Good And Bad News
From Stone.
First the good:
Stottlemyre, 67, served the 2008 season as Mariners’ pitching coach after a 10-year stint with the Yankees. He said he heard over the weekend from Wakamatsu, who told him he had decided to bring in a new pitching coach.
“I had a desire to come back, but at the same time, I let them know that a new manager should be able to bring in his own coaching staff,” Stottlemyre said on Monday.
Yay!
It is not immediately known who will be the new pitching coach. However, it is not expected to be former A’s and Mets coach Rick Peterson, who had been a rumored candidate.
Boo!
Ty Van Burkleo, who was the A’s hitting coach last year, is expected to join the staff in some capacity. I’d imagine we’ll find out about the rest of Wakamatsu’s staff this week.
Great news. Sort of an offseason Felix Day, really.
Following the “Best person for the job” message they seem to be pushing, I’m hoping they still wind up with a quality pitching coach if it’s not Rick Peterson.
Thumbs up to Mel Stottlemyre leaving. Basically all name-brand and no results. The direction of change continues to be positive.
I haven’t felt like this since finishing my first marathon…strange, new, exhilirating.
silver lining? an A’s hitting coach was hired
I’ve been pretty excited with the moves made so far with this new GM of ours. Let’s hope the smart moves continue.
SDRE-
Reading between the lines, it does sound encouraging that we might finally go away from the asinine ‘swing at any pitch within a 5 foot radius of home plate’ hitting mantra.
So, The A’s were the worst hitting team in the AL, even behind the M’s, and we want their hitting coach, why??? Just take a quick look at B-R.com, there is no comparison no matter what metric you use, the A’s hitting sucked.
Too bad on Peterson.
jason over at prospect insider seems to think he might have the scoop on who all the coaches are going to be and makes it sound like they will all be revealed fast.
http://prospectinsider.com/view/staff-rumors,-one-added
and can you always blame the hitting coach for hitting woes? the a’s hitters are bad, so their offense was bad.
Hate me all you want.
I still wanted them to keep Mel.
Everybody bitches about his fastball first mentality, but 45-60% of almost every pitcher in the leagues pitches ARE FASTBALLS.
He was trying to get the guys to establish the inside of the plate to keep hitters off balance.
Silva, Bedard, and quite a few of our other pitchers made a habit of lobbing meatballs down the middle and got torched because of it.
What’s the new mentality? Nibble the corners?
TVB, from what I read, is going to be the bench coach, not the hitting coach…
And the As have always had a great APPROACH to hitting…even though their results weren’t very good last year…
And I’ll be the first to admit that I was stoked when Mel was hired, and I’m even more stoked that he’s been fired…I, like I’m sure many other were, was fooled by his results and reputation…he didn’t do a very good job last year…keeping him around could have stunted the rebirth process…
I have to say I wondered when Macha didn’t even try to bring Peterson to the Brewers– was it Peterson’s preference for the NE? the rep he has for an sizable ego?
Msb, Macha and Peterson don’t really like each other much at all. Dates back from some incident when Macha was bench coach and Peterson was pitching coach, and Peterson kept trying to position fielders, which was Macha’s job. I’m sure part of the reason Peterson left the A’s after Macha’s first season as manager is that he didn’t like working under Macha.
Sorry had some typos
This post makes no sense to me. You guys say in one post that that the head coach really doesn’t matter all that much and doesn’t have that big of impact on a team. Instead, one should play the statistics game which the new GM is taking up. I think we all agree on this notion. Why would we care if they retain Stottlemyre.
I personally think he did a good job and should be kept. Look at the numbers of pitchers he could actually impact Felix, ERA went down from 3.92 – 3.45 and Morrow improved. People that are washed up like Batista, Silva, and Washburn fell off the face of the planet. I find it hard to believe that his style would make these pitchers that bad. The improvements could be a matter of talent and nothing to do with Stottlemyre which leads us back to the effect the coach really has on players. If there is any person I would then chose for the position I would want the guy to have proven success like at the Yankees and as a pitcher himself where he can help pychologically. Can he translate that, that is debatable.
or, his given reason in 2003:
“… it will allow him to return to New Jersey, where his wife, Betsy, and three children have made their home for the past three years. Peterson signed a multiyear contract to remain with the A’s after the 2002 season and said he fully intended to relocate his family to the Bay Area. But he said as time passed, it became clear that uprooting his family was the wrong decision for him to make.
In subsequent discussions, he said he made it known that he’d like to be released from his contract at the end of the season. Beane and Schott granted Peterson permission to speak with the Mets last week.”–Contra Costa Times
AdamN, I presume you have more numbers to back up your statement, rather than just Felix’s ERA?
What’s the new mentality? Nibble the corners?
No, the “new mentality” should be “don’t be so tied to a single, simplistic ideology that every opposing batter knows exactly what is coming for the first two or three innings.” Asserting that your entire philosophy is “establish the fastball” just tells every other team what is coming, and if it happens to be anywhere but the corners then it is precisely one of those “meatballs down the middle” you’re complaining about. Stottlemyre’s “plan” didn’t prevent those meatballs, it contributed to them.
I think there is two ways of looking at pitching. There is Stottlemyre’s approach and I’ll call the random approach. I’m not saying either is better, but I see alot of sense in establishing your fastball. You put hitters on their heals, then you throw the random pitches slider, curver, change, etc in later innings when your pitches are not as effective, the batters will miss. However, you run the risk that the meat ball get parked, but with pitchers like Felix, bedard, and Morrow who have great fastballs I think this is a good approach. With the others no! Benching is the right approach forget throwing pitches send the softball team in.
Felix’s fastball is quite hittable, especially when the other side knows it’s coming, as proven by the other side hitting them.
[dupe]
Taking what you said DMZ that left handers were able to hit his fastball, but lets throw the other variable in, when and how many runs were given up. Last year he gave up 88 runs and this year 85 and gave up 11 less hits, and 3 less HR with +1 on starts. He pitched more innings per start. His WHIP went up .01 because of increase in walks over last year. I must be missing something because I’m not seeing in his numbers where Stottlemyre’s strategy made him worse where in fact it made him better. Please help
Didn’t Peterson help engineer the Kazmir for Victor Zambrano swap when he was the Met’s pitching coach?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Peterson
Quote via Wikipedia:
“Peterson joined the New York Mets in November 2003 as their pitching coach, replacing Rick Waits. Peterson gained the ire of many Mets fans when in July 2004 he allegedly said he could “fix” Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitcher Victor Zambrano in “10 minutes” and allegedly said that Mets’ top prospect Scott Kazmir was at least 3 years away from being a Major League pitcher. Many believe that his support, along with these statements, led to the infamous Kazmir trade, where the Mets traded Kazmir for Zambrano. Overall, Zambrano had dismal results with the Mets after the trade, while Kazmir was immediately promoted to the majors by the Devil Rays and instantly became one of the most promising young pitchers in baseball. Early in the 2006 season, Zambrano suffered a season ending injury to his elbow, further contrasting his performance with Kazmir’s. Others claim that Peterson was merely giving his opinion as pitching coach, and that any blame for the trade should fall on GM Jim Duquette, owner Fred Wilpon, and COO Jeff Wilpon. Victor Zambrano was not resigned after the 2006 season; he is no longer in baseball.”
AdamN: compare Felix in early innings, when he was following Stottlemyre’s “establish the fastball” dictum, with his performance in later innings when he mixed up his pitches, and you’ll understand.