Rick Kranitz

[Bombers]

Dear Doug ... Please Fire Rick Kranitz

 

Thank you

[Bombers]

And another thing is ... why he is given such a leash is beyond me. He hasn't been an effective coach since he was with Florida for 2 years in 2006 & 2007. I am beyond done with this guy.

[sveumrules]

What criteria do you use for determining pitching coach effectiveness?

 

Leo Mazzone was considered one of the all time greats in Atlanta when he had Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, et cetera. Yet when he went to Baltimore in 2006 & 2007 and he had less talented pitchers to work with they finished 13th out of 14 teams in ERA both seasons.

[LouisEly]

This was in the IGT today - pretty much last across the board (ERA, Runs, ER, WHIP, HR, BA-A) right now

 

Chicken and egg - are the players bad because of the coach, or are the players just bad?

[PrinceEatMeat]

Might as well fire him. Can't hurt when the pitching has been this bad. Not that a new guy would necessarily make a difference, but the pitching certainly wouldn't get worse. Might as well try something.

[dlk9s]

[sarcasm]Might as well fire the bullpen coach, too.[/sarcasm]

[BrewersSuperCollector]

Its Stan Kyles fault.

[fondybrewfan]

Yeah if they can fire the bullpen coach last season for no reason they certainly can fire Kranitz even if it isn't his fault. I tend to believe that the pitching staff has a lot more talent than what they are showing right now and that does reflect on the coaching

[bball123h]

Fire Marcus Hanel!

[PrinceFielderx1]

Why would we fire the bullpen coach when our bullpen is actually doing much better? Kranitz is the one who needs to go and if this team continues to perform bad then Roenicke is next.

[TooLiveBrew]

Merged the "Dear Doug ... Please Fire Rick Kranitz" topic with this previous, longer Kranitz thread.

[Bombers]

What criteria do you use for determining pitching coach effectiveness?

 

Leo Mazzone was considered one of the all time greats in Atlanta when he had Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, et cetera. Yet when he went to Baltimore in 2006 & 2007 and he had less talented pitchers to work with they finished 13th out of 14 teams in ERA both seasons.

I don't think you need to get deep into stats. I think you can take the litmus test of, do you feel he makes his pitchers better under his control. I would lean towards no, he doesn't. Look at his track record here and find a starter he has made better?

[sveumrules]

That's the whole thing, I don't think that outside a small handful of guys (Maddux, Cooper, Duncan) the pitching coach can really make a starter better. Who has Kranitz even had the chance to improve?

 

In the starting rotation now you have Gallardo who I don't really think you can blame Kranitz for. He's never really been economical with his pitches and has thrown a lot (11th most in MLB since 2009) over the last few years. I'd blame his struggles on that more than anything, pitchers all eventually break.

 

Lohse is coming from a team that traditionally has had better defense and plays in a more pitcher friendly park than us and on top of that most people think he's smoke and mirrors to begin with. He's been generally effective and received limited run support. No Kranitz blame there.

 

Estrada has actually outperformed most people's expectations over the course of his time here, he's struggled in a small sample so far this year but if anything he would be a net positive for Kranitz in my mind.

 

Peralta has been inconsistent this year, but he's been inconsistent his whole minor league career and is getting his first extended taste of the majors. Don't think you can really attribute his results to Kranitz.

 

Burgos/Fiers are guys with the upside of a 4/5 starter and have pitched like 4/5 starters. I can't give credit to Kranitz for their superlative outings any more than I can blame him when they get lit up.

 

Before this year Kranitz has had Greinke, Marcum, Wolf and Narveson who were veterans and essentially were what they were. I'd say all four of them generally performed to any reasonable expectations during their time under his tutelage.

 

I'm not saying the guy is great, I'm not saying he is terrible. I'm saying there is no way to really know and considering what he's been given to work with the results have been in line with my expectations. Sure we could fire him, but that wouldn't do anything to fix the real problem the organization has which is identifying and developing pitching before they reach the majors.

[Bombers]

I'm not saying the guy is great, I'm not saying he is terrible. I'm saying there is no way to really know and considering what he's been given to work with the results have been in line with my expectations. Sure we could fire him, but that wouldn't do anything to fix the real problem the organization has which is identifying and developing pitching before they reach the majors.

I agree with that assessment Svuem. The quoted piece above is spot on. I have said it before and others have too, I really think our minor league system needs a drastic overhaul of its pitching and development coaches. Just like what is being wrote about in the other thread of why do we suck at developing pitchers

[xisxisxis]

Forget firing Kranitz. We need to sacrifice a virgin..... Where's Tim Tebow when you need him.....

[brewcrewdue80]

Count me in on the Fire Kranitz group. Go ahead fight against the numbers. Go ahead talk about the talent he's handed but:

We seem to get the least or average from our Starting pitchers. How many Wow games happen? Any Random "On Tonight" Complete Games? Because I'll tell you what, When the Brewers Bats are silenced by some other team's #4/5 Pitchers, that's what I read the next day. So and So was obviously "On" today. The inability to ever see anyone put Yovani in an "On" Game is sad. How is it possible he doesn't go 8innings Once a month? How? That leads me to this thought:

 

Fire him or whoever is in charge of feeding Lucroy/Maldanado situational pitch calling! How many times do we have to watch 0-2 pitches get laced for hits? How about, how many times do we have to witness #7/8 in the order guys being nibbled around a low outside corner of the plate pitch calling? Only to end up walking them on 6-7pitches? So rather than help your pitcher be more economical by attacking these hitters and giving them a better pitch to put the ball in play, we have an extended at-bat making certain another 20+ pitch inning is at hand.

 

I to wonder how Yo,Estrada,Fiers,Narveson,Axford, how is it all these pitchers(Last Year's bullpen), how is it all of them find themselves worse today than a year ago?

 

Things that I look to see from a pitcher as progress, is one, Better overall. Anyone here see any of these pitchers with better stuff overall than a year ago? Two, a more mature approach. Attacking weak hitters, Getting 6ip+ on nights they don't have their best "Stuff" Three, the more experience you get out there, the better you become in game situations. Facing the best hitters in the game the first time around can be daunting, but over time, I'd hope to see them get them out more often with each season. Following a bad inning with a bunch of 0s. Again, how many times do the Brewers Bats put up 2-4runs on the board early only for that pitcher to make it 7ip with maybe 1 more run allowed?

How about flashes of dominance? Show me that "On" game! 7/8ip 0ER I wanna see either that 8-11k 7-8ip 0ER game. Or that 7-8ip while scattering 9-11hits but still not allowing a run to cross. Show me one of those a month...One each would be Awesome but just 1 that you can get it done both ways.

Peralta/Estrada/Yovani those three need to put together starts like that in a week at the same time. And I feel it needs to happen within their next 4starts a piece to salvage Kranitz/the pitching coaches.