Meyer: Trent Jewett Not Coming Back

by Charlie on Sep 2, 2008 10:24 PM EDT Comment 17 comments

Paul Meyer says Indianapolis manager Trent Jewett and hitting coach Hensley Muelens won't be back next year. Jewett seems to be regarded by just about everyone as a major asset, but maybe he didn't mesh with the Pirates' new minor league instructional program.

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Jewett

Probably a good man. The Coonington boys are going to bring in their own people to establish loyalty and assure that the new front office is well-entrenched… sort of like the latter stages of Littlefield when he finally got to bring in Tracy.

by thegunner on Sep 2, 2008 8:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Very good news!!

I have to admit I don’t know enough about Jewett and Muelens to have a personal opinion about their value to the PBC. Both may be quality guys.

But I hope this starts a massive amount of firings at the minor league level. Having seen Moss, Luigi & Karsten, particularly when compared to Pearce, it’s become absolutely crystal clear that the minor league coaching for the PBC is sub-par when compared to credible organizations like Boston, NYY or Dodgers.

Teams like the Angels harp on minor league coaching as the foundation of the team’s success. They insist every player needs to come up knowing how to play “Angel ball” — take pitches, hit & run, take the extra base, constantly put pressure on the defense. They have turned their minor leagues into an assembly line of square pegs for the manager to plug into square holes.

The PBC on the other hand, is the home of the Chad Hermansen Effect. Guys who everyone says have talent when they’re drafted who don’t develop at all in the minors and flame out in the majors.

I’m worried that Tabata needs someone to hold his hand at Indy next year — glad it won’t be the same guys who gave us Nyjer Morgan, Chris Duffy, anyone named Brown, Rajai Davis, Jose Castillo, any pitcher with a B in his last name, any power hitting 1B with big holes in his swing, etc.

This isn’t a matter of money — most minor league managers and coaches get paid the same. This is a matter of caring — and DL and Cam just didn’t care.

I’m still hoping the team can bring Woody Huyke out of retirement to coach Tabata next year. (For those of you who don’t know, he was pretty much the real Crash Davis w/o the HRs, and Bruce Kison was the real Nuke LaLoosh, though without the heat but with the wildness.)

Woody coached for 29 years in the Pirate organization, but never made “the show” as a catcher or as a manager/coach. (For those with too much time on their hands, and who want to read a sports magazine article from back when they really knew how to write, check out http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1084975/index.htm
for the real life Bull Durham story.) Woody had a way with developing special projects, and probably hasn’t lost it even in his 70’s. But if he won’t leave his home in Bradenton, there must be dozens of guys who can bring along Tabata, B. Morris, Alvarez (I hope), and the rest.

No more Chad Hermansens!!

by WstCstBucco on Sep 2, 2008 8:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That's a classic piece.

Jordan really knows his way around a keyboard.

by Vlad on Sep 3, 2008 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

FYI

Jose Bautista went 4-5 with a HR today. seems to be doing well in Canada

10 Quality Starts in a row/Aug. 08 - BUT now we can't hit:(

by .500 Please on Sep 3, 2008 4:11 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Great,

hope he loves playing in Toronto. Know he started out poorly when he first arrived.

by ElliottBayBucco on Sep 3, 2008 1:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wasn't that the knock on Bautista?

He’d go through swoons..Hit .300 for a month, the hit .150 the next. Consistency was the problem and Management wanted to see more consistency.

Plus who was he really hitting against? David Purcey who’s era was 6.15

If he continues to hit like a banshee then maybe we made a mistake. or perhaps just a change of venue helps. It does for some players don’t know how, possibly coaching?

by lfhlaw on Sep 3, 2008 3:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Doubt he will keep Rolen on the bench once he is healthy.

by ElliottBayBucco on Sep 3, 2008 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whose bright idea was it...

To forbid our pitchers from throwing sinker balls for half of the year and why? If this is an important pitch in a pitcher’s repertoire wouldn’t it make sense for him to practice throwing it during a game? I was astounded to hear about this yesterday. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve never heard of such a thing.

by Illinois Pirate Fan on Sep 3, 2008 9:53 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It's not unusual

I’ve heard of other organizations doing things like that. The idea is to develop other pitches. It’s frequently a battle to get young pitchers to throw changeups in particular, because most pitchers who are good enough to be drafted didn’t have to throw many, or any, changeups to get hitters out in HS and college. Even pitches that are good enough to get minor leaguers out often aren’t enough in the majors. There’s a difference between succeeding in the minors and getting prepared for the majors. The Pirates now are emphasizing the latter instead of the former, like they did under DL. If you don’t do this sort of stuff, you end up with somebody like Osoria, who has only one pitch and is helpless against LH hitters.

by WTM on Sep 3, 2008 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Can I assume that...

pitchers are not judged by their statistics when deciding if they get promoted either to the parent club or higher minor leagues? I always thought that everyone was so statistics-oriented in deciding who got promoted and so this pitching limitation seemed very restrictive. Can I also assume that this same limitation was imposed on all pitchers and not just a select few?

by Illinois Pirate Fan on Sep 3, 2008 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yes, look at Michael Crotta,

who will be one of the minor league Buccos in the Arizona Fall League. His stats don’t look promising compared to some of the others, but he performed well enough for the front office guys to send him to Arizona. I’m more curious to see how he performs in the AFL now than I was prior to DK’s minor league article.

Yes, I believe that you can assume that the limitations were organization-wide and not just with a select few. I believe that it explains why Ohlendorf and McCutchen pitched as they did in AAA, working on aspects of their approach, not just pitching for a win or a loss.

Knowing now that the PBC has an actual plan in developing their younger players other than running them out there and seeing how they perform makes me feel so much better about player development than in years past.

WTM, curious to hear your take on DK’s article on the minor leagues.

by ElliottBayBucco on Sep 3, 2008 2:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

My take

is that they have a plan but still need to hire a lot of people to make it work. It made sense all along that the big shakeup at the lower levels would start to take root after a year or so.

by WTM on Sep 3, 2008 3:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I get a sense there will be more than a few replacements

in the coaching staffs & scouting staffs during the off season.

by ElliottBayBucco on Sep 3, 2008 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

OK by me

They had to hire some guys on the fly, like Mike Steele and Brian Tracy, but I don’t regret seeing anybody leave. The Pirates have done a horrible job of both drafting and developing pitchers for years. To me, the presumption is that anybody involved with that process is guilty until proven innocent. A regime change is always painful and involves interim measures until the real system is in place. I’ll be more inclined to try to assess these guys in about two years.

by WTM on Sep 3, 2008 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs