The Brewers' Next Manager; Latest -- Valentine may have inside track to the job; Cora, Melvin, Roenicke also finalists

[thumperden]

Ouch! To hear that Wallach is older now that Harvey Kuenn was in '82 hurts my head and my feelings. Getting old sucks!

[Invader3K]

Heard Haudricourt on the D-List yesterday. He said he doesn't think the Brewers are going to pursue Valentine, so he might be a scratch from the list.

[Beast Light]

For what its worth, WSSP reported that Pat Listach said his interview went "tremendously" well.

[Invader3K]

I'm kind of getting the sense that Bob Melvin and Pat Listach may be the front runners at this point.

 

Tim Kurkjian apparently reported that the Brewers could name the manager as soon as early next week.

[jerichoholicninja]

If it's those two please be Listach. A manager isn't that important but since we have to have one I want one that's going to be on the bottom of the pile during a bench clearing brawl.

[Sage]

If it's those two, how about both? Listach as manager, and have B. Melvin be the experienced bench coach. That would be more than acceptable for me.

[thumperden]

I'd like to see that too, only if both gentlemen can work well together.

[thebruce44]

With the exception of Peterson, I would prefer to let the next coach choose his staff. I don't know that Macha was allowed to. If he was, it seems as though some staff positions were "very strongly suggested" considering 3 of the staff members interviewed for his job.

[patrickgpe]

regarding the staff, the only one that needs to go is Fischer. i do agree that the new manager should be able to hire his own staff though.

[Thurston Fluff]

With the exception of Peterson, I would prefer to let the next coach choose his staff. I don't know that Macha was allowed to. If he was, it seems as though some staff positions were "very strongly suggested" considering 3 of the staff members interviewed for his job.

 

While I hope Peterson stays I think the manager should be able to pick all of his staff. I think one of the factors in deciding on a manger might be how he views the pitching side of it. If he believes in the new approach the Brewers organization has it may be a better fit.

I agree MAcha may have not been given a fair shake with who to hire and that could have caused some problems for him.

[Patrick425]

Ok, I'll get some flak for this, but I'm not seeing why there is so much unconditional faith in Rick Peterson. I understand he has a decent and long history. He did well with the A's. However, is his record with the Mets that impressive? It seems like they had a lot of late season bullpen breakdowns while he was there and Heath Bell seemed to flourish after he left the Mets and the tutelage of Peterson. Also, is there any evidence that shows that pitchers he has coached have had a better health record than pitchers not coached by him?

 

I realize he has studied the mechanics of pitching. He seems to be a student of pitching. However, I sometimes wonder if he's too cerebral and "over-thinks" things. I think his style works for some pitchers, but I'm guessing that there are others that are uncomfortable with it. It seems like he wants some pitchers to basically break down and rebuild all their mechanics. I would imagine that abandoning the mechanics that got you to the big leagues in the first place is not easy. I wonder if he's better off as a minor league pitching coach (like he was with the A's).

 

I'm not saying that the Brewers should let him go, I'm just not completely sold on him like others seem to be.

[And That]

The list of candidates has been pared from eight to four, though the names of the four aren't known, according to Haudricourt. The four finalists will be involved in a second round of interviews within the next week. Attanasio will be involved with those interviews.

 

As is the popular conjecture, Bob Melvin is probably one of the four. Doug Melvin also confirmed he had spoken with eight guys, which tacitly confirms that not all candidates have been made public.

[hawing]

Ok, I'll get some flak for this, but I'm not seeing why there is so much unconditional faith in Rick Peterson.

I can't speak for anyone but myself, of course, but my thinking on Peterson is that if his approach represents a significant sea-change for the pitching part of the Brewers' organization, one year is probably not enough time to declare yay or nay. So while I would stop short of saying I have unconditional faith in Rick Peterson, I am open to his staying on.

 

Getting back to the field manager search, I'm intrigued by the narrowing down of candidates, though I doubt there will be an announcement before the postseason ends.

[owbc]

Since it's narrowed down to four, that means that Valentine is out of the picture for sure, because there's no way he interviewed without it leaking to the media. Same with Sandberg.

 

I agree that B. Melvin is probably on the final list. Judging by Listach's comments, he is probably also on the short list. I still like Wallach's chances, since he's an NL guy and a known players manager. The 4th candidate is probably either Roenicke or Cora.

 

With Mark A. involved in the second round, it's hard to name favorites. D. Melvin probably does not have a front runner at this point either.

[RockCoCougars]

The list of candidates has been pared from eight to four, though the names of the four aren't known, according to Haudricourt. The four finalists will be involved in a second round of interviews within the next week. Attanasio will be involved with those interviews.

 

As is the popular conjecture, Bob Melvin is probably one of the four. Doug Melvin also confirmed he had spoken with eight guys, which tacitly confirms that not all candidates have been made public.

I think the question is which two guys did Melvin interview in AZ last week? Unless I missed something, those two haven't been named. As I said in another thread, both Sveum and Sandberg live in AZ I believe..... as does Bob Brenly (gag). Since Hardicourt is now reporting that Brenly is out of the mix, hopefully that bullet has been dodged, though I'm still very nervous about Clint Hurdle.

[bjkrautk]

Haudricourt posted in the blog comments that, per a reliable source, neither Brenly or Valentine are in the mix for the managerial job.

http://www.jsonline.com/b...l?page=2#comment54301162

[RockCoCougars]

Apparently, Wallach was one of the guys interviewed in AZ. I wonder if Wedge or Roenicke was the other one. Since we know that Cora, Listach and Melvin all interviewed for sure, it seems that there are four guys who interviewed for sure and two guys who almost certainly interviewed, that still leaves a couple of mystery men. Going further, Melvin mentioned that there were eight candidates, not eight interviews. That doesn't allay my fears about Hurdle being in the mix one bit.

[And That]

Melvin said that "some of the names (reported) are right and some aren't right" - if you take that to assume one of the guys mentioned wasn't actually interviewed, my guess was that it was either Wedge and/or Wallach. Both of those were reported by Ken Rosenthal, who isn't exactly a bastion of reliable rumormongering. Roenicke is a possibility to add to that group, too. OTOH, it was reported alluded to elsewhere (I think an LA Times piece linked earlier in the thread) that Wallach was interviewed.

 

So, given that Bob Melvin, Cora and Listach were almost certainly interviewed and Wallach was probably interviewed, that leaves up to four guys who we may not know about.

[brewmann04]

I wonder if Sandberg was one of the guys not mentioned

[thumperden]

What is it about Clint Hurdle that makes you nervous, RockCo?

 

I liked how his enthusiasm and "players" style turned around Colorado. I don't know what happened to make the wheels fall off though. Does anyone have any more info? Did he lose his players after a fashion?

 

I think he'd be at least an intriguing interview.

[TooLiveBrew]

I liked how his enthusiasm and "players" style turned around Colorado. I don't know what happened to make the wheels fall off though. Does anyone have any more info? Did he lose his players after a fashion?

 

But did he actually turn anything around & then lose anything? Or was it just baseball being baseball & being fluky?

[RockCoCougars]

The primary reason that I don't favor Hurdle because he never won a weak division once in nearly eight seasons. As a matter of fact, the World Series year in 2007 was the only winning season that he had in Colorado. Ned Yost has a higher career winning percentage than Hurdle. I know that the manager can only work with what he's given, and it follows that the whole 'hiring a winner' thing should be taken with a grain of salt, but I see nothing with his history in Colorado that makes me want to turn the team over to him. In 2009, the Rockies were a playoff team, but when Hurdle was fired they were 10 games under. I don't want to make this political at all, but I also remember hearing some rumblings that Hurdle's religious beliefs had fractured the clubhouse somewhat. He doesn't seem to bring much to the table in my view outside of the one World Series appearance and the fact that his reputation was as a 'players manager'- which the Brewers seem to be looking for. What I don't understand is if the Brewers are looking for a 'players manager' first and foremost, why they just didn't go with Sveum or Randolph- both of whom seem to have had good rapport already in place with the team. Are they seen as pushovers or what? I want a players guy as well, since it's obvious the middle manager approach Macha had didn't work, but looking at Hurdle's track record, I'd rather give a new guy a shot.

[RyDogg66]

Brewers set to hire Listach. Why else would I have a dream last night where someone was lighting off fireworks in a park that spelled out Pat Listach??

[hawing]

Brewers set to hire Listach. Why else would I have a dream last night where someone was lighting off fireworks in a park that spelled out Pat Listach??

That's awesome, RyDogg. If a Listach hire comes to pass, we'll expect you to regularly update us on your baseball-related dreams. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[owbc]

From what I read, Hurdle got fired for being too much of a players manager. He had become too close to the players and the clubhouse took on an extremely casual atmosphere after the Rockies won the pennant.