The Brewers hire Rick Peterson as pitching coach, Kyles back as bullpen coach, Bosio back as advance scout

[joepepsi]

60 Minutes did a story on Marshall several years ago. Part of the problem for him is that it's mostly pitchers with injury histories that seek him out. In other words, they are desperate for one more chance at the big leagues. As long as he's only working with fring-ey types his theories will never be fully implemented or accepted in MLB. No one wants to monkey with topline healthy prospect.

 

Still, I agree some organization like the Royals or Pirates should take a chance. They could implement his theories in the low minors with a select group of pitchers each year. His only other hope would be to work with the Chris Smith and Mike Burns of the world. If he had success turning those guys into good major league pitchers, then organizations will take note.

[ilovebeer]

jsonline says no decision today, probably Monday and Peterson looks to be the front runner.

(Edited to add link - hawing)

[Never Outhustled]

I wish the Brewers would get this wrapped up. Peterson would be the best hire the organization has made since Jack Z. I hope money isn't the sticking point, like it was when they lost Mike Maddux. Money should be a non-factor considering we pay our manager so little.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

While sabermetrics and moneyball philosophies have helped scouts evaluate many hitters more appropriately (although many still rely more on "tools"), most scouts rely way too much on the old radar gun for pitching. If he's got a different take...I'm game. Whatever we've been doing hasn't helped.

[EbbaStClaire]

If (when) the Brewers sign Peterson, the Brewers should sign 2 or 3 of the best Independent Leagues' pitchers and turn them over to Peterson. Baseball America announced their top 20 Independent League prospects yesterday so that would be a good place to start. Most of those pitchers are older and physically mature but maybe an improvement in their pitching mechanics can turn them into legitimate prospects. One or two extra mph, more movement, or more consistency may be all it takes. I would think this group would be amenable to trying just about anything to improve since they obviously love to play ball and want to make it to affiliated baseball. Since they are physically mature I would think they are less likely to be injured by making alterations to their mechanics. The Brewers have had some success going this route, Thatcher being the best example, but also Brandon Kitzler at Huntsville this year. Kitzler is kind of interesting because he had some bad outings initially and then got better.

[twobrewers]

I'd really like to see this Peterson hiring wrapped up soon.

 

If he plans to implement an entire overhaul to our pitching philosophy from A to MLB, he needs to get to work ASAP. In addition, the sooner he is hired, the quicker we can get to work targeting pitchers to add to the roster.

 

I wonder if one of the sticking points might be how much authority Peterson will actually have over the entire system.

[Invader3K]

My guess is it will be announced on Monday or very early next week otherwise.

[homer]

While I haven't had the time to read all the info on the Dr. Mike Marshall website it is disconcerting that he doesn't have much respect for Rick Peterson or Dr. Andrews.

Mike Marshall doesn't seem to have respect for anyone not named Mike Marshall.

 

I would pay good money to see a pitching injury roundtable with Marshall, Dr. Andrews, and Peterson. I think Marshall might physically attack one or both of them.

[TooLiveBrew]

I wonder if one of the sticking points might be how much authority Peterson will actually have over the entire system.

 

Interesting point. While I'm intrigued by Peterson's approach, I don't think the Brewers should just turn over the keys to their entire pitching philosophy to the guy. He should most certainly have input, but not necessarily become the pitching coach and director of pitching development just like 'that'.

[Never Outhustled]

Brian Price has been hired by the Reds, which should clear the way for Peterson to sign here.

[homer]

The Brewers have hired Peterson:

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/64874912.html

[TooLiveBrew]

Glad that's out of the way. Now I guess we'll see what, if any, kind of allure he can create for FA pitchers.

[MNBrew]

Hopefully this as as good a move as all the PR about Peterson will make it sound.

 

Of course, without a serious talent upgrade, especially in the rotation, it wouldn't make the first bit of difference if the pitching coach were Cy Young or Santa Claus.

[RockCoCougars]

When I heard about Peterson, the first thing I thought of was Dr. Mike Marshall's 'critiques of him. Marshall is quite eccentric and outspoken to say the least. He claims that he's been blackballed from the game, but that could be because he may be seen as a quack. Come to think of it, Marshall would be an interesting hire for someone....if nothing else. I think he claims that his training methods would allow guys to pitch pretty much every day. Considering the way this team burnt the pen last year, this would be a good thing.

[gbpacker40]

Not only has Wiki been updated but here is a nice 3 part interview I found with him.......

 

http://metsmerizedonline....eterson-part-1-of-3.html

[Ennder]

Hopefully this as as good a move as all the PR about Peterson will make it sound.

 

Of course, without a serious talent upgrade, especially in the rotation, it wouldn't make the first bit of difference if the pitching coach were Cy Young or Santa Claus.

We'd like have pretty close to a league average rotation if we just brought the same guys back, at least until someone got hurt and we again had nobody to replace them. Shooting for league average isn't really what we should do of course but the rotation is nowhere near as bad as last years results.

[Never Outhustled]

Terrific news. This is the best hire the organization has made since Jack Z. This is bigger than any free agent signing. This move offsets Doug Melvin's weakness as a GM, his inability to recognize and acquire quality pitching. Melvin now has a chance to be a great GM. Congrats to him for pulling off the epic hire.

 

Now let Peterson identify some scrap heap guys we can make small trades for, like Peterson did with the Mets for guys he fixed like Oliver Perez and John Maine. We might be able to do a Perez/Suppan swap. Bring in an underappriciated minor league sidearmer, Disco Hayes, who is very similar to Chad Bradford, a guy Peterson gave an oppurtunity to in Oakland. Let Peterson identify the pitchers we trade Hardy and McGehee for. Stay away from big free agents contracts, we don't need to waste money with Peterson on board. Ditch the scrubs we have now, Bush and Looper, and replace them with guys with legit velocity and stuff.

[Tedaldtada]

X, I hope you are right, but I am def. going to wait for results before I judge this move. We all know the guys that he really helped (Hudson, Mulder, Zito, Maine, Ollie) but iirc didn't Pedro and Johan butt heads with him a little bit (not to mention Macha)? This will either be a great move, or Peterson will be gone after one year.

[Invader3K]

We'd like have pretty close to a league average rotation if we just brought the same guys back, at least until someone got hurt and we again had nobody to replace them. Shooting for league average isn't really what we should do of course but the rotation is nowhere near as bad as last years results.

 

If that is how Melvin is thinking, he may as well be fired now. We all know Soup, Loop, and Bush will all more than likely suck again this year. The writing should be on the wall. We should also all know that this is pretty much a make or break year for Manny Parra. But again pointing on him to be the #2 in the rotation would be quite fool hardy at this point.

[Thurston Fluff]

I don't know if all of us know Bush will suck again. He was pretty good befoer the injury and was pretty much average his entire career. Average doesn't suck average would have had us back in the playoffs this year. As for Parra being make or break lefties with great stuff are never in make or break years while in their 20's. See DeLaRosa, Jorge.

I like the Peterson hire in that he already knows the job and has a well thought out philosophy he will implement. I like the forward thinking scientific types so another positive in my opinion. I loved Bill Castro but he was sort of behind the times in some regards. When I read in spring he had to learn how to use the computer to set his pitchers workouts I had thought that was not a good sign.

[hawing]

What a weird time for the announcement: 11:30 PM on Haudricourt's blog and 1:54 AM on brewers.com.

 

I was wondering how in the heck I found this out from WIBA (the station that barely mentions baseball anymore, much less the Brewers, now that there's football over which to obsess) and not from Brewerfan.

[Never Outhustled]

We'd like have pretty close to a league average rotation if we just brought the same guys back, at least until someone got hurt and we again had nobody to replace them. Shooting for league average isn't really what we should do of course but the rotation is nowhere near as bad as last years results.

Only 2/5s of the rotation underachieved. Suppan and Looper pitched as projected. Loopers 2008 ERA was a statistical anomally. His 2007 ERA was more accurate to his ability, and now he's regressing, as expected, due to age. Its very clear that Suppan stuff is gone. Looper and Suppan project to be worse than ever next year. As for Bush, sure he's better than his ERA last year, but he also had an ERA over 5 in 2007, how many excuses are we going to make for this guy? He's average at his very best, and very few pitchers can maintain there very best over a 6 month season. He has a below average career ERA because he's a below average pitcher. The average ERA includes pitchers who have also struggled with injury, had bad luck...

 

You can't shoot for average. Every year, theres pitchers who, because of health, greatly underachieve. You need to have someone to have a great year to make up for it and drag the team ERA down. Bush, Looper, and Suppan don't have the ability to have a great year. The team is better off taking a chance on less proven pitchers with greater upside.

 

Also, its weak to continually blame our shortcomings last year on the replacements when Narveson had the best ERA among starters, by a wide margin.

[kramnoj]

Also, its weak to continually blame our shortcomings last year on the replacements when Narveson had the best ERA among starters, by a wide margin.

 

It's not weak at all. If Narveson gave any indication that he was the pitcher in his 2nd stint in his first stint, he never would have been released.

[Never Outhustled]

It's not weak at all. If Narveson gave any indication that he was the pitcher in his 2nd stint in his first stint, he never would have been released.

How does that change his production, or how it effects the total combined production of the replacements?

[kramnoj]

It changes because if he had done better earlier, he would have stayed in the rotation, and would have had more innings to prove that he could produce.

 

But, really, even if Bush and Suppan hadn't been hurt, this team wasn't going to make the playoffs. Some of us thought that the Brewers might get to 87 wins this season, but that wouldn't have been enough this year. I don't think a healthy Bush and Suppan get this team 91 wins.