Impressions of Roenicke so far (part 1)

[JohnBriggs12]

I'd like to know Melvin's criteria for a hiring a manager? As someone else noted on this board, he always seems to be looking for a guy who isn't like the previous guy. His search is reactionary; he doesn't seem to have a clear picture of what he thinks makes a good manager, or what the organizational goals are for a manager.

Everything Melvin does is reactionary. Starting pitching goes down one year, and the next year the need becomes staring pitching depth and he brings in a bunch of 4th and 5th starters.. Young relief pitching fails one year and the next they bring in a bunch of guys in the mid 30's.

 

Melvin never anticipates anything. He assumes what wasn't broken one year will stay not broken the next. He's constantly focusing on fixing last years problem instead of anticipating what this year's will be and preventing it.

[pogokat]

I hadn't chimed in until now...but Josh Wilson is starting in the outfield tonight...

[Invader3K]

I hadn't chimed in until now...but Josh Wilson is starting in the outfield tonight...

Yeah, just a completely stupid move. Tonight's lineup feels like throwing up a white flag before the first pitch.

[Roscoe Chill]

I echo pogokat...it's over for me as far as Roenicke goes. It's tough when you hated Yost, and you didn't care for Macha. But dammit, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the terribleness of past managers doesn't give the current manager a pass. Roenicke sucks.

[1992casey]

I'd like to know Melvin's criteria for a hiring a manager? As someone else noted on this board, he always seems to be looking for a guy who isn't like the previous guy.

 

That's often the case. It seems to me that usually it's a personality shift, i.e. players' manager to disciplinarian or vice versa.

 

The Brewers' most recent managers have had rather unique personalities, though. I'd qualify Ned Yost as both a players' manager and disciplinarian. And I'd qualify Macha as neither.

 

Doug hired Ned because of his enthusiasm; that was made clear. In Macha, I'd guess that he was looking for a strategic improvement. In Roenicke, I think he was turned on once again by enthusiasm.

 

My gut says that Doug doesn't really go into the hiring process with the goal of hiring a certain "type." I think weighs his options as he gets to know the candidates.

[The Truth]

Josh Wilson starting in the OF is, again, a product of Doug Melvin's doing. Morgan is a career .201 hitter vs LHP. Kotsay is horrible. At least Wilson can field better than Kotsay..

[PrinceEatMeat]

Josh Wilson starting in the OF is, again, a product of Doug Melvin's doing. Morgan is a career .201 hitter vs LHP. Kotsay is horrible. At least Wilson can field better than Kotsay..

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Wilson has never played in the OF in the majors, and played only once in the OF in the minors. I would guess that Kotsay is a far better OF than he is.

[The Truth]

Actually, now that I looked at Wilson's splits, it is a strange move. Wilson is hitting only .212 in his career vs LHP. Might as well roll the dice with Morgan, at least Morgan can field

[jwill535]

I have no problem with his out of the box thinking, IE over aggressive running and shifts. But was gets me is his lack of or just ignoring Coaching 101 stuff IE bunting, LH vs RH etc. Its like being able to ace Calculus without being able to add.

[Never Outhustled]

This is the quickest I've hated a Brewers manager since Davey Lopes.

[billyjohnston77]

When RR was hired, he was quoted as saying, "Yeah, when Doug called and offered the job, it took all of 30 seconds for me to accept"

 

Now if you count to 30 seconds, doesn't that seem like a long and akward time to sit silent before accepting something....I figured it was a sign to come. He sure did want the job bad I guess and can make snap decisions quickly.

[brettac1]

This is the quickest I've hated a Brewers manager since Davey Lopes.

Precisely my feeling. I can hardly watch lately.

 

Also, I immediately burst out laughing while reading the billyjohnston post. Well done, sir.

[markedman5]

RR's post game comments

 

"we played a good game tonight" We are battling" "we have a bunch of free swingers who aren't patient and thats unlikely to change"

 

Not exact quotes but that pretty much sums it up

 

ps. He called a team meeting for the 2nd time this year after the game.

 

http://www.brewcrewball.c...ickes-post-game-comments

[markedman5]

This pretty much sums up what its like to be a brewer fan.....lol.....well done!

 

This is the quickest I've hated a Brewers manager since Davey Lopes.

[logan82]

Wilson in LF? Inconceivable. Not even the best option on the team. I can't believe that with all the special infield shifting that so little consideration is given to outfield defense when deciding who starts.

[ELCABALLO45]

I have defended RR for awhile now. I even probably made up excuses for him as well. But letting Kameron Loe again face 4 straight left handed hitters in a row last night and now having Wilson in left, cant defend him anymore.

[crewcrazy]

RR's post game comments

 

"we played a good game tonight" We are battling" "we have a bunch of free swingers who aren't patient and thats unlikely to change"

 

Not exact quotes but that pretty much sums it up

 

ps. He called a team meeting for the 2nd time this year after the game.

 

http://www.brewcrewball.c...ickes-post-game-comments

More from Haudricourt:

 

"These guys want to win," said Roenicke. "Whatever we need to do to

get it done, I'm not picking out individuals because that's not the

problem. The problem is the whole group.

"The problem is me and the coaches. We're all together in this

thing. And we all need to figure it out. We need to figure out what we

need to be more consistent for one, and to get back and have that one

good month we had. All the good things we were doing during that month,

we need to get that back again.

"So in the discussion with them, it's not picking on somebody in particular. It's the whole group."

[COBrewerfan]

It is amazing that RRR is the reason here. It is like people have not watched the games. Teams lose games when the pitching is not good. Check out the stats the last 8-10 games and see what you find. It doesn't matter who was playing in the field with that ERA. There have been short starts, which leads to more bullpen innings, and ineffective pitching all around. For people who watch most games, I would expect this to be talked about. At least Wolf ate up some innings today and was not a Sally like Greinke was and completely killed the bullpen which hurt in the twins series.

[adambr2]

"I'm not putting this on 'Wolfie,'"said Roenicke. "Why can't we come out and score three or four runs in the first inning?"

 

 

This is hilarious. "I'm not blaming the pitcher for giving up 7 earned, I'm blaming the offense for not scoring 3-4 runs in the 1st inning."

 

Well Ronny, aside from the fact that 3-4 runs in the first inning alone is a ridiculously unrealistic expectation for any MLB offense, you could help matters by not putting out a lineup that includes a 5-6-7 of Betancourt/McGehee/Josh Wilson.

[adambr2]

It is amazing that RRR is the reason here. It is like people have not watched the games. Teams lose games when the pitching is not good. Check out the stats the last 8-10 games and see what you find. It doesn't matter who was playing in the field with that ERA. There have been short starts, which leads to more bullpen innings, and ineffective pitching all around. For people who watch most games, I would expect this to be talked about. At least Wolf ate up some innings today and was not a Sally like Greinke was and completely killed the bullpen which hurt in the twins series.

 

Not buying it. Since Greinke's bad outing the first game of the Yankee's series, only twice has a Brewer starter failed to go at least 6 innings, and they won one of those. A poor overworked bullpen is not the reason they're losing. If the bullpen is overworked, it's only because it's mismanaged and basically a 3-4 man bullpen when you consider those are the guys getting the vast bulk of the work.

 

And if you still want to say it's overworked, Doug and Ron have to shoulder some blame for only carrying a 6 man pen.

[AdvantageSchneider]

And the idea that the offense is the problem is just idiotic. Excuse me but didn't the offense get us the only win in the last 7 games by scoring 7 runs in the 8th and 9th innings against the twins? Didn't they get separate 6-1 leads that the pitching staff couldn't hold? The offense wasn't great against the yankees, but the pitching was even worse.

 

I understand if RRR wants to be diplomatic and try not to throw anyone under the bus, but I'm not a big fan of guys who can't call it like it is.

[endaround]

Greinke doesn't go out and say"Hey, I know, let me give up 7 runs!" Roenicke does go out and say "Hey I know! I'll play Kotsay in the field even though he's a DH! Hey I'll put Loe in against 4 straight Left handers!"

[danzig6767]

RR's post game comments

 

"we played a good game tonight" We are battling" "we have a bunch of free swingers who aren't patient and thats unlikely to change"

 

Not exact quotes but that pretty much sums it up

 

ps. He called a team meeting for the 2nd time this year after the game.

 

http://www.brewcrewball.c...ickes-post-game-comments

More from Haudricourt:

 

"These guys want to win," said Roenicke. "Whatever we need to do to

get it done, I'm not picking out individuals because that's not the

problem. The problem is the whole group.

"The problem is me and the coaches. We're all together in this

thing. And we all need to figure it out. We need to figure out what we

need to be more consistent for one, and to get back and have that one

good month we had. All the good things we were doing during that month,

we need to get that back again.

"So in the discussion with them, it's not picking on somebody in particular. It's the whole group."

The pitching staff as a whole i do think is under-performing, especially Geinke and Gallardo to a much lesser degree, so while i've had numerous questions about how Roenicke handles the bullpen, i do think his impact overall on the pitching woes is fairly minor outside of his usage of Loe. Thus, i can understand Roenicke and management being somewhat confused by the pitching struggles.

 

That said, i've heard Roenicke, Melvin, and Gord Ashe interviewed where the year long very inconsistent offense has been discussed, and all responded by saying they couldn't put their finger on why. Each time i'd hear this i'd want to scream hello and be so frustrated by those handling the interview because they never would bring up what seemed so obvious. In the vast majority games where Braun, Weeks, Prince, and Morgan to a lesser degree haven't hit well, we rarely score more than a run or two. Even when those guys are productive, if the pitching falters, we usually can't score the say 6-10 runs to still win because way to often there have been multiple black holes in the lineup which produce close to nothing. They don't take pitches to help wear out a starting pitcher. They kill situations with multiple runners on base. Nobody on the bench can hit except for Nyger when Gomez starts.

 

I don't know what exact overall % of the total team at bats that Betancourt, Gomez, Kotsay, McGehee, Nieves, and Counsell have taken this season, but i'd be surprised if their combined OBP is over .270 and their combined OPS is over .600. It should be painfully obvious to both Roenicke and Melvin as to why the offense is so inconsistent, the same 3-4 players are being asked to carry almost the entire offense on most nights.

 

Just imagine what our record would be if Prince, Braun, and Weeks haven't had such fabulous starts to the season?

[TooLiveBrew]

For all those times when someone sarcastically asks if fans would prefer a computer manager... at this point, it'd be worth a try.

[Mr QL]

For all those times when someone sarcastically asks if fans would prefer a computer manager... at this point, it'd be worth a try.

Computer managers and robot umps are the way of the future