Barb Caffrey's Blog

Folks, the bad news keeps on coming for the Milwaukee Brewers pitching staff; today, due to a series of several horrible games for many members of the bullpen (including John Axford and Francisco Rodriguez), the Brewers fired bullpen coach Stan Kyles.

I do not approve of this, even though I understand that someone was going to have to take the blame for how poorly the bullpen, as a whole, has done this season.  The Brewers bullpen’s record is 15-26 with a 4.80 ERA, which is the worst in the major leagues.  The Brewers have also blown the most saves in the major leagues — 20 — with 13 of them being blown by closers Rodriguez and Axford alone.  But it’s ridiculous that Kyles, who doesn’t work on mechanics with these pitchers (pitching coach Rick Kranitz does that), and also doesn’t choose which pitcher to bring in (Kranitz and manager Ron Roenicke do that) was thrown to the wolves, mid-season, in a similar manner to how long-time bullpen coach/short-time pitching coach Bill Castro was fired mid-season in 2009.

Look.  There’s another thing in play here that most commentators are completely overlooking.  The fact that Jeff Adcock, who worked as a Brewers groundskeeper for many years and was one of the major bullpen “helpers” — a guy everyone in the bullpen knew, and knew well — died at Miller Park earlier this year certainly has a great deal to do with why the bullpen is underperforming.  This poor man died in front of some of the relievers, and as far as I know, nothing has been done to help any of these men deal with their loss.

Now, maybe the Brewers organization has sent these men to sports psychologists, grief counselors, or have done what they feel needed to be done and it’s still not helped.  But if the Brewers organization hasn’t done this, it should be done now, as it’s possible that if these guys are able to discuss their grief and sadness over this poor man dying without them being able to do anything to affect the outcome that it will help the Brewers on-the-field performance.

My belief is that there’s something that’s gone wrong inside these men’s heads, and that it has nothing to do with their actual ability.  The fact that Axford pitched several innings of sparkling relief when he wasn’t a closer, only to screw up once inserted back into the closing role, makes me think that there’s something else wrong there — and not with his pitching arm.  The fact that K-Rod was good as a set-up man before he was put back into the closer’s role, too, adds credence to my belief.  And finally, as if I needed any further reason for believing the way I do, the strangely inconsistent performance of Kameron Loe (who, if I remember right, was one of those relievers who knew Adcock the best, and may have been in the bullpen when Adcock had his fatal heart attack) since Adcock died makes me believe that he, in particular, needs to discuss his feelings with a priest, counselor, or sports psychologist.  (Or maybe all three.)

What I’m doing my best to remember is that every single one of the Brewers is a human being first, baseball player second.   They’ve all worked very hard to get to the major leagues.  None of them want to screw up, much less screw up royally; all of them want to do well every day, even though they know that’s impossible, and it seems to me that not one of them has any idea why the bullpen has melted down.

Anyway, the Brewers have now made their desperation move by firing their bullpen coach.  But they’d do much better if they got Axford, Rodriguez, Loe, and the other long-term members of the bullpen to psychologists, counselors, or maybe even priests — because I’m convinced that much of what’s gone wrong has little to do with their arms, and everything to do with their heads.

The 2012 Milwaukee Brewers are having a dreadful year.  Early on, injuries derailed the team; now, it’s the bullpen, the starting pitching, the lack of hitting, or again, the bullpen that tends to make the Brewers lose games.  So what’s the culprit with regards to these latest three losses to the Philadelphia Phillies?  I’ll give you one word: pitching.

You know your season is going bad when your team can’t even win one game out of three against a team with a losing record.  This is where the Brewers are right now; they lost all three against the Phillies by the score of 7-6 (today’s loss being in ten innings; the other two were regulation nine inning games).  These three losses show that the 2012 Brewers do not have what it takes to be a contending ball club.

And that’s sad, because as I said earlier this week, there are still some very good players on this team.  Corey Hart.  Ryan Braun.  Yovani Gallardo.  John Axford.  Jonathan Lucroy, once he comes back from his rehab stint in the minors.  And Aramis Ramirez, after a horrible start, has been playing much better lately.

After that, we start getting into good players (all pitchers) who won’t be with the team through 2013 — Zack Greinke, soon to be traded to a team near you.  Shaun Marcum’s contract is up at the end of the year.  Randy Wolf’s been treated so shabbily by the Brewers bullpen that there’s probably no amount of money that could possibly induce him to come back to the Brewers.

And then, we start to get to players who, while good at something, are bad at something else.  For example, Norichika Aoki hits well, but his defense is suspect, and he makes way too many mental errors.  Carlos Gomez is electric on the basepaths, has a bit of power, and plays good defense when his head’s in the game, but has a poor OBP and his average is never going to be above .240 unless he starts learning how to take a walk.  Nyjer Morgan, while he can still be a sparkplug and plays good defense, just hasn’t hit very well this season.

And then, of course, there’s Rickie Weeks’s lost season, which is in a class all by itself.  Weeks has tons of potential and should have a much higher batting average than .190 (his average at the start of Wednesday afternoon’s game).  Weeks has been a liability at the plate, striking out way too much, and giving Hart almost no help as Weeks, in general, bats right behind Hart. 

And what on Earth can be said about Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod), who blew yet another save today — his sixth blown save in nine chances — snuffing out the Brewers chance to salvage one game from the Phillies by giving up two runs in the bottom of the tenth inning?  (While I’m sure K-Rod isn’t trying to blow saves, he just doesn’t seem to have it right now.)

But it’s not just K-Rod who’s fallen apart lately.  In each of the last three games, someone — or many someones — in the Brewers bullpen didn’t have it.  This happens sometimes to every team, but it’s been more prominent with the 2012 Brewers because the bullpen was expected to be a source of strength, not a weakness.

And what’s sad today is the fact that three relief pitchers did have it after starter Marco Estrada had a forgettable day (giving up 5 runs, all earned, in four innings of work) — John Axford pitched two scoreless innings.  Livan Hernandez, the “forgotten man” in the bullpen, pitched two scoreless also.  And rookie Tyler Thornburg did his job, pitching one inning of scoreless relief.  Those three pitchers did their jobs, which allowed the Brewers to come back from a 5-1 early deficit and take the lead in the top of the tenth, 6-5.

But then came K-Rod.  And there went the Brewers chances.

Look.  While I’m frustrated with most of the Brewers relievers right now (excepting Axford, Hernandez, and Thornburg), I think part of their problem is that they’re tired.  I am also starting to wonder as to why Brewers manager Ron Roenicke would bring in Manny Parra twice in two games (games 1 and 2 against the Phillies), when in both games Parra managed to load the bases due to walks; I wonder why Roenicke insisted on bringing in K-Rod again, when Axford’s been great in the set-up role since he was put into it about a week ago and K-Rod’s been terrible as a closer; I wonder if a few of these guys just need a different pitching coach, and/or a change of scenery, in order to get things straightened back out again.

So, what would I do differently with these players than Roenicke and his staff? 

First, I’d try to see if any of the pitchers — the relief pitchers in particular —  need to go to grief counseling due to the death of their friend (the long-time bullpen assistant).  Perhaps going and talking about this would be beneficial — and if it’s not been done already out of humanitarian and compassionate reasons, it should be done for a performance-based one.

Second, I’d give guys like Parra and Loe a physical.  Parra has had many back issues in the past, and if he’s having even minor back trouble now, that might be just enough to cause him major trouble throwing the ball, which would explain why he can’t seem to throw strikes.  And Loe was so good in both 2009 and 2010 that I find it hard to believe that he’d have as much trouble as he’s had lately getting his sinker to work without some sort of nagging injury.

Mind you, if injuries were found, no matter how minor, I’d have the player (or players) in question go on the disabled list for 15 days in order to get some rest. 

And for that matter, I’d bring in someone to look at everyone’s pitching mechanics, but most especially to look at K-Rod’s.  While he had 18 holds in the set-up role, by far the most among the Brewers pitchers, K-Rod hasn’t looked quite right all year long.  This might have something to do with why he’s not been effective — or even acceptable — as a closer despite his past success.

Bringing in a specialist isn’t a bad thing, because even the best pitching coach can miss things over time, especially if there have been gradual changes.  And if nothing’s found, great!  (But I’m betting there’s something there to be found — if not with K-Rod, perhaps with Loe, Parra, or one of the others.)

Third, I’d definitely bring in the best possible medical specialists to figure out why Marcum is not improving.  He wasn’t supposed to be on the DL this long, so what’s going on there?

Fourth, I’d have a heart-to-heart with Randy Wolf.  I’d tell Wolf that I know he’s done a good job for the Brewers — really, he has, as he should have at least seven and as many as eleven wins right now had the bullpen just done its job (his ERA is misleading, as I’ve said before).  And I’d thank him for bearing up under an extremely tough set of circumstances; Wolf’s a very good pitcher who’s done his best, and has deserved a whole lot better than what he’s had thus far in 2012.

Fifth, I’d sit down with Rickie Weeks and ask him if he thinks anyone or anything could help him right now.  (Granted, he did get four hits today.  But Weeks’s defense also hasn’t been up to par; surely there’s someone out there who could give Weeks some pointers?)  Weeks has the lowest batting average of any everyday player in the major leagues, yet he has tons of talent.  I’d get to the bottom of whatever is going on with him, whether it’s with a sports psychologist, needing a new mentor (Willie Randolph helped Weeks greatly when he was here a few years ago), or whatever it is, in order to help him succeed again at the major league level.

Finally, I’d sit down with Hart, Braun, Lucroy, Gallardo, Ramirez, and Axford.  I’d tell these men that I greatly appreciate what they’ve done.  That while they’ve all had ups and downs — Braun’s had nagging injuries, Ramirez’s first month-and-a-half was Godawful, Hart’s had to re-learn how to play first base at the major league level after a several-year absence, Lucroy’s been on the DL, Gallardo’s been good but not lights-out, and of course Axford getting removed from the closer’s role only to shine as a set-up man — they are still valuable members of the Brewers.  And that the Brewers will do whatever it takes to build a team around them; assure them that they aren’t going anywhere, and that owner Mark Attanasio is committed to putting a winning team on the field in 2013.

But since I don’t have that power and am not a member of the Brewers coaching staff, all I can do boils down to two things: hope for the best.  And wait until next year.

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Note: Last evening, I was so frustrated with Parra walking the bases loaded twice in two days that I actually said I thought he should be designated for assignment (DFA’d) if he wasn’t injured in some way.  I still think Parra would be better off with another team, where expectations might not be so high — he pitched a perfect game in the minors for the Brewers organization, which is why the expectations have been up there — but after a day to think about it, I’d rather have someone from outside the team give him a physical (if he’ll stand for it) and then have him visit a specialist in pitching mechanics to see if there’s anything that can be done.

Parra, overall, hasn’t been the problem this year.  But walking the bases loaded two days straight was symptomatic of how snakebit the Brewers pitching staff seems to be this year.  That’s why I’d do everything in my power, were I somehow transported to become a member of the Brewers coaching staff for even one day, to see if Parra’s back and knees were OK (I trust Parra to know if his arm’s OK, or if something major is wrong, but a very small problem might not be noticeable), and to check his mechanics.

I like Parra very much as a pitcher.  But my hunch is that he’ll find himself successful in a different team’s uniform, much in the same way former Brewer pitcher Jorge de la Rosa found success in Colorado.