Former Montreal Expos pitching coach Bobby Cuellar dies at 72

February 26, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Former Montreal Expos pitching coach Bobby Cuellar died on January 20 at the age of 72.

Expos book author and Canadian Baseball Network writer Danny Gallagher was the first to report Cuellar’s passing.

Cuellar died of a heart attack in Houston, Texas.

Cuellar replaced Joe Kerrigan as the Expos’ pitching coach in October 1996 and spent parts of four seasons in the role. He helped to mold Pedro Martinez into a Cy Young Award winner in 1997 and was instrumental in the development of pitchers like Rheal Cormier, Javier Vazquez, Dustin Hermanson, Carl Pavano and Ugueth Urbina.

Cuellar’s tenure with the Expos was his second as a big-league pitching coach. He had previously served in that role with the Seattle Mariners for two seasons, starting in 1995, when he worked with Randy Johnson in the big lefty’s first Cy Young Award-winning campaign.

In all, Cuellar spent close to five decades in professional baseball as a player, coach and manager.

Raised in Texas

Born on August 20, 1952 in Alice, Texas, Cuellar was a standout pitcher at William Adams High School. He led the baseball team to its only two district titles in 1969 and 1970.

His dominance on the mound earned him a baseball scholarship to the University of Texas. He struggled with the Longhorns and underwent elbow surgery in 1972, but he impressed enough to convince the Texas Rangers to take a flier on him in the 29th round of the 1974 MLB draft.

Starts pro career

Starting in Rookie Ball in 1974, the 5-foot-10 right-hander began his gradual ascent up the Rangers’ ranks as a reliever. After he went 10-6 with a 3.48 ERA in 50 relief appearances for the Triple-A Tuscon Toros in 1977, he was called up by the Rangers.

He’d toss a scoreless inning in relief in his major league debut against the Mariners on September 20, 1977. The crafty righty made three more appearances for the Rangers down the stretch.

Unfortunately, that was his only tenure in the big leagues. He returned to Triple-A in 1978 and then toiled for three seasons in the minors for Cleveland before spending 1982 in the Mexican League.

Begins coaching career

In 1983, Cuellar was signed by the Mariners and employed as a player-coach for three seasons, including with the triple-A Calgary Cannons in 1985.

He continued to work as a pitching instructor or as a manager in the M’s minors for 13 seasons.

Back to the big leagues as a coach

Finally, in 1995, he was promoted to become the Mariners’ big league pitching coach where he worked with Johnson, Tim Belcher and Chris Bosio and helped the M’s to their first post-season appearance.

But the honeymoon wouldn’t last long for Cuellar in Seattle. Decimated by injuries, including a back injury that limited Johnson to eight starts, the Mariners’ used 15 different starting pitchers in 1996 and the team’s ERA rose to over 5.00. That September, manager Lou Piniella demoted Cuellar to bullpen coach and after the season he was fired.

Hired by Expos

Fortunately for Cuellar, the Expos were looking for a pitching coach following the departure of Joe Kerrigan. GM Jim Beattie, who was familiar with Cuellar because they had worked together in the Mariners’ organization, quickly hired Cuellar.

“He doesn’t have the ego that demands that he make himself known as the best pitching coach in the game,” Beattie told the Montreal Gazette about Cuellar. “He just wants to make people better, that’s all.”

Another asset Cuellar possessed was that he spoke both Spanish and English, so he could communicate well with the Expos’ Latin pitchers like Martinez, Carlos Perez and Urbina.

The Expos already had a strong pitching program in place, so Cuellar didn’t make any huge changes.

“When I came here, I figured I’d do my best to stay with what they’d done, because it worked,” Cuellar told the Montreal Gazette. “I am not the smartest guy in the world, but I’m not the dumbest either, and if something works, what’s the point in rocking the boat?”

One of Cuellar’s philosophies was to leave the team’s most successful pitchers alone and focus on those that were struggling.

“When I was playing I told myself that if I was ever a pitching coach, I will treat everybody like they’re doing great and I will work more with the guys who aren’t doing well. That’s what I’ve tried to,” Cuellar told the Montreal Gazette in 1997. “That’s why I’ll spend more time with a Jim Bullinger than a Pedro Martinez because I know that if we get a Bullinger going, we get a little cycle going and that makes everyone’s job easier.”

It was a philosophy that worked in 1997. Bullinger was the club’s Opening Day starter while Martinez was serving a suspension doled out to him near the end of the previous season for charging the mound against Phillies pitcher Mike Williams.

Bullinger credited Cuellar for his renewed confidence.

“Bobby worked with me in spring training and noticed some things in my delivery that I needed to clean up . . . I must have thanked the guy a hundred times and each time I get the same answer in return, ‘You’re the one who’s doing it.'” Bullinger told the Montreal Gazette.

By midseason, Expos starting pitchers had thrown 15 complete games and Alou was impressed with both his starting rotation and his pitching coach.

The ace of the staff was, of course, Martinez. And though Cuellar would tell people he had little to do with the future Cooperstowner’s success, Martinez would tell you differently. He even acknowledged Cuellar in his Hall of Fame speech in 2015.

“Joe [Kerrigan] always wanted to emphasize that he was the pitching coach and he wanted you to do the stuff his way, to let you know he was the boss,” Martinez told the Montreal Gazette in July 1997. “Bobby understands that everyone here is a grown man. He lets you know what he thinks you need to do and from there it’s up to you. He’s there if you need help. We talk a lot . . . One thing he’s told me is to finish my warmup like I’m pitching to an actual batter.”

Whatever Cuellar did with Martinez, it worked. In that 1997 season, the 5-foot-11 right-hander posted a 17-8 record and a 1.90 ERA in 31 starts and became the first Expo to win the National League Cy Young Award.

Helped young Expos pitchers

Over next two seasons, Cuellar continued to help develop the Expos young pitchers. One of his pet projects was converting Hermanson into a starting pitcher — which he did successfully. Hermanson went 14-11 with a 3.13 ERA in 32 appearances (30 starts) in 1998.

By mid-2000, however, the Expos were struggling. They had 10 pitchers on the disabled list and the staff, as a whole, fashioned an ERA over 5.00. So, on July 20 of that year, Cuellar was fired, along with bench coach Luis Pujols.

A baseball lifer

Cuellar would resurface as the Rangers’ bullpen coach in 2001 then move on to the Minnesota Twins’ organization.

In 2002, he was the pitching coach with the Triple-A Edmonton Trappers where he taught a circle change-up to a 23-year-old left-hander named Johan Santana. That pitch would become the biggest weapon in his arsenal and help him win two American League Cy Young awards.

After five seasons in the Twins’ organization, Cuellar returned to the big leagues as the bullpen coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2006 and 2007 before returning to the Twins.

In 2013 and 2014, he enjoyed his final big-league gig as the Twins’ bullpen coach.

After that, Cuellar spent close to a decade as a roving pitching instructor in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization.

Giving back in his hometown

Each off-season, Cuellar returned to his hometown of Alice, Texas, where he mentored young players. Fittingly, the Little League field there has been named after him.

“As long as I’m at the ballpark, watching a game, I’m happy,” Cuellar once said.

That sure seemed to be true.

Cuellar is survived by his wife, Nora, his three children, Tiffany, Bobby and Emma, and six grandchildren.

You can read his official obituary here.