After 70 games, what's RR's grade so far?

[Raw Biz]

He might have influence on who's on the roster but that's Melvin's job so I won't fault RR for it.

I will. It may be Melvin's decision but since he relies on DPR's input. Until the move to go from Nieves to Kottaras every fringe roster decision has been less than optimal and in some cases just plain wrong. Honestly I think most managers get some input into bench players.

Yeah, I think Gord Ash flat out said something like Roenicke had a lot of input on who was on the team.

[jackalope02ca]

B+ It's hard to argue with first place even though I've questioned a lot of his moves both in the players he picked to make the team, using certain players in certain situations and how some games like the one against Cincy and the one this week against the Cubs turned sure wins into losses. Overall though I think he's done a pretty solid job. Sure this team has talent and lots of it but it still takes a leader to shape the team and get the players to all buy in.

[tomwopat]

C-. Antiquated, if not downright questionable bullpen usage patterns, aggressive baserunning that ends up being a net loss (-0.4 Bsr), and other moves that remain unexplained with the same shroud of media secrecy that Yost used to love.

 

Honestly, I can live with his lineups as long as he improves his bullpen usage. Even though he was in the AL for so long, it's not rocket science to use your better relievers in higher leverage situations and your worse guys in blowouts.

 

One thing that irks me that goes a bit unnoticed is the strikeouts. While I expect Fielder and Braun, and to a lesser extent Weeks, to have their whiffs, I'd expect some of the lighter hitting players, especially those with limited on base skills, to make more of an effort to put the ball in play.

 

I did find it interesting that LaRussa conceded that he had been outmanaged in the recent series however.

 

I do like the creativity he brings with the 5 man infield (didn't this used to be a favorite of Tom Trebelhorn?) and the squeezes, but he needs to be careful not to overuse these tactics.

 

Edit: forgot the bit about the Ks.

[Ayt]

I agree with everything here. People seem to be forgetting that Yost had some awful teams to work with and Macha had a terrible pitching staff. Roenicke has arguably the most talented team of the past 20 years. I wouldn't doubt if Macha would have an even better record at this point if he had this team (mainly Greinke/Marcum). He was actually able to get decent results out of the bullpen (mostly the same players) last year, probably because he managed it better.

I'm not judging him based off the record, I'm judging him based off his decisions. I would give him a D+, simply because he seems to relate to the players and sometimes I like his use of defensive shifts.

Yost made much worse in game decisions than Roenicke and Macha completely lost his team. People keep trying to downplay the player management aspect but the in game decisions don't really change things all that much either. The difference between starting Kotsay in CF and starting Gomez in CF for 6 or 7 games is almost nil as well. Most of the things I dislike about him are the same things I dislike about every manager in baseball so hard for me to downgrade him much for any of it. I usually don't feel like smacking him upside the head every time he opens his mouth like Yost and Macha and his players seem to try for him, that is about all I can ask.

Do you think that happens if he has this starting pitching staff?

[Baldkin]

Yost and Macha and his players seem to try for him, that is about all I can ask.

I see this sentiment a lot. The players sure played for Yost in 2007 and 2008, and for Macha the first half in 2009 when they were in first place.

 

It's funny how having a horrible pitching staff & team makes guys "not try". As for that, I find it's more a reflection of the spoiled attitude and entitlement that todays athletes get. I'm sorry, if someone is going to pay me a million dollars to do something, I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability, and how ever my boss wants me to.

 

I seriously doubt that had Macha had this pitching staff things would've been nearly as bad as they were.

[ilovebeer]

I give him a C. If he moves Casey out of the 5th spot and get Loe out of the 8th inning, it would go up.

[fondybrewfan]

RR is awesome!!!! We have sucked for a week and are still in first place.

 

Overall I will give him a B.

 

A for clubhouse chemistry / leadership

B- for his lineup management

C for his bullpen management

[Invader3K]

I give him about a B- . The continual batting of McGehee in the fifth spot and some of his bullpen usage has irked me, but I still find him much more tolerable than Ken Macha. Yes, it's true that Macha had virtually no starting rotation to work with, and things weren't all his fault...but it became clear he lost the team. The players seem much more motivated playing under Roenicke, for whatever reason.

[Raw Biz]

RR is awesome!!!! We have sucked for a week and are still in first place.

 

Overall I will give him a B.

 

A for clubhouse chemistry / leadership

B- for his lineup management

C for his bullpen management

I hope that was meant to be in blue. I don't think even his supporters would say he's awesome, just that he hasn't been that bad. Being in first place still has nothing to do with him, it has to do with the Cardinals also on a losing streak. We could easily fall to 3rd place after this tough interleague stretch.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Some of you are unreal. It's June. The team is in first place, having fun, getting along and enjoying themselves. Every manager makes decisions that fans hate. Every Brewer manager has been hated to some degree. Everyone in the world has 20/20 hindsight except ONE, the manager.

 

Some of you people are never going to like the manager. I've just accepted it. Mike McCarthy is a lot more popular around this state after last season...

 

It's astonishing to me how quickly you seem to forget that a MAJOR problem on this team with Macha was the mood and atmosphere.

 

I'll give him a B+.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Here's the part that really gets me. Everything falls on RR. There are three realities that no one seems to accept.

 

1. No matter who the manager is, he will make several decisions everyone hates.

2. He will not get credit when his unconventional moves work.

3. The other team sometimes does things well. Not everything is a failure on the part of the Brewers.

[logan82]

People have been giving DPR plenty of credit for the infield shifts.

[Menotti80]

I will start with an A.

His overuse of Loe and underuse of a few others in the bullpen bumps him down to a B.

[xisxisxis]

E. Not as in exceptional (unless we are talking special olympics), but lower than D and higher than an F. I didn't like the Yost hiring from day 1, but I was willing to give RR some time. I haven't seen anything that sets them apart at this point. There's a reason they were sitting on the bench for so long waiting for a managers gig......

[DuWayne Steurer]

I'll start at C and adjust.

 

Bullpen usage, including his unwillingness to use Braddock unless there's multiple lefties in a row, as well as his mad insistence on burning Kam Loe into the ground, this drops him to a D.

 

Batting Carlos Gomez 2nd for a consistent portion of the season..drops to an F+

 

The players "like" him, that raises him to a D-. I can't see how that is anything more than a marginal and almost meaningless quality. The Brewers didn't lose under Macha because they didn't like him. They lost because they had awful pitching.

 

I know some will say that you can't overlook the human element. I understand that. But I counter that most of the time, these guys when they get in the batters box aren't thinking about Macha, or Roenicke, or how much they like the manager. They're thinking about hitting.

 

This handling of the Wolf/Lucroy fiasco.......that brings him to a D--.

[rluzinski]

This handling of the Wolf/Lucroy fiasco.......that brings him to a D--.

 

This didn't bother me until a lefty catcher started against a lefty SP.

[bucksman4]

I give him a C.

 

It's hard to say a team that is in first place is less than average so the manager gets credit for something even if the winning is in spite of him on occasion.

 

A few things bother me about RR:

...sticking with struggling players too long (Scocia school of thought sticking with guys forever no matter the resuts)

...inability to regulate the reckless base running that has run the team out of the inning quite a bit

...bunting to advance runners whenever a man is on 1st regardless of certain inopportune baseball situations

...Loe or Die mentality with the 8th inning

...catering to your number 4 starter's demands to not pitch to your best catcher after saying before the season that no pitcher would have a personal catcher and it's important for the catcher to learn to catch every pitcher

...leaving SP's in the game well past the point of them being effective and blowing games wide open because of it

...not using a LOOGY effectively and making every bullpen pitcher a full inning guy no matter what

 

I'm sure there are more but I still give him a C because of the overall team results. If this team was under .500, his grade would be an F.

[DuWayne Steurer]

This handling of the Wolf/Lucroy fiasco.......that brings him to a D--.

 

This didn't bother me until a lefty catcher started against a lefty SP.

I said that as well, and then he hit a HR in his first at bat.

[Thurston Fluff]

I took this quote directly from a post by reillymeshane in another thread.

 

I think it was Cleveland's old GM, Mark Shipiro, who said the first 1/3 of the season is to see what kind of team you have. the next third is to make adjustments.

I think grading based on how he looked at players is fine to a degree. Given I believe the above axiom to be true the only thing to be learned so far to the negative is if he would have pulled the plug on someone to soon. He did not. So a passing grade. We will learn in the next 1/3 of this season if he pulls the plug to late. Grade incomplete.

 

Team chemistry seems fine but the August doldrums and an inevitable slump somewhere in between will test that again. Passing grade so far.

 

Handling starters seems fine so far. I like that he lets them work out of jams in the 6th and 7th innings more than Macha did. You can't expect them to know how to work out of late inning jams unless you let them do so. It also saves on the bullpen. So a passing grade.

 

Bullpen is one area I have no idea about. I honestly don't know if anyone does. It usually takes until August or so to find out if the pen was worn out or not. I don't care if one reliever gets overused early or not as much as I am about having enough good ones when August comes around. Grade incomplete.

 

The bench I am probably in the minority but I like a well used bench early. I think it saves wear and tear on regulars for the all important stretch after July. I also think keeping bench players more involved early helps them stay in tune late. Those are simply my opinions based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence. I do think them philosophically sound concepts however. So, while I think his bench play tends to get the most downgrades here, I pass him on that now. With the belief that his bench play will change as the season wears on. If it does not then I reserve the right to take back that passing grade.

 

In game strategy. I only mention this because some think it's important. I care so little about it that I pay little attention to it other than to realize it exists as important to some. I will not even attempt to grade it.

 

After the season I will look back and feel more informed about how well he's done. Then, and only then, can I give a pass or fail. At this point all I can say is, so far no failing grades.

[Raw Biz]

Bullpen is one area I have no idea about. I honestly don't know if anyone does. It usually takes until August or so to find out if the pen was worn out or not. I don't care if one reliever gets overused early or not as much as I am about having enough good ones when August comes around. Grade incomplete..

I don't understand how calling Herrera more than a LOOGY, using Loe as the 8th inning guy when there are clearly better options, and categorizing Braddock as a LOOGY don't stand out as terrible decisions when it comes to bullpen use. I don't think we need to wait until August to say Roenicke has not used his bullpen well so far. Macha did a pretty good job last year with the bullpen with a lot of the same guys (a large reason I think because he didn't hesitate to bring Axford in in the 8th).

[logan82]

The bench I am probably in the minority but I like a well used bench early. I think it saves wear and tear on regulars for the all important stretch after July.

 

The one guy on the bench who would actually be much better than the starter has barely been used. I am also not sure how Kotsay playing over better players helps us. Basically most moves where DPR has actually had a chance to influence things he has consistently made bad decisions.

[Thurston Fluff]

The one guy on the bench who would actually be much better than the starter has barely been used. I am also not sure how Kotsay playing over better players helps us. Basically most moves where DPR has actually had a chance to influence things he has consistently made bad decisions.

 

If they help keep our best players playing at leak performance instead of nosediving later on I'd say a small drop now is better than a large one later. You really have to look at the season as a whole not who is better in any given game.

 

I don't think we need to wait until August to say Roenicke has not used his bullpen well so far.

 

To me the most important part is seeing if they hold up all season long. Lets see if the bullpen runs out of gas or not. I just don't see why there is a need to rush to judgement when all the moves haven't shown their full effect. Hell last season everyone was willing to give Macha a pass on the pen faltering when he was part of the reason it faltered. keep pulling your pitchers in the fifth or sixth when they get into a jam then don't be surprised your pen is tired by August.

[logan82]

If they help keep our best players playing at leak performance instead of nosediving later on I'd say a small drop now is better than a large one later. You really have to look at the season as a whole not who is better in any given game.

 

I am not interested in keeping Betancourt in top form. On the other hand I am not sure he could get worse.

[Raw Biz]

I don't think we need to wait until August to say Roenicke has not used his bullpen well so far.

 

To me the most important part is seeing if they hold up all season long. Lets see if the bullpen runs out of gas or not. I just don't see why there is a need to rush to judgement when all the moves haven't shown their full effect. Hell last season everyone was willing to give Macha a pass on the pen faltering when he was part of the reason it faltered. keep pulling your pitchers in the fifth or sixth when they get into a jam then don't be surprised your pen is tired by August.

Well the title of the thread is what is his grade so far. You also talk about seeing if the bullpen will run of gas. Playing Loe every 8th inning no matter what would actually contribute to the bullpen running out of gas, wouldn't it? Like I said, I don't need to wait until August to say that designating one person to pitch the 8th no matter what is a bad idea (especially if that pitcher is Loe).

[logan82]

You can run a pen poorly without it running out of gas. So far DPR has.