Doug Brocail is the Pitching Coach

[wildcard]

9 minutes ago, weams said:

We hated Rick Kranitz when he was here too.  And Dave Wallace.

I think Wallace was generally  liked by the players, the GM, the manager and the fans.

[wildbillhiccup]

40 minutes ago, interloper said:

Per Dan Connolly tweet. 

I'm not really sure what this guy brings to the table other than being a warm body for a year. Rangers fans really, really dislike him. He went from Astros pitching coach to special assistant prior to Texas, though, so perhaps he has some familiarity with *the whole Elias deal*. 

Personally, it's a meh from me.

This choice seems very Roger McDowellesque to me. I mean when you think of solid pitching the Rangers don't exactly come to mind. Very curious choice.  

[Tx Oriole]

39 minutes ago, Diehard_O's_Fan said:

Who cares what Ranger fans think. Brandon and Mike know what they are doing.

That's what I say. 

[Frobby]

15 minutes ago, weams said:

We hated Rick Kranitz when he was here too.  And Dave Wallace.

I didn’t.   

As to Brocail, can’t say he excites me, but let’s see how he does.   I expect there to be, er, “adjustments” in the staff along the way, since we’re choosing from some pretty bare shelves this time of year.   

[AceKing]

The Rangers have turned in some good bullpen arms, and they have traded several away for future assets...

 

Who knows?  Slim pickings at this time of year, and he already knows what’s up with this system.  I am sure he has some redeeming qualities...

[Tx Oriole]

31 minutes ago, interloper said:

Sure. But I think they also know all the good pitching coaches are scooped up at this point and they need a guy. Brocail is definitely a guy! I don't think he's going to be any kind of guru, or a guy Elias installs with a twinkle in his eye, like he knows something the rest of baseball doesn't.

Do not fool yourself that every coach and hire is going to be without fault just because Elias makes it. Everyone gets fired eventually. I doubt Doug Brocail is the ideal guy. That said if he gets on board with the whole deal, great. We're gonna suck anyway!

Why are you so pessimistic? Doggone give the guy a chance. Geez

[LookinUp]

 

31 minutes ago, interloper said:

Sure. But I think they also know all the good pitching coaches are scooped up at this point and they need a guy. Brocail is definitely a guy! I don't think he's going to be any kind of guru, or a guy Elias installs with a twinkle in his eye, like he knows something the rest of baseball doesn't.

Do not fool yourself that every coach and hire is going to be without fault just because Elias makes it. Everyone gets fired eventually. I doubt Doug Brocail is the ideal guy. That said if he gets on board with the whole deal, great. We're gonna suck anyway!

I don't accept the premise that because it's late in the game, we must be getting a sub-par coach. Maybe he is, but I'm sure there's something Elias et al like about this guy. At a minimum, he'll have better tools to work with than the previous regime, so he already has a leg up.

24 minutes ago, Diehard_O's_Fan said:

The Rangers starting rotation has been absolutely awful the last few years. You can't blame that on Doug. He hasn't had much talent to work with. I have to trust Brandon and Mike here. They know what they are doing.

With that being said, Cole Hamels left Texas and got better almost immediately. It makes you wonder what was going on in Texas. Maybe Brocail was the problem, or part of the problem, or the problem was much bigger (a la the Orioles last year).

Either way, I'm reserving judgement.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I didn’t.   

As to Brocail, can’t say he excites me, but let’s see how he does.   I expect there to be, er, “adjustments” in the staff along the way, since we’re choosing from some pretty bare shelves this time of year.   

In other words don’t get married to any coaches or players on the 2019 team.  It’s highly unlikely any of them will be around for the next playoff squad.

Maybe Brocail is a good instructor or buys into Elias and Hyde’s baseball philosophy.  They hired him for a reason.

[AceKing]

He also coached Cashner in Texas FWIW

[Frobby]

Here’s an interesting article from when Brocail was switched from being the Astros’ pitching coach to a special assistant helping Jeff Luhnow to oversee development of the pitchers:   https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/amp/Astros-make-changes-to-Porter-s-staff-4861523.php

[wildcard]

My hope is that Elias/Hyde did not pick Brocail because the cup board was bare.  I hope it was because they wanted him and think he is the right man for the job.   I hope they think he  is better than promoting Mike Griffin from AAA and putting Alan Mills as the AAA pitching coach.    I have always respected Griffin.

[weams]

27 minutes ago, Aglets said:

Our pitching is likely to be bad for awhile.  Guess Bundy will be the guinea pig.  If we can fix him, I'll have a lot of faith in Elias and the rest of the staff moving forward.  If he can't..........not that that reflects horribly on him, but it means we need to wait and see more I guess.

How can you fix his health?  The Orioles are lucky they got anything out of him. 

[weams]

27 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I think Wallace was generally  liked by the players, the GM, the manager and the fans.

He was mocked here repeatedly. 

[Frobby]

3 minutes ago, weams said:

He was mocked here repeatedly. 

I don’t remember that at all.    He presided over the best staff (2014) the Orioles have had in 15 years.    Zach Britton swore by the guy.   When there were rumors he might leave after the 2015 season most posters were hoping he’d stay.  He did, for one more year.    I think he was clearly the best pitching coach we had while Buck was here.   

[interloper]

23 minutes ago, Tx Oriole said:

Why are you so pessimistic? Doggone give the guy a chance. Geez

I'm just trying to stay grounded. Brocail doesn't seem to have the unanimous support that Hyde did around the league. But I'm gonna read this article Frobby just posted and learn more.