Kyles named bullpen coach (reply #130), Randolph bench coach, Castro pitching coach, Brad Fischer 3B coach, Sveum hitting coach, Sedar 1B coach

[Invader3K]

Well, usually a former manager as a bench coach is seen as a good thing. He certainly knows about managing a contending team, and being in high pressure situations, even if the Mets did "choke" the last couple of seasons.

[logan82]

Well, usually a former manager as a bench coach is seen as a good thing. He certainly knows about managing a contending team, and being in high pressure situations, even if the Mets did "choke" the last couple of seasons.

I was actually thinking more of the fact that he apparently didn't get along with the players when he was fired or the poor bullpen management aspect. Then again, when you are losing it is much harder to get along with others.

[Hate those Rodents]

Ned Yost as a bench coach would be fine. Not that Randolph=Yost is even accurate.

[ELCABALLO45]

Love this move. Also, the Mets did choke again this year, and Randolph was not the manager.

[hauser42]

I still think Hardy's range is misleading because monst stats don't account for shifts.

 

Edit: I am surprised that people are happy with a bench coach who is basically the same as Ned Yost.

 

Hardy makes all the plays that need to be made just because he is not flashy people want to view him as not having range.

 

Hope Randolph doesn't decide under mind Macha if the team hits the skids during the season. I love the Castro hiring, think he can do a good job with the pitchers.

[homer]

Hardy does not have good range. He makes all the plays that are near him. That does not make him a bad shortstop it just means he doesn't have good range.

[trwi7]

As long as we're talking about Hardy's range, he was rated the third best shortstop in the plus/minus system at +19 by Fielding Bible. The only players ahead of him were Rollins (+23) and Yunel Escobar (+21).

[DHonks]

Hardy's range is adequate, mainly because he is often well-positioned and also because he gets great jumps on balls. His instincts and reactions are very good. Plus his arm is very strong and very accurate, and he's got a great transfer from glove to throwing hand. So while his range isn't above average, he does so many things well that it makes him above average.

[brewerjamie15]

Never saw that one coming. Nice move by the Brewers. I'm quite pleased with the staff situation.

[Ennder]

As long as we're talking about Hardy's range, he was rated the third best shortstop in the plus/minus system at +19 by Fielding Bible. The only players ahead of him were Rollins (+23) and Yunel Escobar (+21).

 

All of the defensive metrics except Dial's seem to think Hardy was one of the better defensive SS in baseball last year. They also all think Weeks was roughly average. The Brewers as a team were above average last year too. We'll have to see the teams repeat it to know whether it was just a flukey year or they actually all improved defensively with age (which isn't uncommon).

 

Fielder was still terrible though of course.

[clancyphile]

Willie Randolph has been named bench coach.

He had a great year playing second for the Crew. .424 OBP. Oh, if we could get that from Rickie Weeks... [drools]

[And That]

From the JS Online Randolph article:

 

Macha has to hire a bullpen coach to complete his staff. He said he had interviewed two internal candidates, Class AAA Nashville pitching coach Stan Kyles and minor league pitching coordinator Jim Rooney.

 

I'm a Stan Kyles fan. I think that would be an excellent selection. Huntsville's pitching coach Chris Hook is a younger guy who did good work with the Stars last year... he'd be a good selection too.

 

Also from the same article, this hasn't been mentioned:

 

Randolph, fired on June 17 as manager of the New York Mets, won't necessarily work as the Brewers' bench coach. The understanding when he accepted the offer was that he'd be released from the position should he be offered the job as Seattle's manager.

Jack Z. could loot the Brewers' organization one more time.

[piccione88]

Are there any topics that dont drift off into talk about Hardy, and/or Weeks ?

[TooLiveBrew]

Jack Z. could loot the Brewers' organization one more time.

 

If by "loot", you mean "hire Willie Randolph as manager", then yes. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Team Canada]

Let's not let this thread digress into a discussion of defensive range ratings. Feel free to start another thread to accomplish that purpose.

[And That]

If by "loot", you mean "hire Willie Randolph as manager", then yes. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

I get your point, but I think Randolph would be a fine bench coach, just like Ned Yost might be a fine bench coach. Not to mention the pain in the butt of hiring a bench coach, only to have to hire another one a few weeks later. It is best to get your staff settled as soon as possible.

[brewmann04]

maybe Jack can do a favor by taking willie to Seattle

[SeriesFinale]

How often does a bench coach have a negative impact on a team?

[lukevan]

Yost would be worth -10 wins as bench coach.

 

[dlk9s]

How often does a bench coach have a negative impact on a team?

Don Zimmer was a liability in fights.

[RockCoCougars]

Why are some so down on Randolph? A bench coach should know his stuff, and know the players in the league. Seems to me like Randolph would have a wealth of experience for Macha to bounce ideas off, seeing as he played for 17 years in the majors and coached for several years for World Championship teams, and managed in the league for the past several years. I guess since he once played for the Brewers he should be disqualified though.

 

Guess you guys would rather have Kremblas who did, well......nothing in the majors.

[Diskono]

RockCoCougars wrote:

 

Guess you guys would rather have Kremblas who did, well......nothing in the majors.

Wes Obermueller has done more in the majors than David Price or Clayton Kershaw.

[PeaveyFury]

Late to the party here, but does anyone else find it strange that Melvin had come out and said that they wanted a manager with experience, then they hire a staff that is largely inexperienced at their current roles? Sveum has never been a hitting coach in the majors, Castro was only a pitching coach for a couple of months 6 years ago, and I don't believe Fischer has ever been a 3B coach either.

 

But still, seems like a solid staff being put together to this point.

[Fatter than Joey]

PF -- I think Castro has probably more "pitching coach" experience than most currently employed in MLB -- He may not have held the title in MLB, but I know he has done it in the DR. I think probably the only difference between their (Castro & Maddux) jobs last year, was the walk to the mound, and Maddux's shoulder grab of doom.

 

Sveum I don't get -- He probably should have a bench coach, but Macha probably wanted to pick a bench coach he was familiar with. I think Sveum will be a good buffer for the established player regime and Macha.

[MNBrew]

I wait with about as much anticipation as anyone for these coaching hires whenever there are openings from year to year. And goodness knows everything gets analyzed on this great site to the point of exhaustion. But I think I've come to a new point in my thinking:

 

Only in rare cases does the coach himself (excluding the manager) really make that much of a difference. Most of it always falls back on the players to be able to avoid bad habits and to make adjustments.

 

- Every coach we've had, we hear about how hard they work.

 

- We've had respected hitting coaches, a Hall of Fame hitter as hitting coach, hitting coaches with good and also no major league playing experience....and one hasn't made any better difference than another, really. And actually, many of these recent/current players' failures make Lamar Johnson & Mike Easler & Jim Lefebvre look like they were relative geniuses.

 

- Almost the same ditto for pitching coaches. Everyone went nuts about Maddux's early results. But why couldn't Ben Sheets get better at making adjustments 7-8 years into his career in those long stretches he pitched very ordinarily? Why couldn't Suppan produce results similar to his St. Louis years (avg. 14-9 record, decent ERA) under Maddux? For every success there have been ample failures.

 

- You shouldn't be hearing much about or from the bench or 1B coach, and everyone gripes at the 3B coach when a couple guys get thrown out at the plate in game changing situations -- that happens everywhere.

 

- By the way, for 10+ years we've been hearing how Billy Castro has been like a 2nd pitching coach. I don't understand how someone can now suggest he doesn't have experience or qualifications. How can he be considered anything other than a highly proven and respectable coaching hire?

 

So the way I look at it is this: Get good, solid, respected individuals in there whose track record and/or attributes give reason to think their hiring is a good move. Then let's not overanalyze them until they give us something more to go on, instead saving said scrutiny for every player move yet to happen or not happen these next 3 months.