The St. Louis Cardinals have fired bullpen coach Marty Mason, reports the Post-Dispatch, a move that comes as a major surprise in the wake of the expected return of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.

Mason, in certain conspiracy-theory circles, was considered nearly as important as Dave Duncan to the Cardinals’ long-term success with veteran pitchers and ground-ball focused game-planning. Joe Strauss describes him in this article as “the go-to man for mechanical issues”, and it will be interesting to see how the Cardinals replace him and placate Duncan, their long-time pitching coach.