the end, it’s the results that matter,” Bush said. “That’s why we do it. If the results didn’t matter, it wouldn’t be as fun to coach. It wouldn’t be as fun to play. It wouldn’t be as fun to watch.”

The Red Sox have found some success in developing pitchers during Bush’s tenure. Garrett Whitlock became one of baseball’s best relievers out of nowhere in 2021, Brayan Bello emerged as one of the most promising homegrown starters Boston has seen in a decade, Kutter Crawford went from an unranked prospect to a potential rotation arm and the Red Sox turned unproven waiver claims such as John Schreiber and Brennan Bernardino into legitimate bullpen mainstays. Bush got to know and help some of these players even before they reached the major leagues.

“That’s one of the most rewarding things about doing this,” Bush said. “There were guys that I was able to have in the big leagues the last couple years where I was in the room when we drafted them, and I got to be part of their process from seeing them as amateurs all the way through to coaching them in the big leagues.”

But plenty of pitchers under Bush’s tutelage had their best seasons after leaving the Red Sox. Ryan Brasier struggled during his five seasons in Boston, despite the club giving him chance after chance to reach his full potential. After the Red Sox designated him for assignment in May, he pitched to a 0.70 ERA as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ bullpen. 

In Martín Pérez’s two seasons as a Red Sox, he had an average ERA of 4.62. The very first season after his departure, he and his 2.89 ERA earned a trip to the 2022 MLB All-Star game as a member of the Texas Rangers.

During the offseason Pérez left, the Red Sox signed Jake Diekman but later traded him at that year’s deadline after posting a 4.23 ERA from the bullpen. A season later, that number dropped to 2.18 while he pitched in relief for the Tampa Bay Rays. Diekman’s teammate, Zack Littell, pitched only two games with the Red Sox before becoming a very capable starter in Tampa.

“My job was to try to get the most out of the players,” Bush said. “Somewhere along the way, we fell short.”

As the Red Sox begin their search for a new pitching coach, Bush’s time in Boston will likely be remembered by fans with ambivalence. He helped earn some Red Sox pitchers roles on the major league club, but it’s hard not to ask “What could have been?” when looking at how others have performed after moving from Boston.