Derek Johnson leaving to go to Reds

[Oxy]

Why is Stearns/front office getting the majority of the blame here? Attanasio seems fairly involved with these decisions, and ultimately he's the guy who controls the purse strings.

 

I think most would include Attanasio as the most frontest part of the term "front office," but Attanasio is not the baseball expert. Stearns and co. are the baseball experts. If they told Attanasio it wouldn't be a wise decision to give DJ the raise he wanted, then he's not going to go against that.

 

There might be something here or there might be nothing here. Maybe Stearns and Co. have a list of guys who they actually think could do a better job than DJ.

[TURBO]

A ton of pitchers we’ve brought in under DJ have had years they’ve never had or out pitched their peripherals. I think DJ has had a huge role in the success of this, not all of it but the majority. Sure the actual pitchers still had to perform and the FO had a role in identifying them and with the shifting but DJ molded these guys and got them on the right tracks. This is a huge loss.

 

agreed, 100%.

[TURBO]

I'm gonna throw this at the wall and see if it sticks, but is there any chance that DJ did not agree with CC on a regular basis as far as his bullpen and pitching management?

 

I know some will say that is wrong, impossible, etc., but as many questionable moves that were made all season long (yes, CC was far from perfect, and the realists know that) maybe it wasn't only the people in the IGT threads that didn't agree with CC, maybe DJ thought he did a lot of stupid things too.

 

Maybe he just couldn't stand the thought of another year sitting next to CC and watching him make moves that he absolutely disagreed with.

 

Just thoughts.

 

Those moves lead to 97 wins so I highly doubt that is the case. No one could possibly say the team underperformed under CCs leadership.

 

It’s not like he is going to a team with a better manager.

 

Maybe if CC had made better decisions, we win 105 games?

 

CC is not God, there were countless decisions made throughout the season that were highly questionable, that didn't work, and that had a direct effect on losing games.

 

I am not so much a CC hater as I am a guy who questions some of his game managing decisions.

 

Yes, all managers make dumb decisions, but that isn't a reason to excuse them.

[502 to Right]

Lots of meaningless speculation in this thread.

[dlk9s]

Yes, all managers make dumb decisions, but that isn't a reason to excuse them.

 

Sure it is. Managers make tons of decisions over a 162-game season. There will be plenty of incorrect ones or good ones that just had bad results.

 

Speaking of coaches making GOOD decisions, I'm available to be the Brewers pitching coach. I'm cheap.

[dlk9s]

The bottom line is probably that DJ got paid a good deal more by Cincy, so he bolted. Good for him.

[Boomer5]

Lots of meaningless speculation in this thread.

 

Well we do have Stearns words that he negotiated to keep him and we subsequently have DJ leaving.

 

We also have a low cost pitching staff that outperformed their career arc with DJs leadership.

[Boomer5]

“Maybe if CC had made better decisions, we win 105 games? “

 

No one believes this was 105 win talent that CC wrecked by 8 games. Come on now.

[Boomer5]

I am seeing Hook as a possible next man up.

[LouisEly]

This is kind of career suicide, no?

Kind of like leaving the Cubs organization for the Brewers two years ago...

[MrTPlush]

Great. I can’t wait till next season. Our pitchers played out of their minds (especially down the stretch). Couple that with some guys moving from the pen to the rotation and they were destined for notable regression as it was.

 

Now...well, it will be “If DJ was still here!!” over and over and over.

 

DJ was not an almighty god and a superb group of guys “way too good” to be in the pen being in the pen allowed the starters to look way better than they were. One could not possibly have more quality pitchers at their disposal.

 

Weird stuff dumping so many coaches after an NLCS appearance. I liked DJ, but losing him is not some crippling move I would hope.

[tmwiese55]

I have no real idea how much pitching coaches tend to make but it pails in comparison to what the players make. So whatever this raise is it would be a blip on the radar relative to the overall team payroll. Something probably similar to how much it cost them to have Nick Franklin on the IR all year being paid a MLB salary. IF there is more to the story so be it, but if it was just over a few hundred thousand I have to disagree with the decision not to match. Especially if you factor in the extra money gained by the playoffs and their comments about how they'd take the savings/profits of the last few years and save it to be used when we're winning.

[sveumrules]

Congrats to DJ on the new gig. If he truly is a miracle worker, Cincy is the spot to prove it.

 

It would seem he is valued more by posters here than he is within the industry, otherwise you'd think he could have landed a job with a competent organization.

 

Obviously DJ feels Cincinnati is a more competent organization than Milwaukee. That should be a red flag.

 

The Brewers have won more games than the Reds in each of the last five seasons. They are currently positioned to continue doing so for multiple seasons to come.

 

The Reds are going to need to do a lot more than hire DJ as pitching coach to change their course.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Congrats to DJ on the new gig. If he truly is a miracle worker, Cincy is the spot to prove it.

 

It would seem he is valued more by posters here than he is within the industry, otherwise you'd think he could have landed a job with a competent organization.

 

Obviously DJ feels Cincinnati is a more competent organization than Milwaukee. That should be a red flag.

 

The Brewers have won more games than the Reds in each of the last five seasons. They are currently positioned to continue doing so for multiple seasons to come.

 

The Reds are going to need to do a lot more than hire DJ as pitching coach to change their course.

 

I do believe the Reds have some stud pitching prospects in the low minors right now...that tends to happen picking in the top 5 consistently draft after draft...

[Fear The Chorizo]

Also, Johnson grew up in gibson city, il...kind of halfway between cincy and chicago...Wouldn't surprise me in the least if he was a Reds fan growing up and/or had reasons to try and work closer to home for family reasons in addition to making more $$.

[Boomer5]

Great. I can’t wait till next season. Our pitchers played out of their minds (especially down the stretch). Couple that with some guys moving from the pen to the rotation and they were destined for notable regression as it was.

 

Now...well, it will be “If DJ was still here!!” over and over and over.

 

DJ was not an almighty god and a superb group of guys “way too good” to be in the pen being in the pen allowed the starters to look way better than they were. One could not possibly have more quality pitchers at their disposal.

 

Weird stuff dumping so many coaches after an NLCS appearance. I liked DJ, but losing him is not some crippling move I would hope.

 

If they don’t perform to 2018 levels that would be perfectly reasonable to not question a move that likely was less than $1m difference between us and the Reds.

 

Can you think of a compelling reason to let him go?

[MrTPlush]

Great. I can’t wait till next season. Our pitchers played out of their minds (especially down the stretch). Couple that with some guys moving from the pen to the rotation and they were destined for notable regression as it was.

 

Now...well, it will be “If DJ was still here!!” over and over and over.

 

DJ was not an almighty god and a superb group of guys “way too good” to be in the pen being in the pen allowed the starters to look way better than they were. One could not possibly have more quality pitchers at their disposal.

 

Weird stuff dumping so many coaches after an NLCS appearance. I liked DJ, but losing him is not some crippling move I would hope.

 

If they don’t perform to 2018 levels that would be perfectly reasonable to not question a move that likely was less than $1m difference between us and the Reds.

 

Can you think of a compelling reason to let him go?

 

If the difference was less than $1mil the problem wasn’t money, it was that DJ didn’t want to be here.

 

He took the Cubs and helped them to a WS. Comes here and takes a team to the NLCS riding ridiculous pitching performances. Now he darts to the Reds and builds them up. Brilliant plan...why wait for our inevitable decline pitching wise and look bad? Just leave when you can’t look any better. $$$$

[brewmann04]

I agree not sure how much impact the pitching and Hitting coach has but it is curious to find out the exact cause for DJ leaving.But it going to be curious to see who gets the job to work with Corbin and Woodruff and maybe Perelta in the 2019 rotation

[brewmann04]

Very curious Hook name being brought up a guy who seen a lot of these young arms coming up through their system.

[brewerfan82]

Not ideal news from an "if it ain't broke..." standpoint, but between the team's fielding (2nd in MLB in DRS) and CC/the organization's use of pitchers (not allowing starters to face batters too many times and optimizing reliever usage with matchups) there's plenty of other reasons the pitchers may have "overachieved" this year that don't necessitate DJ staying here. That said, wish him continued success against our division foes while hoping to see similar results for whoever takes his place with the Crew next year!

[brewmann04]

I will laugh if it turns out to be Augie and Rock as the team new coaches.

[3and2Fastball]

Fun reading all the speculation here, but Stearns has taken the Brewers from "oh my God, please make it stop" to one win away from the World Series in a few short years, so I kinda think he can more than handle this.

 

I am definitely appreciative of the work Derek Johnson did for the Brewers, and wish him well. Outside looking in of course, but it'll be interesting to see what if anything he does differently in Cincy, and how the Brewers do things moving forwards.

 

I think the Brewers are about to flip the script even more with the way they utilize their "out getters", in all sorts of innovative ways. Personally I can't wait.

[TURBO]

Damn, just realized that this means he can't be the subject of next year's Coaches vs Cancer bobblehead...

 

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

 

I think the Brewers are about to flip the script even more with the way they utilize their "out getters", in all sorts of innovative ways. Personally I can't wait.

I don’t think during the regular season they can flip the script, or do much more than what they did this year when you have 25-man roster constraints. IMO. September and the playoffs are a different animal where you can push limits, I just can’t see how it would work to do much more than we already did this year in non-September/playoff months than what we already did. You still largely need traditional starters in the regular season, we can still shorten games and limit times through the order but think it’s maximized at the moment.

[brewmann04]

I don't see them using the same system they use in the playoffs for the regular season.