Chris Hook

[balsamlaker]

DJ was definitely a great pitching coach, but lets look at some of pitchers who have shown some improvement. Everyone wants to point out how Burnes, Jeffress, and Chacin have struggled, but some of the pitchers including Anderson, Woodruff, Davies, Albers, and co. have actually shown some decent improvement from 2018. IMO Hook may not be DJ, but he is doing a pretty darn good job with what he has.

[DHonks]

Doug Melvin always talked about the variability of relievers year to year. Jeffress is a perfect example, although he’s been outstanding lately. I don’t know, has Anderson improved? He had a very solid 2018, except for his inability to prevent homers. Woodruff’s improvement became obvious last Sept/October as he learned to attack hitters.

 

I’m indifferent with Hook. We’ve heard some nice things. A rumor I recently heard is that DJ wasn’t primarily interested in being closer to family, rather he made his decision based solely on money. He gave the Brewers a chance to match it, and they opted not to.

[TURBO]

A rumor I recently heard is that DJ wasn’t primarily interested in being closer to family, rather he made his decision based solely on money. He gave the Brewers a chance to match it, and they opted not to.

 

If that is true, that is complete failure on the part of the Brewers.

 

Shame on them.

[DHonks]

A rumor I recently heard is that DJ wasn’t primarily interested in being closer to family, rather he made his decision based solely on money. He gave the Brewers a chance to match it, and they opted not to.

 

If that is true, that is complete failure on the part of the Brewers.

 

Shame on them.

 

It was a “i have heard from several people that are friends with X, that it was all about money”. I won’t reveal X

[yourout]

13 out of 15 NL teams in runs allowed.

He needs to go... End of story

[yourout]

A rumor I recently heard is that DJ wasn’t primarily interested in being closer to family, rather he made his decision based solely on money. He gave the Brewers a chance to match it, and they opted not to.

 

If that is true, that is complete failure on the part of the Brewers.

 

Shame on them.

 

IF...true that is a fireable offense in my eyes.

The guy should have been the highest paid pitching coach in The MLB.

[sveumrules]

ERA is a team stat, there are many things outside of the pitcher's control which can either negatively or positively impact the results.

 

People smarter than myself have opined that a less imperfect way to measure the effectiveness of a pitcher is via FIP, fielding independent pitching, since it measures things over which the pitcher exerts more direct control (K/BB/HR).

 

In both 2017 & 2018 the Brewers pitchers had a FIP that was 3% better than league average (97 FIP-), so far this year it has been league average (100 FIP-).

 

Assuming that holds or even somehow improves between now & the end of the season, I believe Hook will not get the hook, as it were.

[Thurston Fluff]

ERA is a team stat, there are many things outside of the pitcher's control which can either negatively or positively impact the results.

 

People smarter than myself have opined that a less imperfect way to measure the effectiveness of a pitcher is via FIP, fielding independent pitching, since it measures things over which the pitcher exerts more direct control (K/BB/HR).

 

In both 2017 & 2018 the Brewers pitchers had a FIP that was 3% better than league average (97 FIP-), so far this year it has been league average (100 FIP-).

 

Assuming that holds or even somehow improves between now & the end of the season, I believe Hook will not get the hook, as it were.

 

I fail to understand how what he does between games to improve game results relates to FIP. The catcher might have something to do with this too.

[folly412]

I'd take Hook back before Haines. Though that's not a compliment.

[yourout]

I'd take Hook back before Haines. Though that's not a compliment.

 

I want them both collecting checks somewhere else next year.

[Bulldogboy]

Hook has to be gone. There is no evidence that he has what it takes to coach at this level. On his watch everyone is worse than last year except Woody, Anderson and Albers. Not good. Burnes is in AA. That in itself is a fireable offense.

[brewmann04]

think the cubs were happy when we added Haines.

[Austin Tatious]

It’s hard to defend Hook. It’s a results oriented game. If he were a defendant, he’d need to plead no contest or guilty to a lesser charge.

 

I hope they didn’t burn bridges with DJ. Throw a pile of cash at him and get on your knees to get him back. If that was a money issue, they didn’t have a backup plan worth a darn.

 

I like David Stearns a lot, but he has had a rough year. I hope he learns from it and isn’t stubborn about it.

[Brew crew 92]

It’s hard to defend Hook. It’s a results oriented game. If he were a defendant, he’d need to plead no contest or guilty to a lesser charge.

 

I hope they didn’t burn bridges with DJ. Throw a pile of cash at him and get on your knees to get him back. If that was a money issue, they didn’t have a backup plan worth a darn.

 

I like David Stearns a lot, but he has had a rough year. I hope he learns from it and isn’t stubborn about it.

 

If DJ wants to be a manager, which I’ve read somewhere he does, then we need to make him our new manager or forget him.

 

Sort of agree with your assessment of Stearns, but I’d substitute the word rough with terrible.

[sveumrules]

Sort of agree with your assessment of Stearns, but I’d substitute the word rough with terrible.

 

Preseason projected wins...

 

BPro: 88 wins

Vegas: 86.5 wins

538: 86 wins

ZIPS: 85 wins

Current Pace: 84 wins

OOTP: 83 wins

 

With 40 games to go this team is playing right within the range of its most likely outcomes, hard for me to say that Stearns did a terrible job, especially with a quarter of the season as of yet unplayed.

[sveumrules]

Hook has to be gone. There is no evidence that he has what it takes to coach at this level. On his watch everyone is worse than last year except Woody, Anderson and Albers. Not good. Burnes is in AA. That in itself is a fireable offense.

 

Gio is the same as last year. Davies has been better. Peralta may have found something in the bullpen. Before his last 5 IP Hader was the exact same guy. How is Houser worse now than last year?

 

Chacin was always a regression candidate coming off a career high workload, Jeffress was also an obvious regression candidate coming off an unsustainably low ERA & many thinking he looked cooked in the postseason then surprise he dealt with injury in Spring Training. Hard for me to blame Hook for either of them.

[Brew crew 92]

Sort of agree with your assessment of Stearns, but I’d substitute the word rough with terrible.

 

Preseason projected wins...

 

BPro: 88 wins

Vegas: 86.5 wins

538: 86 wins

ZIPS: 85 wins

Current Pace: 84 wins

OOTP: 83 wins

 

With 40 games to go this team is playing right within the range of its most likely outcomes, hard for me to say that Stearns did a terrible job, especially with a quarter of the season as of yet unplayed.

 

Good point sir.

 

Let me be specific with my terrible assessment of Stearns this year. Roster with too many poor plate discipline hitters with way too high a K rate. Too LH hitting dependent. Terrible pen options especially early in the year. Kept saying early on he thought the pen had the right pitchers they’d just have to pitch better. Burnes Peralta in the rotation to start the year. Trades for Freitas > great great trade, but leaves him in AAA all year, even as the team struggles to hit LHP, even as his average has STEADILY CLIMBED to where it’s at .387.

 

Then doesn’t add upgrade at SS, for small salary only, no prospects given up to improve this teams chance at the central title. I’ll stop there.

[Thurston Fluff]

Hook has to be gone. There is no evidence that he has what it takes to coach at this level. On his watch everyone is worse than last year except Woody, Anderson and Albers. Not good. Burnes is in AA. That in itself is a fireable offense.

 

Burnes failed in AAA with an entirely different set of coaches. Burnes crashed an burned (no pun intended) all on his own. I also think Adrian Houser should be on the list of successful pitchers under Hook's watch.

[timpep]

Well if Stearns is doing fine, and the pitching is as good as it should be, I guess I'm just living in an alternate reality because that's not what I'm seeing.

[yourout]

Hook has to be gone. There is no evidence that he has what it takes to coach at this level. On his watch everyone is worse than last year except Woody, Anderson and Albers. Not good. Burnes is in AA. That in itself is a fireable offense.

 

Burnes failed in AAA with an entirely different set of coaches. Burnes crashed an burned (no pun intended) all on his own. I also think Adrian Houser should be on the list of successful pitchers under Hook's watch.

 

For me it's not any individual......it's the collective.

And the fact we are giving up 5 runs a game means he needs to go.

[Thurston Fluff]

Hook has to be gone. There is no evidence that he has what it takes to coach at this level. On his watch everyone is worse than last year except Woody, Anderson and Albers. Not good. Burnes is in AA. That in itself is a fireable offense.

 

Burnes failed in AAA with an entirely different set of coaches. Burnes crashed an burned (no pun intended) all on his own. I also think Adrian Houser should be on the list of successful pitchers under Hook's watch.

 

For me it's not any individual......it's the collective.

And the fact we are giving up 5 runs a game means he needs to go.

 

The pitcher's era is higher with Gandal than Pena too. The defense is noticeably worse than last season as well. I'm not necessarily trying to defend Hook but I think we have to acknowledge the pitching coach isn't the only thing different from last season.

[adambr2]

Hook has to be gone. There is no evidence that he has what it takes to coach at this level. On his watch everyone is worse than last year except Woody, Anderson and Albers. Not good. Burnes is in AA. That in itself is a fireable offense.

 

Gio is the same as last year. Davies has been better. Peralta may have found something in the bullpen. Before his last 5 IP Hader was the exact same guy. How is Houser worse now than last year?

 

Chacin was always a regression candidate coming off a career high workload, Jeffress was also an obvious regression candidate coming off an unsustainably low ERA & many thinking he looked cooked in the postseason then surprise he dealt with injury in Spring Training. Hard for me to blame Hook for either of them.

 

You know who else was a regression candidate this year? Wade Miley. But he hasn't.

 

I mean, if you want to excuse the guys who were clear regression candidates, that's fine, but it works both ways. Davies and Anderson were clear candidates for positive regression.

 

Anderson and Woodruff are actually almost identically similar to their last year's numbers, Woodruff obviously in a different role.

 

My biggest concern is the total lack of progress in the careers of Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta. I could have anticipated some growing pains for both, but I could have never anticipated 2019 just being a complete nightmare for Burnes.

 

Houser has been steady, and I have no issues giving him credit for that, but other than that, I don't see much for him to hang his hat on.

[Austin Tatious]

 

For me it's not any individual......it's the collective.

And the fact we are giving up 5 runs a game means he needs to go.

 

The pitcher's era is higher with Gandal than Pena too. The defense is noticeably worse than last season as well. I'm not necessarily trying to defend Hook but I think we have to acknowledge the pitching coach isn't the only thing different from last season.

 

 

One of my buddies who studies such things points out that Grandal does not call a good game. There may be some truth to that.

 

But I think Hook is the biggest culprit.

[LouisEly]

Houser has been steady, and I have no issues giving him credit for that, but other than that, I don't see much for him to hang his hat on.

Houser's last four starts: 23 IP, 17 H, 7 R/ER, 5 BB, 25 K, 2.74 ERA, 0.96 WHIP

 

3 of those 4 starts on the road, all against teams with winning records at the time (TEX now 60-62).

 

I think some underestimate how difficult it is being yanked back and forth between starting and relieving and the majors and AAA.

[DHonks]

Dude, we’re without our top 5 starters from before the season.