NewsBrewers want new pitching coach quickly
Hire will have some say in filling of other openings
Doug Melvin has three coaching staff positions and one advance scout role to fill. (Morry Gash/AP)
By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com
10/04/09 3:51 PM EST
ST. LOUIS -- Brewers general manager Doug Melvin plans to move fast in his search for a new pitching coach. "I hope to do the pitching thing within 2-3 weeks," Melvin said Sunday, when he announced that interim pitching coach Chris Bosio and bullpen coach Stan Kyles had not been offered contracts for 2010. "I don't want this thing to drag out." Melvin did not attend the Brewers' season finale against the Cardinals because he had an afternoon flight for what he called an "assignment" that was in some sense related to the pitching search. "It's more important than anything at this point," Melvin said. Including Jeff Suppan's two-inning courtesy outing Sunday, which gave him 11 straight seasons with at least 30 starts, Milwaukee's starting pitchers finished the year with a 5.37 ERA. Four starters worked at least 100 innings and had ERAs over 5.00: Dave Bush, Braden Looper, Manny Parra and Suppan. Bush, whose struggles were related to a triceps injury, had the highest ERA (6.38) of any National League pitcher with at least 100 innings, and Parra was next at 6.36. Of pitchers with enough innings to qualify for the NL ERA title, only Mets and Nationals righty Livan Hernandez had a higher ERA than Looper's 5.22. Entering the day, Brewers starters were tied with Baltimore for the highest ERA in the Major Leagues. Overall, Milwaukee pitchers had the second-worst ERA in the National League and the fourth worst in the Majors. The team has four open positions: Major League pitching coach and bullpen coach, Triple-A pitching coach (Bosio's job before he joined the big league staff) plus a new advance scout. For the past several years, the Brewers have relied exclusively on a video system for compiling their advance scouting reports. That video scouting system will remain, and Macha said the organization will pay for a higher level of service starting next year. Bosio and Kyles will be candidates for the openings, Melvin said, but the early leading candidate for pitching coach could be Rick Peterson, who worked with Macha in Oakland and with Brewers bench coach Willie Randolph in New York. Melvin also figured he would get a few calls from interested coaches once news broke that Bosio and Kyles had not been asked back. Brewers manager Ken Macha, who had an option year tacked onto his own contract, only vaguely indicated his interest in Peterson. "I have worked with Rick Peterson," Macha said. "I want Doug to meet with these people first and I'll meet with them second. Then we'll sit down and figure it out." The way Melvin envisions it, all four hires will work closely together. "There has to be coordination and a sense of a working relationship between whoever the pitching coach is, whomever the bullpen guy is, the advance guy and the Triple-A pitching coach," Melvin said. The new pitching coach will have "some say" in the selection of the bullpen coach, Melvin said. He will also have input in Melvin's offseason construction of the staff. "I don't want this to drag on because I want the people involved to be a part of our decisions," Melvin said. "The guys on this current club, I still believe in some of their abilities. Most of them, I hope it's a year they look back on as one of the worst of their careers and there's nowhere to go but forward."Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
